Plans for Sundays, Until July

Action Taken by the Church Council – May 21, 2020

Dear Friends,

There was a meeting of the Church Council of the First United Methodist Church of Nevada on Thursday evening, May 21, 2020, via Zoom.

After much discussion, the Council was unanimous in its decision NOT to open the church for in-person, in-house worship at this time. We will stay in lockdown through the month of June. Later in June, the Council will meet again to reconsider the situation and take appropriate action.

The reasons for the decision are as follows:

1. One of Wesley’s three simple rules was “Do no harm.” COVID-19 is still with us. The number of deaths in Iowa continues to remain high. Story County is close to one of the epicenters of COVID activity (Polk County and Des Moines area). COVID has not gone away, and we are going to be dealing with it for a while.

2. COVID’s primary means of spreading is by inhalation. It hangs in the atmosphere for a couple of hours, and enclosed areas (like a sanctuary) are prime places for spreading it. To properly social distance would reduce our sanctuary capacity by 80%. And then how do we decide who gets to attend worship? Do we want people having to make reservations for worship?

3. We cannot have congregational singing at this time as that increases the chance of spreading the virus. Group worship without singing?! We are Methodists, and that is part of our tradition, our spiritual DNA.

4. After a worship service, you need to allow a couple of hours for any airborne COVID to settle, and then deep cleaning needs to take place. This eliminates the idea of having multiple worship services in a single day. Even if we had a single worship service every day, say Thursday-Sunday, the cost in additional cleaning supplies and time for our custodian would be prohibitive.

5. A pastor and wife in Arkansas not too long ago went to a church Bible study. They were both infected but were not showing symptoms yet. They ended up being the source of 85 infections and two deaths. Another man went to in-person worship in California not long ago and ended up being the source of 185 infections and, again, two deaths. I do NOT want that happening here.

6. Until we can provide a worship experience in-house that surpasses what we can do online, it makes no sense to take risks. This has been the decision of many UM churches (that includes Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, the largest church in our denomination). It is hard, but I believe it is the smartest, safest thing to do. This too shall pass, and I want us all to make it through together, in one piece.

Continue to let the office and me know about prayer concerns, and we will address issues as they come up.

In the meantime, be encouraged.

Pastor Mike on behalf of the Church Council