READY TO RECONNECT?

Are you ready to reconnect?

As we emerge from our isolation, many of us are anxious to gather. Starved for human connection, we are hitting the beaches, going to restaurants and ready to get back to church.

Some of us are more cautious. Not wanting to see a spike in cases of Covid, we are urging friends to continue to practice physical distancing even as we increase our social engagement.

Anxious or cautious, we all need to reconnect with each other in healthy ways that keep each other safe physically and help each other feel safe emotionally. Here is how we are going to do it at Mountain View. We will start in homes, get outside this summer and prepare our facility and teams.

If you are ready to reconnect, start in your home.

We need real community. That happens better in small groups than large crowds. As much as we all love being together with everyone, the most important thing we can do right now is reconnect with each other deeply. That happens better in smaller groups.

This summer, rather than rushing to open our building, our church will focus on reconnecting in homes, parks and backyards. Not only is it safer than gathering in crowds, it is the quickest way to the real community we long for.

So will you open your home? If you already have a group, start meeting in person. Give each other extra space and lots of grace. Clean before and after. But we can meet together safely and we need it.

If you don’t have a group, invite a few friends, neighbors or other families over to watch the service together. We will shorten the service for the summer and end on a question to discuss. This is a perfect opportunity to use your Sundays to build the church from the ground up.

If you are ready to reconnect, let’s get outside together.

Hikes, beach days, worship nights, family events and summer camping trips are in the works. We will be publishing dates for these events very soon. Our staff is working on creating events where we can safely gather outside as we come out of this season of staying home.

These events will be and feel safer for everyone if we all give each other extra space and lots of grace. Let’s get outside together and look out for one another.

Some of you may not yet be ready to reconnect physically. That’s ok too. We want and need you as part of our family and we will continue to offer our services, prayer and groups online as well as in person. When you are ready, we would love to have you join with activities as well.

We will get ready to gather all together in the building.

There are a lot of considerations for gathering crowds. Some churches may ignore the guidelines and go back to business as usual. Others may eliminate children’s ministry, have lotteries for when people can come to church or eliminate singing. We won’t. Until the guidelines loosen up and we can gather in a way that is safe AND fun, we are choosing to wait.

We are not waiting because gathering as a church family doesn’t matter. It does. We all miss it. But we would rather lean into what we can do well online and in homes, then trying to force something awkward in the building. Over the summer we will be working on new protocols for our facility that allow us to maximize both safety and the quality of the experience.

In the mean time, we need connection. We need Christian fellowship. So let’s start in your homes. Let’s get outside. And let’s be the church together in this summer of reconnecting.

With Grace and Extra Space,

Todd

P.S. If you would like to open your home to host a Sunday gathering, contact traci@mvc.life