Dear First Alliance Family,
We wanted to take a moment and give you an update regarding our church and our response to the coronavirus, or COVID-19.
First of all, as Jesus-followers, we desire to reflect Him in all we do and say. This means that we need to be people of wisdom. We also should reflect a sense of peace in a world that is filled with panic. We know that God is still in complete control and that He loves us. We can and should bring our concerns to Him in prayer. We also know that times like this can drive people to Jesus as they look for peace, hope and confidence that the world cannot offer. We pray we are salt and light in this time!
Second, we are aware that God has instituted government. Our Governor addressed the state of Kentucky this morning with some recommendations for our state. One of those recommendations was the suspending of weekend services of churches this Sunday. Our entire staff convened today and took time to walk through scenarios, speak candidly about this recommendation, and pray for God’s guidance. The governor will continue to make updates every morning, and we are following those closely. Should his suggestion for churches not to meet move to a mandate not to meet, we will submit to that.
Third, we took some time to reach out to other sister churches in the Lexington area and our broader C&MA family to see how they are approaching the situation. This is the type of situation where we all learn from each other and find great wisdom in the counsel of many. Many churches that we were in contact with, after their own times of prayer and meeting as staff, landed where we have in how we are choosing to make our initial response.
That said, as of the time of this writing, here is our plan for Thursday morning through Sunday of THIS WEEK. (You will receive further communication next week as we will continue to monitor the situation and make the best decisions possible.)
- All church activities and meetings scheduled in our building between Thursday and Saturday are cancelled. We are doing this so that our facilities staff can deep clean our building before Sunday with no interference.
- We WILL have services at 9:00 and 10:45 this coming Sunday, March 15. That said, we strongly encourage ANYONE who is over age 60, is immunocompromised, has heart, lung or kidney issues to please stay home for your safety. These are the specific recommendations from the CDC. (It goes without saying that if you are sick on Sunday morning with any type of cough, cold, or fever please stay home as well to recover.)
- We WILL NOT have any auxiliary ministries during this Sunday’s services. All nursery, preschool, children and youth programming is cancelled. We would love to have children join their families in the main service! All adult Sunday School will also be cancelled. Our Guest Services team will operate in a limited capacity and our coffee bar will be closed. (We want to give our volunteers in every ministry area the opportunity to stay home if that is best for them, so running our usual programming needs to be suspended.)
- We will not be passing the offering plates but instead will have boxes in the back of the sanctuary in which to place your gifts. You can also give online at faclex.com/giving.
- We will also change communion to single-serve, individually wrapped communion elements for those who wish to take communion after the service. (The precautions regarding offering and communion are intended to limit the spread of germs.)
- We will be live streaming both services on Facebook Live for those who wish to worship at home! This way you can still participate from home. In order to see the livestream, simply go to Facebook, like First Alliance Church, and then on Sunday morning you will see when we go live! If you do not have Facebook, please feel free to use RightNow Media to access some great teaching on Sunday morning. Go to faclex.com/rightnowmedia to log in and find something!
We ask for your grace towards us as a staff as we navigate this. We understand that there are many varying opinions on how we should be responding. It is truly the desire of our hearts to pastor and serve you well. God asks us to be stewards of every opportunity. We will continue to do our best to do so. We also ask for understanding if you receive this information in multiple formats and multiple times. We are doing our best to simply be sure everyone receives it and is well-informed.
We encourage you to go to the commonwealth of Kentucky’s website about COVID-19 if you would like more information on the virus and proper prevention measures. You can also call the Kentucky COVID-19 hotline at 1-800-722-5725 if you need medical advice related to the virus.
Let’s continue to pray for our church, city, state and world as we navigate these times. And let’s put into practice together the words of Phillipians 4:4-6:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
The Staff of FAC