UPDATE – JUNE 9TH, 2020
Hello members and friends,
Thank you for your continued engagement in and support of our church. God has truly blessed us in St. Clair county with a low number of cases and a very low number of cases in our church family. We are continuing to have two, in-person Sunday services at 9:30 and 11 as well as an Adult Sunday School class at 10:45, Children’s Sunday School at 9:30 and Children’s Church during the 2nd service.
Wednesday night prayer meeting at 7pm will resume June 24th.
Adult Sunday School class during the first service will resume on June 28th.
The World Health Organization recently announced that the spread of the Coronavirus by people not showing symptoms, is rare. This was based on reports from a number of countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing. If you are experiencing any symptoms, please stay home and contact your physician.
We as a church will be discontinuing our social distancing seating at this time. If you choose to attend a service in person, please recognize that wearing a face mask, while recommended, is not mandatory. The risk of being exposed to the virus at our church will be similar to what you would incur when eating out at a dine in restaurant under the governor’s new guidelines. I will of course continue to wear a face mask as long as it is appropriate. If you are in the high risk category of being over 65 or having other conditions (such as heart disease, lung disease, high blood pressure, etc.) please know that we will respect your decision on whether or not to attend at this time.
If you choose not to attend, please watch our live cast on the church’s Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/ColumbusBible
Please continue to pray for our nation, for our leaders, for our church, and for revival especially during this time of civil unrest. “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all time, forever and ever! Amen.” (Eph. 3:20-21).
You are all loved and missed,
Pastor Jim and Edie
Update - May 19th, 2020
Hello members and friends,
First let me say I continue to hope and pray that everyone is doing well physically and spiritually. We as a church body have been so blessed throughout this time as the virus numbers have been low in St Clair county and especially low among our attenders. Also thank you to everyone who has been so faithful in giving online or sending in your offerings. The Lord is continuing to meet all our needs.
We had our first in person service this past Sunday. We practiced social distancing and most people wore face masks. It was wonderful seeing so many of our brothers and sisters after being apart for so long! The worship and fellowship was amazing! This was also our first live cast as previously we had been recording and then posting the service the next day. Many thanks to God for His provision and to a handful of volunteers such as Jim Rapier, Andy Kraemer, Geri Cote, Russel Zablocki and Joe Tesluk for being willing to donate their time and giftings to accomplish the task. Also Dean and Jackie Kraemer for serving on the worship team and Monica Lopiccolo for serving as our pianist.
Starting this Sunday May 24th on Labor Day weekend we will resume our normal Sunday service schedule consisting of 2 services at 9:30 and 11. These two services will be virtually the same to give people the best opportunity to attend. Since we will be cleaning the commonly touched surfaces between the services, we ask that you leave the sanctuary promptly at the end of the 1st service (Pastor Jim has to end the 1st service on time as well!). Children’s Sunday School, from nursery up to the 5th grade, will be provided during the 1st service. Older children and teens will not have a Sunday School class and are expected to attend one of the two services. We are postponing resuming the Wednesday night meeting until a later date as few of the regular attenders are comfortable being in a group of people yet.
We are continuing to ask that everyone who is considered high risk to stay home from church for now and to continue worshiping with us online. Please continue to pray for each other, our government, for people to place their trust in Jesus Christ, and for the crisis to subside.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all time, forever and ever! Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)
You all are loved and missed,
Pastor Jim and Edie
Update - April 4th, 2020
I hope and pray that everyone is virus free and following the CDC guidelines. You all are missed more than you know. I optimistically thought that we would resume services in our building after a week or two. It is apparent now that we will be waiting for at least several more weeks if not more before we resume physically meeting for our services.
We will not be gathering to celebrate Good Friday or Easter. However, we will be recording worship and messages that we will be releasing through our Facebook page. (Many thanks to Monica Lopicolo, the Kraemers, Pastor Jared, and Jim Rapier for their work in putting these together). Please note that we are exceeding the social distancing guidelines when we are together.
We are also suggesting that everyone make good use of their time by:
- Reconnecting with family and friends via phone calls, email, FaceTime, etc.
- Reading your Bible daily
- Praying for one another
- Offering to help a neighbor by delivering groceries, etc.
- Above all, Trusting in God
We will have more updates in the near future.
Phil 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.