Beloved Church Council:
This has been a challenging week as our community, cities, and state begin to consider how to safely reengage the world. A lot of attention has been directed to faith communities, since there has been civic permission for in-person worship to begin, with certain protocol.
Let me first say: YOU are the church. YOU never closed, nor did we cease operations. In fact, our metrics of discipleship are up, significantly! Our average weekly worship attendance is up, our weekly tithes and offerings are up, and our engagement with Bible Study and Fellowship opportunities are up. This warms my heart so much. I can see how hard you’re working to stay connected with God and with each other. I have listened as you’ve offered opportunities for service, and created opportunities on your own to care for your neighbor. You inspire me, church.
I will also say that our model of outdoor worship is a gift to us. We know that our mission and ministry is not confined to a building.
That said: everything we do is an expression of our public theology. Our worship is public, our witness is public, and our messaging is public. Nothing is hidden behind walls or confines, and this means we have to be certain that the message we’re sending is one of thoughtful intention.
As your pastor, I know that we are not yet ready to resume in-person worship in our parking lot. We are simply not equipped to reach the same number of people we are currently reaching online. Unlike most churches, our parking lot is not property exclusively used for our own purposes. We are exposed and vulnerable. This is almost always a strength, but right now, I cannot guarantee that we could hold our in-person worship services in a way that would keep everyone safe.
Not all of our members have cars in which to sit, and we only have 7 tents. Our current capacity is 50 people, and according to LA County’s guidelines, we would have to limit capacity to 25% or fewer than 100 people, whichever is lower. For us, this means we could only have 12-13 people comfortably on site and under shade. Additionally, we could not have our musicians perform (or invite anyone to sing) without risk. We could not celebrate Communion, we could not pass the peace, we could not pass the microphone for the prayers of the people. So many of our practices, which we have been able to continue online, would have to be abandoned. I am not sure there is value in this.
Pastorally, I believe that our efforts are best directed to our online presence, for the time being. I rejoice that we have been able to reach so many more people, in so many more places, than would be typical.
Our economic challenges are primarily due to the absence of revenue generated by United Valet Parking, not because we’re prevented from gathering in person. We are working, steadily, to find options to make up this revenue, and I am hopeful that we will have some options before our next church council meeting on June 9.
As you can see in the Bishop’s e-mail, below, the Cal-Pac Conference has provided us with a checklist to evaluate our readiness. I suggest that we take time to review this on June 9, so that we can begin to make a plan for our in-person gatherings. It may mean that we bolster our online presence, marketing, and reach, until we are certain that we can safely gather. I appreciate that the Bishop is encouraging us to take our time with these decisions.
I know we have a lot of things to consider and discuss, and I invite your responses so that we can consider all aspects and concerns. I am grateful for you, praying for you, and hopeful for our future.
I miss you, and look forward to the day that we can be in one another’s presence. I am humbled and honored to be your pastor, now and always.
Blessings,
Mandy
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Guidelines for Church Re-Launch of In-Person Worship Services
As you are probably aware, many of our state, county and city officials have released their own set of guidelines for churches reopening their in-person worship services. They vary from area to area, but they provide us with some broad guidelines to consider in relaunching our public worships. However, no United Methodist Church in our California-Pacific Conference can re-open until our own set of guidelines are approved.
We have a strict set of guidelines that must be followed and as I mentioned earlier, here is the process:
A detailed plan of opening in-person worship services must be created and approved by the annual conference.
The church must approve these guidelines by the appointed pastor and Administrative Council.
They must be submitted to your District Superintendent, or designated District Team, for final approval.
You will find the complete set of guidelines as a PDF here. They have been created by a small team (Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin, Rev. Robb Fuesler, Rev. Erika Gara, Rev. Bob Rhodes, and Rev. Molly Vetter), vetted by the appointed Cabinet, Connectional Table leadership, and medical and legal teams of our California-Pacific Conference.
You will find all of these guidelines are in compliance with state, county and city officials. But, in order to ensure the safety of our laity, clergy and churches, we must follow them in every detail before re-launching your in-person worship service. Because the Book of Discipline designates your appointed pastor over all worship services, she or he must be comfortable with re-opening before it can happen. Your pastor has the right to override any decision to re-open if she or he determines it is just not safe. We also ask for those of you who having an appointment change to include your incoming pastor in this planning process. We have alerted our pastors who are taking on new appointments of this process and they are in agreement.
We still believe that none of our churches have closed – We have just continued worship and pastoral care in a new way. Re-opening your physical worship services is a risk no matter how many precautions are taken. With this in mind, each church is free to delay this re-opening until they determine it is truly safe.
Feel free to raise any specific questions with your District Superintendent, or myself.
Finally, I want to thank you for your patience and commitment to your own local church, district and annual conference leadership. Throughout this COVID-19 crisis, you have given your all to enable your church not only to survive, but thrive! I continue to pray for you daily, sometimes hourly, and will continue to do that for as long as possible. It is an honor to work side-by-side with you!
Continue to Be the Hope,
Resident Bishop Grant J. Hagiya
Los Angeles Episcopal Area
Click here for the Plan Development Guidelines for Local Churches