Mountain View’s Response to the Coronavirus

 Mountain View Church Family:

As of this writing (Thursday AM), there are no reported confirmed cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Weld County.  That could very well have changed by the time you read this.

While we are not panicking about this virus, we owe it to you and the rest of our church family to take reasonable measures to do what we can to help protect your health and to ease any fears you might have about participating in worship services or other events held at our Mountain View Worship Center.  Here are some things we would like to communicate:

1. Please stay home if you are sick & stay home with your children if they are sick.
2. Do as many others are advising: Wash your hands frequently; Cough into your sleeve or elbow; etc.
3. Refrain from shaking hands.  If I extend my hand to you and you would rather not shake it, no harm and no hard feelings.  I will try to refrain from extending my hand so that you don’t feel obligated to shake mine. A smile, wave, fist-bump (?), foot taps (which I saw on the news being done in Asia) might be your chosen alternative to shaking hands.  We certainly will not encourage you to give one another a “holy kiss”. (I may talk about that one in this Sunday’s message.)
4. Weather permitting, I will encourage our greeters to stand at the outside doors with the doors already open for you so that you will not have to touch the doors (if that is a concern for you).
5. We will change the way that we encourage you to worship through the giving of your tithes and offerings for the foreseeable future.  This is because there may be some who are cautious about passing the offering plates which have been touched by numerous other people during this time when our society is on high alert because of the coronavirus. We have a “mail slot” in the east lobby wall just outside the main doors into which you can drop your offerings into a secure box.  And, I will encourage our Ushers to make available offering baskets or offering plates at the back of the main worship area into which you can place your offerings.  We also offer online giving through our website: www.greeleychurch.com.
6. We will be cancelling the next scheduled Celebration of Communion to remove any possibility that the virus might be spread through the passing of the bread and cup trays.
7. If the situation worsens in our area, we will consider taking additional steps.  But, at this point we have no plans to cancel services, small groups, or any ministries that we offer.  

If you choose to stay home or must miss worshiping with us on Sunday mornings, you can find our Sunday morning messages online through our church website: www.greeleychurch.com.  The previous Sunday’s message is usually uploaded by the following Tuesday.  

May God keep you healthy and, if He does, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday morning!

–Pastor Bruce