The pastoral team here at Calvary Church has been working really hard this week to create a unique worship experience for you. Here’s an update on what church will look like this week.
In Romans 13, Paul teaches us to respect our governing authorities, and following this teaching we want to be good citizens of the country we live in. With that in mind, earlier today Governor Pritzker announced a statewide stay at home order beginning Saturday, March 21st at 5pm and lifting Wednesday, April 8.
This bring up that term we’ve all heard too much lately: social distancing. Humans are made for interaction and connection with others, and that makes distancing hard. But at this moment in time social distancing is how we can love each other well, and that’s one of the three things that we strive for here at Calvary Church. Because of this, we will not be having church as usual this week, but church is not cancelled, it will be held exclusively online in an unconventional way.
So staying at home is what all the cool people are doing these days. Kids are being homeschooled, adults are working from home, and this week we’re having Home Church.
Church is so much more than a service that we attend together. Church is a people that connect with each other as we worship God together. So this Sunday we’ve created a guide on our website for you to engage with God and each other in a special and personal way. We encourage you to gather with your families, maybe even Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom with another family or two, and walk through the Home Church guide together.
If you begin at 10am, when we usually start our services, the Home Church guide should take you about 60 minutes. Then at 11am Pastor Chris will be going live on our Facebook Page to host a virtual coffee connection. Please join us to comment any questions from the message, reply to comments from each other, and use it as a way to virtually connect for a while just like we usually do during Coffee Connection at the end of our Sunday services together. You do not need a facebook account to view our page and watch the live video, but you do need an account to comment and interact with others.
We haven’t forgotten about Calvary Kids & Calvary Youth! Pastor Heather and Pastor Chris have each prepared special resources that will be available on our website for you to facilitate with your kids and teens.
All of these resources will go live on our website on Sunday morning.
This is an unprecedented situation that we are currently living in, and all of us on the pastoral team are learning new techniques and adapting along the way. So as we move forward we are going to take this one week at a time, and the way we do Home Church together may continue to adapt and look different from week to week. Thank you for your patience with us as we work through this, and be sure to stay connected to us through our website, emails, and facebook to get all the updates.
We’re really excited for this opportunity for each of you to use this time to connect with God and each other in an intimate, personal way, and we can’t wait to hear how you do Home Church this week!