St. Peter's Update – March 16
Good Morning St. Peter’s Family! As we enter into the first full week of this ongoing crisis we have a few updates regarding how we intend to move forward and remain connected as a community of Christ during this difficult time.
1. Worship: Thank you to everyone who was able to view yesterdays worship service live or at a later time – as of right now Facebook says that our worship video has been viewed 420 times! We will be continuing with our online worship for the foreseeable future until such time that it is safe and responsible for us to gather once again in the church. Starting this week we will email out a PDF attachment of the worship bulletin to our church mailing list in addition to posting a link on the church website. If you have any suggestions regarding our online worship services please do not hesitate to share them with me. Once again, thank you to everyone who was able to join us for worship and for the very encouraging feedback!
2. Discussion Groups: We will be starting online discussion groups this week, likely tomorrow March 17th. We are currently testing a few different platforms to make sure they work and we will likely be using a website called Zoom which you can join for free. We will be sharing more detailed instructions for how to create an account, join a discussion group, and dates and times later today. Our initial discussion groups will talk about what we are all currently facing, how we are holding up during this time, how our faith can speak to what is going on in our lives and in the world, and we will conclude with prayer. As we move forward we would also like to do some online Bible studies and additional discussion groups such as book discussions or general discussions about faith. If you have any suggestions for topics please feel free to share them.
3. Church Office: Our church office will continue to function but it will obviously look a little different for the time being as we are all going to be working remotely whenever it is possible. We will be going to the church periodically to check the mail, take care of administrative tasks that must be handled in the building, and update records. Carla is working on changing the church voicemail and will be checking messages frequently and we are also working on having calls forwarded from the church phone to my cell phone. If you have a need during this time please do not hesitate to contact me directly on my cell phone or by email.
4. Check-ins: We ask all the people of St. Peter’s to check in with one another during this time – if you have time please call or email your friends and neighbors, the person who always sits in front on you at church, or someone whose name just pops into your head. If you are aware of any needs within our community please let me know directly. During this difficult time it is of the utmost importance that we communicate with one another and take care of one another as best we can.
5. Devotions: I will begin posting a daily devotion to the church website beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, March 17th.
6. Pictures and Videos: Yesterday during and after worship a few people shared pictures and videos of their family worshipping together at home – if you have any pictures that you would like to share please feel free to post them to our church Facebook page send them to me and we will share them!
7. Communications: While we have the church group email we are only permitted a certain amount of emails monthly with our subscription – with this in mind we will be using our church website primarily for daily communication and will use email for emergency messaging and weekly updates. Please check the church website frequently for new information, online activities, devotions, and other items. We also ask that you please share any relevant information with members of our community who may not be online as we will only be using our “Call All” system in emergencies.
Well that covers everything for now St. Peter’s…it is a difficult time for all of us but through the help of God we will persevere. We hope that you’ll consider participating in one of discussion groups, check-in with one another, check the website frequently, and pray without ceasing. May God bless each of you, St. Peter’s, our community, our nation, and our world this day and in all days.
Your fellow servant in Christ,
Pastor Suloff
