Worship Updates and Staying Connected
Update on Corporate Worship
The City Church session met Sunday night and made the decision—based on guidance from local and state-level officials and the Center for Disease Control—to not hold corporate, in-person worship for at least the next two weeks. This means we will not meet to worship together on March 22nd and 29th. Should we have to extend those restrictions, we will let you know as soon as any decisions are made.
We will provide guides for Home Worship for those services, but beginning this week, we will offer two versions: one for use with adults and one for those who will be worshiping with children. We'll also be adding a couple more elements to what we provide this week in an effort to make worship more familiar and helpful. Home Worship Guides will be emailed out later in the week and posted on our website.
Something we hope you'll remember as you make use of these Home Worship Guides: although we are not worshiping together in body, we are worshiping together in spirit. That is part of why we encourage everyone to maintain the practice of worshiping at 4pm. As you enter into that time of worship in your home, know that members of your church family are doing the same thing at the same time—reading the same words, singing the same songs, and praying alongside you.
Church-Related Events
We have also decided to cancel or postpone all in-person, church-related events for at least the next two weeks. This includes:
The Listening Seminar (March 23rd)
Wednesday morning prayer (March 25th)
Sunday Formation
City Kids
City Groups
Women's Bible studies (through April 1st)
We are thinking through ways for those groups who meet regularly (i.e. City Groups and Bible studies) to stay in contact over these next few weeks. Be on the lookout for further communication about that. In the meantime, we hope you'll check in one another.
A Resource for Parents
Social distancing seems to only apply to the other adults in your life, and now you may find yourself spending so much more time at home with your children. How can you make the most of it? How can you keep from feeling overwhelmed? How can you point your children to Jesus during this anxious time? Join Jim Pulizzi, our Pastor of Children and Families, this Wednesday, 8pm to 9pm, via Zoom for a time to talk through issues like this, learn a simple framework for family worship, and pray together. Access the Zoom meeting here. Feel free to email Jim (jim@citychurchrva.com) with any questions.
Serving RPS
Yesterday was City Church's first day serving as the volunteer lead for meal distributions at George Wythe High School. If you are 18 or older, willing, and able (i.e. healthy and not in a high-risk group), we hope you'll consider volunteering for a shift. You can sign up here. Contact Jim (jim@citychurchrva.com) with questions.
Staying Connected, Getting in Touch
During this time when we can't be in the same physical space, it's important that we make an intentional effort to stay connected in other ways.
In addition to encouraging you to check in one another via phone calls, text messages, and emails, we want to offer a chance for us to connect more broadly. We would love for you to write a blog post or record a brief video or audio update sharing what this strange time is like for you and how you are seeking (and seeing!) Jesus in the midst of it. We hope to share these posts via this email newsletter, our website, and our social media channels.
if you have something you'd like to share, email it to Val (val@citychurchrva.com) or contact her with ideas, suggestions, or questions.
We also want to encourage you to get in touch with the church staff if you are in need of anything, or are aware of someone else who is. Our email addresses are listed below. Remember: we're all in this together, and caring for each other is what we do.
Erik Bonkovsky, Pastor: erik@citychurchrva.com
Jim Pulizzi, Pastor of Children and Families: jim@citychurchrva.com
Harrison Ford, Pastor of Spiritual Formation: harrison@citychurchrva.com
Val Catrow, Administrator: val@citychurchrva.com
Meg Haden, Director of Women's Ministry: meg@citychurchrva.com
Jennifer Murphy, Director of Preschool Ministry: jennifer@citychurchrva.com
Adam Bailey, Director of Music and Sound: adam@citychurchrva.com
JB Burtch, Director of Mentoring: jb@citychurchrva.com