REOPENING BELIEVERS CHAPEL – UPDATE NO. 2
Believers Chapel
10:00 am
Believers Chapel Reopening Procedures and Guidelines
1) A registration page has been created to manage the number of members and non-members (people) attending worship services at Believers Chapel. For the first time since we reopened on June 16th, we are limiting the number of people in attendance to 120. Depending on distancing requirements in the auditorium, seating in the east parlor may be necessary.
2) The Ushers will seat you in every other row seating. In this case we will worship in song to special music only.
3) We have removed all the hymnals from the pews.
4) We will have Sunday School at 10 am and one Ministry of the Word Service immediately followed by the Lord’s Supper Service each Sunday starting at 11 am. We will use wine cups and trays for the distribution of both matza and wine. We will pass the elements separately and after the elders pray for what each of the elements represent. The Ushers will be passing the trays to each person in attendance.
5) Nursery is available for Sunday School and the Ministry of the Word Service. Sarah Terrell will be managing the nursery service. Please contact her via the church office to register your child. Sarah will need an accurate count of children in the nursery to prepare properly. It is understood by the parents of the children in the nursery that good social distancing practices will be difficult to follow, and you will take full responsibility for meeting this way.
6) Masks will be worn entering and exiting the facility. The masks can be taken off once seated in the pew.
7) Hand sanitizer with at least 70% alcohol will be provided at the entrance of the facility, at the restrooms, and near main auditorium.
8) We will have signage upon entering the facility to help with managing the flow of people outside and within the building. Due to possible weather conditions we may have to route the people within the building while following good social distancing practices. Please pay careful attention to these signs.
9) The water fountains will be blocked off and not in use, however, we will be providing water bottles at the fountains instead. If you take a water bottle, please discard it in one of the trash cans when finished or before entering the auditorium.
10) The teams supporting the service will be wearing gloves and masks while serving you.
11) Cleaning service be provided after Sunday and after Wednesday night services. The services will perform the normal cleaning as well as “touch surface” special cleaning.
12) Entry into the facility will be through the porte-cochere doors only. We will have greeters at the doors to assist you and answer any questions you may have. It is important to have the greeters open the porte-cochere doors for you to limit the handling of touch surfaces. We will also have a Welcome Banner to assist with these new procedures. The greeters will also serve in the same manner upon exiting the facility – to limit the handling of touch surfaces.
13) Ushers will be available at the entry/exit doors to the main auditorium to limit the handling of touch surfaces. The Ushers will seat all attending from front to rear of the auditorium.
14) The Ushers will be assisting in the exiting of the auditorium after the service and this will be performed row-at-a-time starting from the rear of the auditorium to the front, with Ushers also at the exit doors.
15) We will have police presence both Sunday and Wednesday evening.
16) Guidelines are posted at the following link under the heading below to help prepare you for the reopening of Believers Chapel:
a. How Believers Chapel will maintain social distancing
• To ensure proper social distancing during the worship services we will have an online registration for our service so we can limit numbers. This will also help prevent people from being frustrated with long lines or arriving at church after we have reached our room capacity. We will close registration for the service once our capacity has been reached. The website will also include some initial screening questions that will help you determine if you should continue worshiping online. If you have difficulty registering, please call the church office for help.
• We will start seating people at 10:00 am and stop seating people at 10:25 am.
b. The expected safety measures to be taken
• We are requiring everyone to wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth while entering or exiting the facility. (not including during the worship service). The mask can be removed once seated in the pew. We will leave the first two rows in the auditorium open to create an extra buffer between the people on the platform and those seated.
• We will seat you as you arrive on every third or alternating rows (filling in from the front to the back), depending on the numbers registered. We will make sure seats are filled so that you do not have to step over or by someone already seated. Families with children will be seated on aisles. Please, be sure to use, as much as possible, your restrooms at home. Because the auditorium aisles are less than 6 feet wide, it will be difficult to have two-way traffic in the aisles and therefore using the restroom facility once seated will be difficult to accomplish.
• We will seat people six feet apart unless they came together in the same car.
• Entrance into the auditorium will be limited to one direction during the opening and one direction during the closing. At the end of the service we will dismiss by row and through the same path so people will not cross and exits will not be crowded.
c. The cleaning measures being taken
• Our facility is constantly being cleaned, and we will sanitize the seats and wipe down touch surfaces and doors before/after services each Sunday and after the services each week.
• We will have attendants in the restrooms to help keep those areas cleaned by spraying with a sanitizing solution as needed.
• Hand sanitizers can be found in strategic locations throughout our facility and can be used by everyone at any time.
• Please remember to frequently wash your hands, and if you or anyone in your family is not feeling well, please stay home.
d. How to know if you are a candidate to continuing worshiping at home
• While we greatly desire to worship together with each of you, the safety of our entire church family is of paramount importance. We also wish to respect the desires of each individual and family in choosing whether to join us in person or remain worshiping online.
• If you or someone in your family has had a fever, cough, traveled, or been asked to quarantine by a medical or government official in the last 14 days, we appreciate your willingness to stay home and help protect others.
• If you are 65 or older with any existing health issues, we recommend that you stay home and worship online. Otherwise, it is a matter of individual judgment. If you do come, the elders ask that you follow the guidelines listed on the registration page.
e. General items to note
• If you need assistance setting up so you can worship online, please call the church office and we will help to setup you up to join online.
• We recommend not giving hugs, handshakes, etc. to help maintain the health and safety of all our church family.
• The coffee bar will not be open.
• To fulfill your desire to give, we recommend mailing your offering to the church office.
Please, continue to pray for the safety of all members, attending and worshiping online, and that we glorify God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ during this time!