Guidelines for Regathering in Worship

Seaview Baptist Church
 

As we excitedly await the opening of our church building for in-person worship on July 5, 2020, the Board of Trustees want to share with you some of the changes being made to bring us together for worship and to keep us all safe. Please be aware that all plans are subject to change given new recommendations from the CDC, the State of New Jersey and other sources Worship services will be live streamed Sundays @ 10:30 a.m. on Facebook for those who choose not to attend in person and available for viewing at any time later on our website. Please contact any member of the Board of Trustees if you have questions or concerns.

The re-opening will be limited to Sunday morning worship services only. At a later date, and after learning what we learn from Sunday morning worship, we will add other meetings to the list. However, for now we are only taking this first step. So please help us in safely re-opening our doors. The list of items below may seem daunting, but together, we can make worship seem as much like it used to be as possible. Our aim is loving our neighbors by protecting each other from passing this virus around.

To allow a smoother opening, we will postpone communion scheduled for July 5, 2020 to July 12, 2020.

To date, re-opening the doors of Seaview Baptist Church will have the following new characteristics:
 

Hymnals, Bibles, offering envelopes, pens and other materials will be removed from the pews to allow for more effective separation of materials that can be handled by various people in a short span of time.

For the initial re-gathering, we are requesting that everyone enter directly into the fellowship hall from the parking lot. The door to the education wing will be locked. The hallway past the restrooms will be cordoned off to prevent people, for now, entering the education wing. There will be a hand sanitation station just inside the fellowship hall doors as well as just outside the sanctuary doors.

For seating, we do not want to fill our church home with reminder signs. We prefer to educate the congregation and utilize ushers to seat people with the following requirements:

§  Don’t come sick

§  Wearing masks is required (required by the State of New Jersey)

§  Use hand sanitizer upon entrance

§  Seating every other row in family units or 6 feet apart

§  Cough into elbow

Keep in mind that we will be removing pew cushions. You may want to bring your own cushion in one hand, Bible in other.
 
Bulletins will be available and handed out by gloved stewards. Please try to be careful not to touch hands.
 
All attendees are required to bring and wear a facemask and engage in social distancing while in the building and in the sanctuary. These two acts have been proven to reduce the rate of virus transmission. We ask that you not only consider your own safety but that of others.
 
The balcony will be open for seating to further the social distancing opportunity.
 
The greeting time will not include handshakes or hugs. Passing of the peace will be by hand motions.
 
Thorough cleaning of the sanctuary and restrooms will take place weekly.
 
Restrooms are to be used only in the case that you must. Because of

limited space, the potential release of infection is high. Please use the restroom one at a time turning around the sign on the door to “Please Wait” as you enter and returning it to “Free to Use” as you leave.

Communion will be distributed one by one with gloved stewards, with bread dropped into open hand and cup given to them.

There will be no fellowship hour. However, weather permitting, we encourage people to properly social distance, mask up and converse with each other in the parking lot.
 
There will be orderly seating before worship that includes filling up the front of the sanctuary seating first. As worship concludes, you will be released in a fashion similar to a wedding, except that rear rows will be released first and then rows from the further front.
 
The state of New Jersey requires that “attendees” wear masks. We are establishing no seating in the front three rows of pews to accommodate the praise team, pastor, readers and organist to not wear masks when positioned at the front of the sanctuary. We are finding that masked speakers are more difficult to understand, so we are trading masks for extra distance in seating to provide protective measures.
 
We will have disposable masks for those that forget theirs or guests that need one.
 
Offering plates will be placed in back or passed in front of people to drop in offering.
 
Trustees of Seaview Baptist Church Posted June 27, 2020