Akron Adventist

Dear Church Family,

As a church body we have been moving through the COVID-19 crisis as a family with a great sense of faith and fellowship. Many of you have been watching our online worship services, gathering together in our “Church Connect” small groups and finding other ways to be a blessing to each other. While this has been a great opportunity to come together in new ways, we have been anxiously waiting for that time when it would be appropriate for us to fellowship together again in-person. As Pastor Levin shared in the short communication sent out on June the 3rd, the time is now. As more and more business and organizations are opening up around Ohio, the virus risk decreases and/or we learn how to manage it, now is the time when we are ready to begin to come together again in a three phased and gradual manner.

PHASE 1 WILL BEGIN ON SATURDAY, JUNE 13 and include Worship Service only at Mayfair Christian School. Phase 2 will include both the Worship Service and Sabbath School while phase 3 will be a return to most of our church activities. As we move into Phase 3, our expectation is that we will have the renovation of our church home completed and we will be able to return there in person. During Phase 1 we will continue to offer the other virtual ways we have been using to connect such as virtual Sabbath School, the “Highlights of Hope” newsletter and Church Connect.

As we return for Phase 1 at Mayfair Christian School you can expect to see some changes to the way we worship. Particularly in that:

* The service time will be shortened to one-hour with a slightly different order of service. The time for the service will be from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM.
* Sabbath School sessions will continue to meet online. The timing of these current sessions may change to accommodate travel to and from the worship service on Saturday morning.

At the school itself, during Phase 1, access will be restricted to the main hallway, bathrooms and gymnasium. Seating will be at a minimum of six feet per household unit with chairs arranged to promote social distancing with one-way travels for passage. We’ll be cleaning high contact points and the restrooms on a regular basis. We’ll also suspend some of our fellowship activities such as physically greeting one another, passing the offering plate (a container will be placed at exit points to collect the offering) and providing bulletins & hymnals.

In addition to asking people to stay home if they feel ill or are vulnerable, we are asking several things of those who come to the building for worship:

* Please maintain six feet of social distancing as you move around the facility
* Please practice “no-contact” greetings
* Please bring your own hand sanitizer
* Consistent with the actions taken by many individuals across Ohio, please consider wearing a face covering
* Please bring bottled water as the water fountains will be unavailable

Note that we will have a limited supply of hand sanitizer, masks and bottled water available for those who need them.

We completely understand that many will not feel comfortable coming back to worship on June the 13th. It cannot be stressed enough that all members and visitors are encouraged to do what is right for them. Be abundantly cautious. BE SAFE. If you are vulnerable or do not feel safe to return yet, please do not. We trust that we will soon all be able to worship together as a church family and long for that date.

United in Christ