Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Hello brothers and sisters. Last Wednesday I made an announcement concerning the COVID precautions the elders have agreed to going forward.
We understand that the mask mandate for Alabama expires April 9. That decision was based upon a statement that the state no longer wishes to tell people what to do. By the state's stepping aside from that decision, business owners, individuals and leaders of organizations are still empowered to decide if they wish to modify their current procedures or keep things in place as they are with respect to the wearing of masks and social distancing.
Richard and I agree that we wish to keep our current requirements in place for the wearing of masks and social distancing until we feel that we can implement changes safely.
We feel there are hopefully better times ahead in the next few months as more of the population is vaccinated and more information is known concerning the protection the vaccines afford. We will be re-looking at our policies over the summer.
As I emphasized last week, we carry a continual burden in our hearts and minds over the potential that someone might be needlessly infected while attending services at University. We ask for your empathy and understanding and continued support.
- Vince Formica, Elder
Sunday, November 1
Resumption of Sunday School Classes:
Beginning next Sunday November 8th, we will resume the following Sunday School classes at 9:30 a.m. before our worship service:
Adult Bible Class will be taught in the auditorium by Clint Duncan.
The 2 & 3 years old will be taught, as before, in the classroom next to the ladies’ room in the east hallway by Wendy Howard.
The Kingdom Kids Class will be taught, as before, in the set of classrooms at the south end of the west hallway by Suzanne Jay & Alisha Jay. As before, these classes are for 4 years old through First Grade, and Second Grade through Fifth Grade.
The Sunday morning Youth Ministry class will also resume in the Student Center at this time for our young folks in Sixth through Twelfth Grade.
As more of our members transition back, and teachers are available, we will work to resume our other class offerings (2nd adult class, Children’s Worship, etc.). Thank you to all those who have volunteered, or are continuing to volunteer, to teach us and our young folks.
** Masks and Social Distancing is required, for everyone 2nd grade and up, during Bible Class and Worship Services **
Friday, May 22
Click HERE, or the button below, to view a letter from Richard and Vince, concerning meeting back together for in person worship!
Friday, may 8
An update from one of our elders, Vince Formica:
Hello University Church of Christ! I want to thank Governor Kay Ivey , Mayor Sandy Stimpson, and all US leaders for their courage and concern in leading us thus far through a difficult period. When we started this journey over a perilous path we had questions concerning our abilities to protect ourselves from the spread of this illness. As I examine statistics each day I come away with a regret that we have not made more progress in curbing the spread of COVID 19. I am encouraged by the massive human effort and the sacrifices made by those we call "essential workers".
For our government leaders, part of dealing with COVID includes knowing when to re-authorize congregational, in-person worship, the opening of businesses and how to conduct social activities. As most of you know we now have approval to resume worship services in our buildings beginning this coming Monday.
It has become apparent that, over time, the safer at home measures has become a monumental struggle between public safety, the ability of Americans to earn a living, as well as the right to the exercise of personal freedoms.
In authorizing churches to meet again in their buildings the responsibility for organizing a safe transition to corporate, in-person worship becomes the task of church leaders.
I spoke with Richard Jay today concerning our forward path for assembling and we agreed that our plans would require careful planning, the collection of input from various parties, and a commitment to enforce the set of procedures that we resolve to implement.
That said, we decided we would not be assembling as early as this Wednesday, but that we would use this week to plan together and gather input. We will be announcing the specifics on our future plans before the end of this upcoming work week.
I implore each of you to be continually vigilant against the spread of this virus to your families. Richard and I express our love and concern for you and wish to express how much we miss you. We are excited and concerned at the same time as we make plans to reinstate in-person worship.
- Vince Formica
Wednesday, March 18
A MESSAGE FROM OUR ELDERS CONCERNING CORONA-VIRUS:
Richard and I have met with Jeremy, Paul, and Judy. As I mentioned in our earlier post, we will be temporarily suspending in-person church and providing access to services on a virtual basis. We came to a lot of decisions this evening and the group will forgive me if I forget something.
- Jeremy and Paul will send links to messages/ services for Wednesday evening and for Sunday worship. It is not necessary to be on Facebook to view these presentations.
- We will be including additional elements of the worship service such as communion in the Sunday presentation.
- If you would like to receive a copy of the bulletin via email, please let Judy know. If you have an addition to the prayer list please message Judy via messenger or email.
- Members may pick up communion kits at the building, sufficient to last for three worship services.
- Contributions can be made by either leaving the check at the church building when you pick up the communion kits, or by mail.
- We will be making calls to attempt to address members that do not have access to a computer or cell phone and attempt to make other arrangements with them so that they care share in worship.
- We will be in contact via phone will all members during this time to provide encouragement.
What was announced yesterday by the President was a plea for Americans to practice social distancing. We cannot sanction alternative approaches to conducting church other than what we are implementing. I would not suggest formulating smaller groups that meet together in person. I know that for many of us including me, the lack of fellowship is heart breaking, but I feel that what we do now in limiting our exposure to the virus will pay dividends in an earlier return to normalcy and the worship we love.
- The Elders of the University church of Christ
Richard Jay
Vince Formica
Saturday, March 14
Church Family,
We face a number of difficult choices concerning our approach to the Coronavirus. Please be aware that actions/cancellations may be implemented quickly and with very little notice so please visit the church’s Facebook page/website often. Due to the low number of Coronavirus cases confirmed in Alabama, we are electing this Sunday March 15th to proceed with morning services, with precautions. Since each instance of our meeting together requires a diligent effort to observe these precautions, we are cancelling our evening services for the 15th.
By this time, you have probably seen references to these precautions in numerous places, but because we need strict compliance to these measures, we are publishing them here. If anyone has additional insights into this, please comment below.
▪️ For anyone who is ill or would face a challenge recuperating from an illness please stay home. Please let us know of any prayer requests you may have.
▪️ I know this will be a difficult thing to implement, but please do not touch each other in any way, and maintain a distance from each other. We can devise some sort of wave and have fun with it.
▪️ Please be diligent about washing your hands and using proper hand washing technique. Take a moment to review hand washing guides published by the CDC at https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html. If soap and water are not available then apply a hand sanitizer.
▪️ We have extensively cleaned and disinfected the church. However, I would suggest you take careful note of any contact you may have had with a person or surface at church and wash your hands.
▪️ Do not touch yourself anywhere on or near your face.
▪️ We have acquired communion kits and are changing our approach to the Lord’s supper for obvious reasons.
▪️ It would be good if those who can, bring hand sanitizer tomorrow so that we can use those on an as needed basis particularly for children over 2.
We love and cherish each other and our worship services are certainly the high point of our weekly lives. As decisions are made to cancel or modify services, please know that it is not a reflection of the priority we place on worship. We will be making our services available on this site and we will be devising ways to keep connected.
Please keep us informed of any needs or challenges you are having.
- The Elders of the University church of Christ