COVID-19 Response

Dear Church Family,

While we are all distressed at the loss of fellowship and corporate worship over the coming weeks, I would like to share a few words of encouragement, perspective, and ideas for coping with this change in our reality.

First of all, allow me to reassure you that the decision to suspend services is not an issue of faith, or lack thereof, but an issue of health and safety. While it is true that we find many Bible promises like Psalm 91:10 “No harm will come upon you, no sickness will come near your house.” We also find many other passages such as Leviticus 13 and 14 that strongly command that when a person becomes ill with communicable disease that they are to practice “social distancing”. This was and is done to prevent the spread of the illness to the rest of the community.

We in South Louisiana are particularly familiar with the concept of cancelling services in the face of an impending hurricane or even tornado. The pandemic is an unfamiliar and invisible threat to our community, but a threat nonetheless with a death toll that has already exceeded hurricane proportions. Our closure is a way that we can demonstrate with our actions that we care for the well-being of our more vulnerable members as well as our community at large.

I too, agonize over the idea of cancelling services and feel a bit as though our hand is being forced by a certain amount of unwarranted hysteria and media hype. I’m reminded of certain weather situations in the past having been spoken of in dire and disastrous terms by the media which turned out to be barely a thunderstorm. However, much like those storms, the only responsible course of action is to choose the path with the least potential of danger and damage to the cause of Christ. The impact of the regret and repercussions of someone getting sick or dying with even the possibility that the infection vector was a church gathering is potentially devastating.

Let us remember that “the church” is not merely a building. The Body of Christ is composed of faithful believers–not buildings, equipment, and pews. These things are merely tools to be used by The Body to carry out the mission given to us. During this time we will simply have to use different tools. Remember that where two or three are gathered in the name of Christ, the presence of God is especially given to give power and validity to that gathering.

With that in mind, I wanted to let you know of some resources that may be of help to you during our time apart from corporate worship in the coming days. Below are some ways that you can access some online resources for connecting with our larger community of faith, plug into uplifting content, keep up with your giving, and even find content for kids!

12 Large Institutional Adventist Churches That Currently Live-Stream Services

Arlington Church | Arlington, Texas | https://arlingtonadventist.com
Berrien Springs Village Church | Berrien Springs, Michigan | https://villagesda.org
Church in the Valley | Aldergrove, British Columbia, Canada | https://www.churchinthevalley.ca
Church of the Advent Hope | New York City | https://www.adventhope.org
Collegedale Church | Collegedale, Tennessee | https://www.collegedalechurch.com
College View Church | Lincoln, Nebraska | https://www.collegeviewchurch.org
La Sierra Spanish Church | Riverside, California | https://www.lasierraspanishchurch.org
La Sierra University Church | Riverside, California | https://lasierra.church
Loma Linda University Church | Loma Linda, California | https://www.lluc.org
Oakwood University Church | Huntsville, Alabama | https://oucsda.org
Pioneer Memorial Church | Berrien Springs, Michigan | https://www.pmchurch.org
Spencerville Church | Spencerville, Maryland | https://spencervillechurch.org

If you have access to Roku, or other streaming services, 3ABN, Amazing Facts, Amazing Discoveries, Hope Channel, and more have live and archived streaming content galore. Much of this content can also be found on their respective websites.

It Is Written (itiswritten.tv and available on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Google Play, Roku, and more) will be airing a Special edition of “In the Word” specifically in response to Church Closures. The special episode will air on Saturday, March 21, 2020, and Sunday, March 22, 2020, at 11 a.m. EDT, 2 p.m. EDT, and 8 p.m. EDT on the It Is Written TV livestream.

Arkansas-Louisiana Conference Streaming/Prerecorded Options:

Children’s Options

Children will be affected by the same sense of loss of community worship and learning as everyone else. Parents and caretakers can use some of these resources to help make Sabbath and even time home from school an uplifting time.

La Sierra University Church has started a kid-friendly Family Sabbath School live stream than can be found at https://www.facebook.com/lsuchurch/videos/785792485279065/%C2%A0

A good list of LOTS of other resources, including activity pages, virtual fieldtrips, bible videos, and more can be found at https://www.childmin.org/kmimagazine/2020/3/16/online-churches-what-does-that-mean-for-the-children

Ministry Ideas

This is an excellent time to put some feet on our faith and show our care and concern to others who are affected by this pandemic. Here are some ideas for demonstrating Christlikeness to those around us:

Check up on your neighbors and see if they are well or it they need anything
Team up with another healthy member and volunteer to do store or pharmacy runs for anyone who is shut-in by this virus or the fear thereof and deliver their items to their porch so they don’t have to get out and be exposed to anything.
Call church members and spend a few minutes in encouraging conversation to help fill the void left by a lack of corporate worship services.
Change the conversation on Social Media by posting and sharing uplifting messages and sending extra messages of affirmation to others.

I hope that you will be blessed and that we will see God working mightily in our community and our church throughout this difficult time.

–Pastor Daniel Hoover

How do we relate to our church closing during the pandemic?

An open letter to members and guests.