Dear Church,
I want to let you know how we plan to continue and hope to expand the good we do as a church, reaching people with the Good News of Jesus Christ, and leading them into a growing relationship with him.
One of the most encouraging aspects of our shift online for Sunday’s weekend worship "gathering" was not only how many of our regulars were able to participate, but also how many who we hadn’t seen for a while, or who are out of our region joined in as well. I believe that this situation will actually serve to expand our reach. That’s my prayer at least.
In the mean time, here’s how you can serve and be served as we move forward.
Stay Home — The importance of "social distancing" has already been emphasized and is becoming clearer as time goes on. In the two days leading up to making the decision to shift Cornerstone online for now, the more I learned the more I became convinced that this was an important step to take to get ahead of the curve. Many other churches in our area, around the country, and throughout North America were coming to the same conclusion. If you’re not inclined to take steps, I would encourage you to do so, if not for your sake, for the sake of the people you know and love who are at greater risk. To that end, there will be no official in-person Cornerstone gatherings—worship services, team meetings, and small groups—for now. In-person interaction will be minimized, and if it is required for some reason, social distancing protocols and good health hygiene practices (such as maintaining at least a six-foot distance, frequent hand-washing, etc.) should be followed.
Start or keep "meeting" online Sundays — Whether you’re a regular at Cornerstone, or not even sure how your email got on this list, I hope you’ll set aside 10 a.m. Sunday mornings for our church-wide worship experience online. If you can’t catch it then, try to catch up ASAP. We are adapting the format to this new way of experiencing church, and working this week to improve the quality and availability of the live stream. We will announce the ways you can join in as Sunday approaches.
Start or keep gathering online in your teams and small groups — There are a variety of online options so that you can still be face to face, even when you’re not in the same room. Several teams and groups have already started using Zoom (https://zoom.us), which has a free option. I would encourage you to keep meeting on your normal schedule. This might even be an opportunity to add to your group people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate. You and people you know will need more interaction, not less. Who can you invite? Interested in joining a group yourself? Let us know here...
Start or keep giving online — If you’re used to giving in-person, now is a good time to convert to the ease and convenience of online giving here... The regular, sustained, percentage-of-income giving of the people who make up the Cornerstone family fuels the ministry of our church. We run a very lean operation to begin with, and we’ll always look for ways to economize, but the fixed expenses of the church will likely remain consistent in the immediate future and we may encounter some unexpected expenses adapting to this new reality. I recognize many of you are facing economic uncertainty as well, so I appreciate what a step of faith it is to set aside a percentage of your income, especially when that income is smaller, for this purpose. Thank you!
I really do believe, as I said on Sunday’s live stream, that God is in control, and that he’s going to use this for his glory and our good. Thank you for joining me on this journey!
Pastor Brian