Greetings New Life!

On Monday, the State of Indiana mandated the wearing of masks, and many of you are likely wondering how this will impact Sunday morning worship at New Life. The elders have prayerfully discussed the situation and believe that the best solution is to offer two Sunday morning worship services—one that requires masks to be worn, and one that allows masks to be optional.

The state’s mask mandate does provide an exemption for those “engaged in a religious service,” so technically we are not required to make any changes as long as social distancing is practiced in our building, but the two-service option affords the best opportunity for the largest number of people to return to in-person corporate worship.

So here is the plan:

We will offer a service at 8:30 am each Sunday at which all participants will be required to wear masks at all times while inside the church building. No exceptions. If people arrive without masks, we will have masks available for them at the front doors of the church.
A second service will be offered at 11:00 am each Sunday at which masks will be optional, not required. Take note that the second service will be at 11:00 am, not the usual 10:30 am. We are tentatively committed to starting the two-service option on Sunday, August 16, depending on the preparations that will be required.

This also means that worship services on August 2 and 9 will continue as they have in the recent past—starting at 10:30 am, with masks recommended but not required. It would be a great help if all of us could consider how we might step up and serve, as it will obviously require more volunteer help to adequately staff two services.

The worship service will continue to be live-streamed even while we are offering two services. The desire is to eventually return to offering just one service, but that will depend on how circumstances unfold, which only our sovereign Lord knows.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate a very unpredictable and challenging time. As always, the elders’ ultimate desire is that the New Life congregation and people in our community can come to our church and worship the risen Christ freely, joyfully, and without anxiety. Pray that this may be so!

Pastor Bob,
on behalf of the session of New Life