COVID-19 Update from Pastor Dale
July 10, 2020
Dear Community of Hope Family,
As we continue to see our community struggle through the impact of COVID-19, we also long for our days and lives to return to a sense of normalcy! And really, we desire to be together as a church!! While we still feel that we cannot yet gather for in-person worship, I’m excited to share that we will be hosting Drive-Through Communions on our Loxahatchee and West Palm Campuses on Sunday, July 19th and July 26th, respectively!
Come out with your church family and drive through the parking lot to receive your elements of bread and juice. You’ll drive up to your pastors and allow them to guide you and offer a prayer for your family! Come to the campus where you normally worship, or come both weekends!
Here are our times and dates!
Sunday, July 19th at West Campus (Loxahatchee) – any time 9 am - 12 pm.
Sunday, July 26th at East Campus (West Palm) – any time 10 am - 12 pm.
I want to encourage our future Lake Worth campus members to pick the campus they’d like to attend! Your pastors and staff want to see you, please make plans to gather with us in this way! Again, looking forward to joining you in worship online (click link here)!
Love everyone!
Dale
June 23, 2020
Dear Church Family,
Ok precious friends, let’s get right to it!
Our last COVID update suggested that we would carefully weigh the front end of July as a possible return to in-person worship on our campuses, and now we know with certainty that this will NOT be possible.
At this writing, we continue to be held by our governmental leaders to Phase One of Florida’s re-opening plan of 10 persons or less, with a "narrowed" Phase Two re-opening requested to the governor. Additionally, last week, Palm Beach County began flip-flopping with Broward County and lagging just behind Dade County, as the most recorded cases of the virus in our State. And currently, we have record numbers of cases in our local hospital’s ICU units.
At Community of Hope, our goal in the pandemic is to do what we’ve all said yes to, which is to Love the 561. And at this point, we continue to feel the best way to do this is to worship online. We will continue to connect our decisions to the Phases given to us, and not to a specific date. With this in mind, we have our doubts that we will be able to gather in July.
With this said, please stay tuned to all of our social media streams for the latest updates regarding our response to the pandemic, and what will be opening up. Upon a full Phase Two reopening, we hope to then reopen our facilities for small group gatherings. In the near future, we hope to be able to bring together what we’re calling “Watch Parties” to gather with slightly larger groups to worship in homes together. We’re also planning a fun and creative way for our church to have Holy Communion.
Thank you so much for continuing to stay with us, and to support us in prayer as well as in resources in this important time. We continue to work hard to keep your church connected in this unique time. And thank you so much for so many of you for speaking kind words of encouragement to us that we not rush our decision and stay safe.
In it together with you!
Pastor Dale
May 21, 2020
Hey Community of Hope Family,
As our community begins to ease into Phase One of our state’s reopening strategy, I feel that it’s important to take a moment and update our worshipping community of our response to what our governmental and health care workers are suggesting. Like you, we are anxious to return to in-person gathering, and yet, we want to be a part of the solution and keep everyone safe. I know this is an area filled with a lot of anxiety and interest, and everyone has an opinion. I also know that every church is navigating their best understanding of what we’re all experiencing and doing their best to make the right decision for their church community.
Over the past weeks, our Lead Team and Executive Staff have been watching the updates from state and local leaders, and we have been meeting in teams to navigate our decisions. Additionally, I have pulled around me a small group of persons in the medical field to help us with our decisions and to best understand what we’re dealing with.
So let’s get right to it.
1. Online Weekend Worship Extended Through End of June - We have made the decision to continue our online weekend worship through June. This decision will position our church to watch carefully over the next few weeks while our state, and more specifically our county, eases into Phase One reopening. Additionally, with the threshold set at 10 persons or less, most of the groups in our church fail to meet this critical threshold.
2. Phase 2 and Small Groups - When our state and county reaches Phase 2 of the reopening plan, where the threshold is 50 people or less, and we feel good with what we’re seeing, we will begin to allow small groups and other church groups to meet at our campuses and in homes as Community of Hope sanctioned experiences.
3. Monitoring Carefully When to Worship Again In-Person - The question of when we will return to in-person gathering remains somewhat of a mystery, but we are committed to making the best decision we can for our community — A decision that allows us to return as soon as possible, but one that honors our desire to make sure that when you do return, you and your family are completely safe. It’s a decision which honors our church’s desire to love the 561. And right now, we continue to feel the best way we can love the 561 is to worship online on the weekends.
I want to encourage you to stay tuned via the COH App, our website, and all of our social media platforms for the latest information and any adjustments to our current policy. As always, I love you and thank you for being a part of helping our church love the 561!
God Bless!
Stay Safe!
Stay Connected!
Pastor Dale