Greetings New Life!
As we get ready to transition to two Sunday morning services next week, I have a few clarifying things to report to you about those plans:
This Sunday, August 9, we will have one morning worship service as normal at 10:30 am, with masks recommended.
The two-service schedule will begin Sunday, August 16. One service will be at 8:30 am, masks required. The second service will be at 11:00 am (not 10:30 am), masks optional.
Regarding children during the 8:30 am mask-required service, we will follow the guidelines provided by the state of Indiana:
Children under 2 years old should not wear masks;
Children between 2–7 years old are exempt from wearing masks;
Children aged 8 and up will be required to wear masks.
Some other items of note in the life of our church:
It is our intention to celebrate communion on Sunday, August 23. This will be actually the fourth Sunday of the month, but we thought it best not to conduct communion on our first two-service Sunday. Starting in September we will begin observing communion again on the third Sunday of each month. Communion will be handled differently than normal, in that a pre-packaged cup and wafer will be provided for each individual. (They look like this.)
It was announced many weeks ago that Ashley Brown will be taking over for Jessica Mowery as our children’s director, and that became official this past week. The Mowerys are moving to Wisconsin, and last Sunday was Jessica’s last day on the job. Jessica has served our children and families exceedingly well, and we will miss her greatly. An outdoor farewell party will be held for her Thursday, August 13 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the church. Please consider coming out to express your gratefulness and well-wishes to Jessica.
It was announced earlier that the new sermon series on Genesis would begin August 16, but that has been pushed back one week. The Gospel According to Genesis will start Sunday, August 23. Ruling elder David Lowry will preach this Sunday, and New Life youth director Andrew Brown will preach on August 16.
Thank you for your attention to these things!
Grace and peace to you in Christ,
Pastor Bob