Disappointed in church cancellations

[j_seph]

I have seen and heard very little about tithing at the churches up this way. Drive in services have been if you have a tithe , stick your hand out the window and someone will come by and take it. Our church was told if you have a tithe just place it in the mailbox as you pull out. Thanks be to God we paid off our church 2 months ago, so other than utilities which aren't being used a lot right now we are well. We did have to postpone our one annual fundraiser we do each year until October.

 

[Israel]

Not a problem at all, as I was shown something through it. I appreciate it!

Is there the place of blessed ignorance to be found where we abandon all work of seeking to make ourselves appear innocent?

There is a terrible place of facing our own ignorance that is able to save us from a worse place. The worst place.

And then the terrible place becomes for us delightful. Joyous. Hilariously...wonderful. Hidden. To be revealed. Not because of ignorance...but because we thought we knew?

 

[NE GA Pappy]

But others are opening for in-person meetings. Buford Church of God, for example, is holding an in-person this Sunday, May 3 at 9 AM. There is a required sign-up on their web site so they can limit attendance to 175 people which should give attendees plenty of room to spread out in their sanctuary which has a much larger max occupancy during normal times. When I checked this morning, 99 people had already signed up for this Sunday and some had also signed up for next Sunday. They are also maintaining drive-in and online services for folks who prefer not to attend in person.

Our church is doing the same thing with the online registration. You tell them how many in your party, and they are arranging the church to seat the most with the groups that are coming. They think 200 can be seated in one service, so we are having a 9am and an 11am. Pastor says if those fill up and people still want to come, then May 10, we will have 3 services, and add every Sunday until all who want to be in church can be in church.

They are also continuing drive in church for those who aren't comfortable with being inside the building yet. It will be at 5pm on Sunday.

As far as tithes during the drive in church, Community Pastor Greg Gober gets up announces they are going to receive the offering, says a prayer and sits down. If you want to give, you turn on your flashers, and someone comes by with a bucket on a long pole, and places it outside your window so you can drop in the check. You don't have to even get within 6 ft to give.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

saw this today, and thought it was funny

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

Attended Buford Church of God yesterday in person. There was a lot of effort and a great job maintaining social distancing requirements through the service. About 150 of the 175 available slots were filled, which left plenty of room in the sancturary for people to maintain the recommended distancing. The social distancing I saw in church was better than I've seen anywhere else for the past couple weeks - it seems like folks are getting careless quickly in places like retail stores and on Lake Lanier.

Next week, I plan to attend an online service on Sunday and attend a mid-week service in person. As great as it was to be in church in person yesterday and hear a great sermon from Pastor Joey Grizzle, the spots for next Sunday are almost filled, and Mother's Day is usually behind only Christmas and Easter in terms of attendance. There is far less demand for limited seating in mid-week services, and I am pleased a few nearby churches are beginning to open these back also for in-person attendance.

But I will observe that it seems to make more sense for churches to re-open now if their original closure was to comply with the Governor's order (which has expired) than if their original closure was purportedly for the protection and well-being of their flock. Most Georgia counties have higher rates of COVID-19 right now than in mid-March when churches originally began to close. If the same seating limitations and social distancing would have been maintained, having church in March and early April would have been safer then than it is now, since the infection rates were much lower.

 

[4HAND]

We're hoping to be back in our Sanctuary in 2 weeks.
Social distance seating in Sanctuary & foyer, as well as continuing to transmit through FM for folks who wish to remain in their vehicles.

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

Good to see this.

Justice Department backs pastor challenging Va. Gov. Northam's social distancing order

The Justice Department is siding with a rural Virginia church that sued the state's governor after the pastor was charged with violating a social distancing order.

The government filed court papers Sunday in support of Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Chincoteague on Virginia's eastern shore, which said the state improperly discriminated by insisting that the church permit no more than 10 people to attend services while allowing businesses to accommodate larger groups.

"The Commonwealth cannot treat religious gatherings less favorably than other similar secular gatherings," the Justice Department said in its submission.

While Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's stay-at-home order allows residents to attend religious services, it restricts the number of people who can congregate, while shopping malls, office spaces, law firms and other businesses are allowed to operate with no such limits.

States have broad powers to protect public health, but the courts should step in when they go too far, the government said.

"There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution and its Bill of Rights," the Justice Department said.

Police officers charged Pastor Kevin Wilson with violating the governor's order by allowing 16 people to attend a service on April 5. Lawyers for the church said those 16 people were separated by more than 6 feet in a sanctuary that can seat 225.

On Friday, a federal judge denied the church's motion for an order to block enforcement of Northam's order against religious gatherings, provided that they comply with social distancing and personal hygiene recommendations.

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

I'm beginning to see lots of area churches advertise re-openings on Sunday, May 17. Some still targeting later dates, and various guidance on reservations and social distancing and masks is in play, so make sure you check the details before you go.

Not sure yet, if the Bible studies and small groups that have been suspended or moved on-line will resume in person that week. Hope so.

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

As I expected, the courts are beginning to rule that it was unconstitutional to close churches while allowing places like Walmart to remain open.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/coronavirus-kentucky-church-service-gov-judge

“If social distancing is good enough for Home Depot and Kroger, it is good enough for in-person religious services which, unlike the foregoing, benefit from constitutional protection,” the judge wrote in the court's order.

 

[Ruger#3]

James 4:11 - Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of [his] brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

What RIGHT do you have to sit in a church and JUDGE who is saved and who is not? It is a personal relationship between you and God, not between Woodrow, you and God.

AMEN!!!!

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

I am noticing churches doing a much better job getting the word out about the status of their Sunday meetings (in-person or on-line) than the status of their mid-week meetings.

What's the use of web pages, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram if potential attendees are left in the dark regarding what's happening this week?

Y'all might want to check the web presence of your churches and see how the communication is going with respect to re-opening plans.

 

[Israel]

Probably best not to confuse ignorance with innocence.

aha!

Would there be anything more ignorant than man declaring his own innocence?

But O! what a seemingly clever hideout...

"I am innocent because I was ignorant that life could hold deadly consequence."

To be able to declare "I am ignorant enough to not have known..." already displays enough for a conviction.

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

Trump Deems Churches Essential

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

Liberty vs. Love?

Love seeks to protect the liberty of others, especially when that liberty is the subject of covenant promises (the US Constitution). What other covenant promises are suddenly subject to unilateral modification during a pandemic?

So while love might decide for their own church to suspend meetings, it would never demand other churches to suspend their meetings or to judge other churches for failing to suspend their meetings.

I saw a lot more bad science recently than bad theology. The bad science was that somehow, meeting (with proper social distancing and respiratory hygiene) in church was more dangerous than going to Walmart.

The worst doctrinal error I saw was the willingness to classify the church meeting together as "non-essential." The church meeting together is absolutely essential activity.

I also saw a lot of false testimony along the lines that other people were somehow putting them or their loved ones at risk by leaving their homes or attending church meetings, regardless of whether the recommended social distancing and respiratory hygiene standards were met. Failing to rebuke false testimony among purported Christians is bad practice.

 

[LittleDrummerBoy]

It is important to note the key difference between a voluntary closure and an ordered one. With voluntary closures, the church itself decides when it may resume normal operations. With government orders, one is waiting for government to give the OK to open again for public services. They may have a very different idea of "how long" is long enough.

As shown above, I knew within a week of the early church closures that we'd get to the point we are now - with churches wanting to open, but evil people in government wanting to keep them closed.

I wonder how many who opined above that churches need to "submit to government authority" and follow instructions to close still think churches need to stay closed in places where the governor has ordered them to?

It does my heart good to see churches resisting illegal and evil orders to stay closed. As I said before, we must obey God rather than men -

https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-pastor-coronavirus-order-newsoms-shutdown