-

-
1. Three Small In-person Worship Gatherings AND Online Worship
During Yellow Phase, group gatherings are limited to 25 people. So we will utilize three parts of
the church building for small in-person worship gatherings.
a. In the Worship Center, we will have worship and preaching. This gathering will be
broadcast online AND to a second location of in-person gathering at church.
b. In the Activity Center downstairs, we will have that second location gathering. As a
benefit, we will provide water bottles and individually wrapped refreshments in this
location.
c. In the Fellowship Hall, we will have a family worship gathering geared for children.
Families can bring their children and stay with them for childrens songs and a childrens
lesson taught by Rachel.
d. We are required to remain socially distant during the Yellow Phase, so we plan to cluster
seating by family group and that seating clusters will remain at least six feet apart from
the other clusters.
e. Each of these three gatherings will use a separate entrance. We will have a volunteer
doorman at each of these entrances. If you are mindful, the only surface you will need
to touch while you are at church is your seat.
f. Restrooms will be available, though we advise you to use yours at home instead of our
public restrooms. We request that you disinfect the restroom after use AND that
parents accompany their children to the restroom.

2. Outdoor In-person Worship Gatherings AND Online Worship

a. We will begin with drive-in church.
i. There are a couple parking configurations that we are still exploring. One would
have a stage area in the grass game field and parking in the lower level of the
lot. Another would have the stage at the emergency exit stairs from Fellowship
Hall and parking along the seventh street hill.
ii. Sound amplification would be either short-range radio using your car radio -or-
a PA system.
b. We will transition to picnic chair church
i. On warmer days we bring our own picnic chairs and set up a socially-distant
camp meeting on the game field, much like our Easter Sonrise service.
c. Both of these scenarios depend on the weather. In rain, we would announce the day
before that the worship gathering will be online only.

3. Continue Online-Only during Yellow Phase, Some May Attend Broadcast

a. We are still waiting on guidance from the government regarding face masks at Social
Gatherings. Our elders believe that the benefits of in-person gatherings would be lost if
face masks were required for participants. If face masks are required for gatherings of
less than 25, then we prefer to have only Online Worship Gatherings and not in-person
gatherings during the short Yellow Phase.
b. As a consolation to those who are tired of being stuck at home, we can welcome 25
people to attend the broadcast on Sunday mornings from 10:15 to 11:30am. You will
need to remain socially distant from other worshippers. You will have to wear a face
mask while inside the church building. You will have to be comfortable with Pastor Tim
NOT wearing a mask while preaching; he will wear one while we socialize.
If we re-open with indoor gatherings (Option 1 or 3), we will require you to register for your seats on a
weekly basis, which you would do by phone or internet. This way, we know that the room occupancy
won’t be higher than 25.

Also, with indoor gatherings, we will initiate a rigorous and ongoing cleaning and disinfecting protocol
during Yellow Phase and the initial weeks of Green Phase.

We Want to Hear from You!

So now the elders want to hear from you. We’ve set up a quick way to share your thoughts. If we end
up implementing one of these three options, how will you and your family participate? The elders
really want to hear from every family. Our decisions will be informed by your feedback, so talk as a
family and respond to the form within the next couple days.

Final Encouragement
Let me encourage you all, this is only temporary. The Yellow Phase will not last forever. We’ve been
operating online only for the last ten weeks. Yellow may be a few weeks or a month. Eventually, we are
going into the Green Phase, when we can return to our normal gatherings without restrictions.

We want to shake hands, we want to hug, we want to laugh and cry with each other. We want to be
close. All of that will resume when we go Green. For now, we bear and grin. For now, we rest in God’s
loving and strong arms and trust His wisdom and His goodness.

If our pastors or elders can assist you or your family in any way, please reach out to any of us. We are
here to serve you and shepherd your faith.

Blessings in our Lord Jesus,

Pastor Tim
on behalf of the Board of Elders of
Whitehall Bible Fellowship Church
610.434.8661 (call or text)