PCUMC Coronavirus Update #3
Dear Church Family,
May God give you a special gift of the Holy Spirit at this time of deep concern that you may have the peace that passes understanding and the protection of the God of all creation.
As you are aware, the church, along with much of our culture, is physically closed. This includes worship services and most of the activities in which many of you participate. There are many questions people are looking for leaders to answer. I am attempting to answer questions for our faith community as best I can with an understanding we are in a constantly changing environment.
Pastor Tom Kraft
How long will this last?
I really have no way to know this any better than any other leader. To provide some opportunity for social spacing and for our leaders to address the Coronavirus, we will not be having worship services or social gatherings in our building until at least the end of March. We will evaluate things for the weeks after that before the end of March. Ministry will be happening, just not the same way.
How will we stay connected?
We are committed to providing online opportunities daily to connect with each other and with God through our Facebook Group connection that will include my Wednesday night Bible Study and daily evening prayer times at 9:00 PM. We will have worship services every weekend on our Facebook Page. These videos will also be available through our website.
We are also working to provide support through telephone calls. We are recruiting people to help with this effort to make sure we are staying connected. If you can help, please contact Pastor Sherry at [email protected]. We will also work diligently to identify ways we can stay connected while still social distancing. And we can all pray!
What about the meals the church provides?
We are aware others are providing meals, and we are trying to determine a safe way that we can still provide for people who need or want a meal. However, this requires people who are capable of working together and will need some clear parameters.
Can I call the church office or stop by?
The church telephone is being answered during office hours (9:00 AM - 4:00 PM, Monday - Friday); however, we are still discouraging people from stopping by the church.
How are we paying the bills, employee’s wages, or providing for the ministry efforts we are engaging?
The church has modest reserves for an organization like ours. If you have the ability to help financially, it will give us the ability to continue to engage in ministry, provide for our people, take care of our employees, and care for people in need. We are aware some of you are under extreme financial stress, and we are not trying to add to that. However, if you are able to send your gift in the mail to help the church, or drop it off in our front entrance, it will have a significant impact on our ability to continue to do ministry and to have a church to come back to when this crisis is past.
We have also added an online giving opportunity to our website. This will accept credit/debit cards and ACH bank transfers.
What is the best way to know what the church is doing?
We will provide updates on the website, Facebook Page, and Instagram. For those who do not have these capabilities, we will connect by telephone or mail. However, we need to know who these people are. Please let us know if you know someone not connected to the internet.
What if I have a need for help, or I can help others?
The best thing to do is to use email. Contact Gidget Meland at [email protected], or the church at [email protected], or if that isn’t possible, call the office at 716-625-8306.
To stay up to date on our church activities, you can continue to check our website or follow us on social media: