From Pastor Scott about COVID-19 Response at Peace Church:
As you all probably have heard by now, the latest CDC recommendations are for there to be no gatherings of 10 or more people. That means we cannot have public worship at Peace Church this Sunday or any other until recommendations change. So we will be providing an online worship experience of some kind this coming Sunday and until we get notice that we are recommended to resume public worship. I will continue to construct and preach sermons each week and offer other opportunities to pray and grow closer to God as best as I can. We are not setting a date to resume public worship at this point because it will likely be a moving target.
Our worship experience will be at 10 a.m. on Sundays and will be livestreamed on Facebook and saved there as one video from now. So we encourage you all to join us online in that way. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions about how to view these worship videos. I will send reminder emails out each week with the link to the worship videos. We also will be facilitating video conference meetings from now on for teams and classes and groups that want to continue to meet. Let me know if you'd like me to set that up for you.
In these times of uncharted territory and lack of in person gatherings, we must remember that we are Peace Church, united in our mission of sharing Jesus, growing in faith, and serving with our gifts to glorify God, wherever we may be. Please pray that God will get us through this time and keep us united. Remember, we STILL "go nowhere by accident".
We must consider one practical issue regarding a lack of in person worship. The church continues to have expenses of staff and rent that cannot be changed. Session will be doing what we can to reduce these expenses, but we'd prefer not to lay off staff or reduce pay to our current staff. We cannot do that and stay solvent if giving completely dries up without in person worship. Please mail in your donations to the church office (Peace Church, 11200 Broadway #2743, Pearland, TX 77584) or go to the church giving website (www.peacepres.net/giving) and give whatever you pledged or normally give to the church even though you aren't able to gather with us in person. Of course, we understand that right now investments are struggling in the financial markets but all experts expect that to turn around once the crisis has passed. But if we fall apart as a congregation because we cannot pay staff or rent, then we will have a very hard time continuing after the crisis. If you are still receiving income, please still continue to donate to the church and other charities you support.
If you are not receiving income and are in need of food or anything else during the crisis, please let me know and we will try and meet needs as best as we can.
Most of all, please pray that we will get through this and return to God's plan to use us to bless our community. Thank you so much for your support.
In Christ, Scott Cummings
Pastor, Peace Church Pearland
