WORSHIP GATHERING GUIDELINES

Welcome

We spent more than four months without an in-person worship gathering at Renascent Church. During that time, we’ve made the most of the technology available to us. But online-only church is no substitute for the weekly in-person gathering of believers. We’ve missed it! And we’re excited to be able to hold in-person gatherings again!

In order to protect the health and safety of our members and guests, we need your help to make sure we are able to continue these in-person gatherings for the foreseeable future. So please do your part by reading and adhering to the guidelines below:

Masks

The governor of the state of Alabama has now issued a statewide mask ordinance. Because of this, we are asking all those in attendance to wear masks during our worship gatherings. We know that some people have medical reasons not to wear a mask and others are below the age requirement, and we certainly want to respect those exceptional circumstances. But we do ask that anyone who is capable of wearing a mask to please wear one while in attendance at our worship gatherings. If you are unable to provide a mask for yourself or anyone in your family, we will have some disposable masks available.
We know that this is a touchy subject for many people. We don’t desire to debate the efficacy of masks or the political ramifications of wearing (or not wearing) them. We do, however, want to do everything in our power to respect the health, safety, and personal wishes of others. We desire both to submit to the governing authorities in our area and to think more highly of others than we do of ourselves. Because of this, we ask that you respect this request to wear a mask during our worship gatherings.
If you are unwaveringly opposed to wearing a mask for reasons other than the health and age restrictions set forth by the city ordinance, we respect your decision to do so and ask that you join us via our online worship gathering outlined in the “Online Option” section below.

Arrival

Our worship gatherings will begin at 10:30. Please do not enter the building any earlier than 10:20. We ask that all socializing be done after the worship gathering, outside in the open-air parking lots. We know you have missed seeing each other. We’ve missed you too! But please wait until after the service to catch up with each other.
Plan to enter through our usual entry door and to exit the building through the door closer to the back of the building. Each door will be labeled to avoid confusion.
Once you are in the building, please find a seat for you and your family in one of our seating areas. You will find seat clusters of various sizes spread throughout our building. Just find one that is available and large enough for your group. If you need additional chairs, there will be some extra chairs available along the back walls. These chairs can be moved to add to the existing chair clusters or to start a new cluster in an unused area. Just make sure to maintain the proper social distance of six feet if you add chairs anywhere in our auditorium.
We know that you guys like to greet each other with a handshake or a hug or a high five (do people still do that?). But for the time being, we ask that you greet each other with words and a nod. Recognize that many people will not feel comfortable with physical greetings, but they also might not feel comfortable telling others that they are uncomfortable. So we’re going to be the bad guys and just ask all our people to avoid physical greetings entirely. I know this isn’t easy, especially in the South. But we appreciate you doing everything you can to make it work.

Kids

We will not have our Renascent Kids, Preschool, or Nursery ministries available at this time. But that does not mean that you cannot bring your children to the worship gathering with you. Just plan for them to sit with you during the worship gathering. We will have a kids’ activity page available each week for the children to use during the worship gathering. If you want to bring crayons or colored pencils for your child each week, we encourage you do to do so. We will also have some colors available each week.
“But what if they get rowdy?” We will praise God for that! We expect them to get rowdy. They are kids! Our group is made up of many young families with a bunch of young kids. We expect things are going to be chaotic for a while. And that’s totally ok! Know that whoever is leading at the time, whether it is leading music or preaching or anything else we will be doing, those leaders are ready for the chaos. And we will make sure all those in attendance are aware of the fact that we are ready to embrace the chaos. So don’t sweat it!
Feel free to bring any toys or blankets or snacks that you think might keep your little ones happy during the worship gathering. We will have some toys available if you need them. We ask that if you make use of these toys that you do your best to ensure they don’t get passed around to other children. When you are done with them, place them in the “Used Toys” basket that is provided in the back and they will be disinfected each week by some of our volunteers.
We do ask that you do your best to keep your children in or around your seating area throughout the worship gathering. Kids will be kids. And they are going to want to run around and play with other kids. So we’re asking you to please do everything you can to minimize their interaction with other kids during the worship gatherings. If you want to allow them to play with their friends outside afterward, we leave that decision in your capable hands. But during the worship gathering, do what you can to minimize their interactions with the other children present. Again, we know that this isn’t always going to be possible. But we just ask that you do your best to minimize these interactions.
Seriously, it needs to be repeated: don’t freak out if your child gets loud or rowdy. We’re all a family at Renascent. We’ll handle it like a family!

Additional Safety Precautions

Our facility will be cleaned weekly leading up to each worship gathering. In addition, high-touch surfaces will be cleaned regularly while the building is in use.
We will have hand sanitizer stations readily available throughout our facility. Please make ample use of them.
All our volunteers will be screened each week according to the guidelines set forth by our state health authorities.
We have removed our self-serve coffee and snack station. So don’t come hungry or expecting your morning brew to be waiting for you!
Offering will no longer be taken up in baskets passed among people. While our online giving options have not changed, you will only be able to give in-person via a box provided in the back of the facility.
We will still participate in communion each week, but we have altered how we administer it to minimize the chance of interaction with others. Individually wrapped communion cups will be placed behind each chair weekly. In these cups, you will find a wafer for the body element wrapped separately from the juice used as the blood element. This will minimize the contact between people while still allowing us to participate in the weekly taking of communion.

Online Option

We recognize that some people might not feel comfortable coming back to an in-person gathering just yet. Because of this, we are committed to offer an online, streaming version of our worship gathering to anyone interested in joining us from home.
If you wish to join us in real-time, then you can do so by joining the live stream feature on our Facebook page. After each worship gathering concludes, the videos will remain available for anyone unable to attend in real-time.

What If I Might Be Sick?

If you are exhibiting any of the symptoms of COVID-19, please don’t come to an in-person worship gathering. See your local healthcare provider to determine whether you need to be tested and self-quarantined.
If you have recently been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, we ask that you not attend an in-person gathering until either you’ve been tested for COVID-19 with negative results or you have self-quarantined for the allotted period of two weeks following the contact.

We recognize this is a lot to take in at one time. Our world has changed so much in recent months, you hate to see those changes affect the way we implement our worship gatherings as a church. But the truth is, from its very inception, the church has always been an organization in flux. The church has changed its methods countless times over the centuries in response to the world around it.

But throughout all that time, the truth of the church’s message and mission has never changed. We may look a little different in the coming months than we did before this outbreak. But we are still dedicated to helping people find new life in Jesus and grow in their relationships with him. Thank you for your dedication to this mission and your willingness to work with the changes that we have chosen to make in order to continue our in-person worship gatherings during these crazy times.