Stevens Road United Baptist Church Family;
This is the first COVID update letter that I have needed to write this year. And to be honest I had hoped that I would not have to write one at all. However, the growing number of COVID cases in April 2021 has required that I do. As the cases have risen the province has wisely tightened regulations.
As of the Morning of April 23rd, Premier Ian Rankin on behalf of the province announced a number of regulations being imposed across the HRM. The regulation that most directly impacts us is lowering the number of people allowed to gather to 5 in places of worship and 5 visitors to your home for the next four weeks. This limit means all in person services, and all in person Youth Ministry programs will move back to being digital only.
During this time only the Pastors, the Trustees, the Sexton, and the Treasurer will have consistent access to the building to allow for insurance building checks, maintenance, accounting, recording of the services, and other work needed. If you need access to the building for some reason please check with one of the Trustees or one of the Pastors to arrange a time when you can come.
Another update will come out in a few weeks but until then let me remind you all of the ways you can grow in your faith in Jesus and connect as a body;
Each week we are having a digital church service that includes children’s time, prayer, announcements, bible reading and preaching. An order of service is also being e-mailed out each week. You can catch the service at this link https://www.facebook.com/stevensroadbaptist/posts You do not need a Facebook account to watch it ‘live’ on Sunday
The same digital church service is available on YouTube on demand at 7:00am. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JHFcCjsMQQoCeGALWg6Jw/playlists?view_as=subscriber No account is needed to watch this video.
Following the YouTube and Facebook service premieres we will also be hosting a Zoom coffee and tea time for anyone interested in having a 30ish minute conversation and seeing each other’s smiling faces.
The Sunday sermon will be uploaded to our podcast by Sunday afternoon https://stevensroadbaptist.podbean.com/ no account needed to listen. You can also find this podcast using your favourite podcast app
On Sunday Morning at 10:15am you can come to the church parking lot and listen to our digital service via FM radio signal 88.5 FM. This service is the same service that will be broadcast on Facebook and YouTube.
Each week between Friday night and Saturday night an order of service e-mail is sent out to everyone on our mailing list. This e-mail has up to date announcements, prayer prompts and various links to click so you can listen to music, watch or listen to our Sunday service.
We are encouraging staying in contact with one another through phone calls, text messaging, e-mails, and even old fashion letters. We are also organizing a group of people who will call everyone in our directory to check in and see if they have any prayer requests or needs to be met.
SRKids Church has a weekly YouTube Show that can be accessed from our YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JHFcCjsMQQoCeGALWg6Jw/playlists?view_as=subscriber No account needed
Youth Group will connect via Zoom this week, with the possibility of again utilizing YouTube in the weeks to come.
And lastly, we understand that money may be a personal issue for you and your household in this time but we ask that you please consider giving on your normal schedule if possible. We accept e-transfers (etransfer@stevensroadbaptist.ca), we can set up automatic withdrawals, checks can be mailed, picked up or dropped off through the church’s mail slot handy the office door. We also want to say thank you for being faithful in your giving so far, it has been a blessing.
While we all had hoped these lockdowns were behind us, in my most optimistic moments I think of them as acts of love. Each one of us by majorly altering our day is doing our best to care for each other. We look forward to gathering again in person in a few weeks and seeing you on line, or on the phone soon.
Pastor Christopher
On behalf of Staff, Deacons, Trustees, Christian Education, and Finance
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