The Reopening Team for Powell Church has been working diligently to write a plan and receive approval from our district superintendent to re-open our building for small groups and Thursday/Sunday worship services. We have received approval to open our building, but we do not have dates for when we will be able to resume in-person worship service. Once the numbers begin to go down in Knox county, and our Bishop and Conference leadership give us a date, we will put our reopening plan into action and resume in-person gatherings at the building. We did, however, reopen our church building to small groups about five weeks ago. This reopening phase included Sunday school classes, Wednesday night groups, and recovery groups. One Sunday school class, two Wednesday groups, and four recovery groups began meeting as well. However, little over two weeks ago, we had to close the building again to such groups because of the growing number of coronavirus cases in our area. Our childcare services for essential workers and households (where parents had to resume work away from their homes) reopened in the middle of June and remain open.
As soon as we receive a word on when our buildings can be reopened for in person gatherings, we will communicate our plan broadly and openly through the various communication platforms that Powell Church offers to all who are connected with us……our plan is ready to be put into action! We know some churches have reopened, and we know some churches have closed back down while others have continued to remain open. The spread is real, and people in churches are becoming infected and hospitalized. We are working towards reopening our building for church services and gatherings, but we are working to do that as safely as possible. Once we receive the “OK” to open, we look forward to letting you know what that will look like for Powell Church. Thank you for your prayers, your digital presence, your service, your financial support, and your patience in this time. We look forward to gathering safely back together soon. Until then, go and be the church! Because WE ARE THE CHURCH!
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Brad
