In its monthly meeting this past Sunday, the elders discussed the final report of the In-Person Church Gatherings Committee with the Committee’s members and several congregants who attended. The July 6 report included important recommendations for conditions under which in-person worship services can resume at the meetinghouse.

The elders then considered the report in executive session and accepted nearly all of recommendations, with two exceptions. First, we concluded that in-person worship should not resume on July 26, as proposed by the committee, and we postponed the reopening date no sooner than mid-August. Second, we concluded that only the auditorium and its balcony should be used for in-person worship, and that at least initially, adult classroom space in the basement should not be used as overflow.

The committee’s recommendations cover the timing and format of resumed in-person services to assure social distancing and adequate time to clean the worship area between services.

The committee’s “What to expect as ACOC re-opens for in-person worship services” document can be found here. In addition, you’ll find a presentation here on the committee’s report here that provides details for the re-gathering plan. To prevent the spread of disease, the times, procedures and content of our face-to-face worship assemblies will change. Please familiarize yourself with these important details.

“We are deeply grateful to the In-Person Church Gatherings Committee for their time and the care they took to get this right,” said Dennis Hlasta, who is the elders’ chairman for July. Members of that committee included: April Barbour, Carmen Hernandez, Linda Hlasta, Marvin Soto, Gomi Otokwala, Devin Smith, Marvin Soto, Meghan Stringer and Matt WIlliams.

The elders also have appointed a committee to help with implementing in-person gatherings. Members of the Implementation Committee include: Beth Barns, Chris and Lynette Beltran, Robert Burgess, Sasha Jarrett, Keith Klemmer, Alex Martinez, Ed Neff, Meghan Stringer, Esther Turner and TJ Wilson.