Affirmation of St. Paul’s Building Closure

Affirmation of St. Paul’s Baptist Church Building Closure

As an outcome of the Covid-19 pandemic, and an abundance of caution in supporting the safety of St. Paul’s members and visitors, our leadership appropriately determined it was critical to cease services and activities at St. Paul’s.

Thankful for the blessing of technology and St. Paul’s Technology Team, we have been able to effectively stay connected as one body in Christ via zoom and most recently live streaming.

The Relaunch Taskforce’s mission is to protect the safety and welfare of St. Paul’s Church family and community against the spread of Covid-19. In alignment with the Centers for Disease Control, State of Pennsylvania and county guidelines the church building has remained closed. As guidelines have continued to be updated, requests have been made for events to take place at St. Paul’s. To ensure your safety, the building and property will remain closed to all activity and events with the exception of work required for live streaming. This can be safely managed by following a strict schedule of tracking and monitoring of a limited number of individuals in the church. This monitoring includes temperature checks, screening for symptoms of Covid-19, social distancing, use of personal protective equipment and disinfecting protocols.

Although our church facility remains closed, the Relaunch Team is working diligently in planning for the day when it will be safe for us to physically join together and fellowship at St. Paul’s.

St. Paul’s Baptist Church Relaunch Taskforce Dr. Lisa Croft - Chair

ST. PAUL’S BAPTIST CHURCH RELAUNCH TEAM

MISSION: Protect the safety and welfare of the St. Paul’s family and members of the community against the resurgence of Covid 19.

Dear St. Paulians,

The mission of the St. Paul’s Relaunch Team is to use scientific data to protect the safety and welfare of St. Paul’s Church family and members of the community against the resurgence of COVID-19. The relaunch committee has used the recommendations of the CDC and PA State guidelines as the basis for our decision-making. Following scientific data and the stability of trends in COVID results, we have proposed a measured approach to reopen our church before resuming in-person services. We have proposed to begin our reopening process with ministry meetings being the only activities held in the church building. Ministries can begin to meet at the church starting August 2, 2021. Guidelines for the ministry meetings are as follows:

A request form for a ministry meeting must be completed and signed by the Servant leader to schedule a meeting on the church calendar. • One to two meetings per day consisting of no more than 50 people will be permitted to allow for sanitizing the fellowship hall. • Masks are to be always worn. • Members are to adhere to COVID screening guidelines posted at the entrance to fellowship hall. • The rear door located in the back of the fellowship hall will be the only entry exit points to the building. • Members are permitted to only use the restrooms located next to the elevator lobby. • No food is to be served at meetings.

We will continue to monitor trends in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to COVID. If the trend of COVID cases continues to decline, we hope to fully reopen for in-person worship services on September 5, 2021.

We are in unchartered waters when it comes to COVID. We know that there are variants plaguing parts of the country and wreaking havoc in unvaccinated individuals. We don’t know, if there will be other variants emerging and what impact these variants will make in terms of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Therefore, we are advocating we proceed with caution and remain flexible so that we can respond to changes in COVID status reports. We pray that we will be able to sustain our efforts to praise our Lord and Savior, in person, at St. Paul’s Baptist Church.

Dr. Lisa Croft Relaunch Task Force Chair