Dear Church Family,
The health and safety of our families and our team members is of the utmost importance to us. Since the last time we met we have been keeping up to date with the shifting recommendations from the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Nova Scotia Health Authority. We are also following how government services, businesses and other churches are addressing these recommendations. As of the morning of June 5th, Premier Steven MacNeil on behalf of the province announced a number of regulations being lifted across the province, including the ability for people to gather in groups up to 10 inside with proper social gathering. These groups include church services, weddings and funerals. You might be wondering if or how Stevens Road United Baptist Church would make use of these altered restrictions. At this time the pastoral staff, the deacons board, the trustees board and all other major committees felt that it would be impractical to open the building for use yet, that includes Sunday worship, funerals and weddings for at least the month of June. As regulations change and restrictions adjust we will continually evaluate ways that we can gather together. Nova Scotia regulations do now allow for up to 15 people plus an officiant to conduct an outside graveside service and we would be honoured to come alongside anyone grieving in this manner. You might be wondering during this period what will we be doing to grow our faith in Jesus and connect as a body.
Each week we are having a digital church service that includes children’s time, prayer, announcements, bible reading and preaching. An order of service is also being e-mailed out each week. You can catch the service at this link https://www.facebook.com/stevensroadbaptist/posts You do not need a Facebook account to watch it ‘live’ on Sunday
The same digital church service will be broadcast ‘live’ on YouTube at 10:15am and it will be able to be watched on demand after that. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2JHFcCjsMQQoCeGALWg6Jw?view_as=subscriber No account is needed to watch this video.
The Sunday sermon will be uploaded to our podcast by Monday afternoon https://stevensroadbaptist.podbean.com/ no account needed to listen. You can also find this podcast using your favourite podcast app
On Sunday Morning at 10:15am you can come to the church parking lot and listen to our digital service via FM radio signal 88.5 FM. This service is the same service that will be broadcast on Facebook and YouTube.
Each week between Friday night and Saturday night an order of service e-mail is sent out to everyone on our mailing list. This e-mail has up to date announcements, prayer prompts and various links to click so you can listen to music, watch or listen to our Sunday service.
We are encouraging staying in contact with one another through phone calls, text messaging, e-mails, and even old fashion letters.
We have a number of volunteers willing to help with any needs you may have and are ready to ‘Knock, Drop and Go’.
Zoom Gatherings- We have been making use of Zoom gatherings. The Youth Group, Kids Night Out (Currently named Kids Night In) a Tuesday Morning bible study at 10am, and a Sunday Afternoon bible study at 2pm. Zoom Invites are sent in the weekly email or contact Pastor Erin.
Starting June 7th following the YouTube and Facebook service premieres we will also be hosting a Zoom chitchat and coffee/tea time for anyone interested in having a 30ish minute conversation and seeing each other’s smiling faces. Zoom Invites are sent in the weekly email or contact Pastor Erin.
And lastly, we understand that money may be a personal issue for you and your household in this time but we ask that you please consider giving on your normal schedule if possible. We accept e-transfers (etransfer@stevensroadbaptist.ca), we can set up automatic withdrawals, checks can be mailed, picked up or dropped off through the church’s mail slot handy the office door. We also want to say thank you for being faithful in your giving so far, it has been a blessing.
While we are starting to find our way towards a new normal we will be physically separated for a while longer but please know that none of us are alone. While we are each in our own space, we are still a community joined together through our faith in Christ as our Saviour and Lord. We will see the end of this period in this church’s history and this period of world history before too long. God will lead us through. Pastor Christopher On behalf of Staff, Deacons, Trustees, Christian Education, Worship and Finance