Coronavirus update 3/14/20
UPDATE: March 14, 2020: Building Closed
Late yesterday we received a directive from our Michigan Conference Bishop, David Bard asking that all United Methodist Churches in Michigan cease in person worship, meetings and gatherings of any size through the end of March, 2020. This is all being done to try and slow the spread of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus that is now been declared a global pandemic.
What this now means for Nardin Park is that our building will be CLOSED through the end of March. The ONLY people who will be permitted in the building will be a LIMITED group of our paid staff (Administrative, programmatic and custodial) and office staff from the Samaritan Counseling Center. PLEASE DO NOT COME TO THE CHURCH BUILDING DURING the rest of the month of March for any reason. Your compliance with our building closure is a way to do your part to help keep the most number of people healthy and safe, especially those in the most vulnerable category to this illness.
This also means that we will NOT have corporate in person worship on the rest of the Sundays in the month of March and all activities planned for the month of March need to be re-organized for online or postponed to a later date.
While the building is closed, the church is very much open because the truth is that God has never been confined to a building! And the church is all of us as God’s people.
During this time of social distancing, we have many options to keep you and all of us connected together as the church.
- Zoom Conference Virtual Online Gatherings. We can set up any size meeting, up to 100 persons, through our Zoom Conference account. Connecting Groups, Bible Studies, Church Committees and teams, youth group, prayer groups can all use this tool and gather from your homes or wherever you are. All you need is an internet connection. To set up a zoom conference group, please email Linda McDoniel, our church Administrative assistant at Linda.npchurch@gmail.com and she can assist you.
- Spiritual Sustenance Videos via Youtube. While we are not currently offering a live streamed worship service experience on Sunday mornings, through our new church YouTube channel we are posting a series of what we are calling Spiritual Sustenance Videos. The 4 to 6 minute videos will be posted on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays as we seek to offer you spiritual food during this unprecedented wilderness journey we are all on together. The videos are designed to provide you with some ways you can focus spiritually for the living of these days. We will be emailing you with a link to the videos, and posting them on our Nardin Park Facebook page – facebook.com/NPUMC/ – or you can simply go to our church YouTube channel to watch them. To go to our YouTube channel simply open YouTube from your electronic device and type in “nardinparkumc” (all one word with no spaces in between the words) into the YouTube search bar. You can then watch any of the videos posted there and all you need is an internet connection.
- Pastor on call line. 313-681-4871. If you have a pastoral care need, or a question or concern, or maybe you just need to talk with someone, you can contact us via this phone number which is staffed 24 hours a day.
- Reach out and connect with others (via phone, computer, text, social media) While we are physically apart from one another, you can send cards or letters (the post office is still working) or actually call people on the phone, or text, email. Check on one another and let us know how you are doing. Pray together for needs, for healing and for all those first responders, health care workers, and others keeping us safe. We can help each other through this time if we choose to be the light of Christ by connecting and caring. We are asking all connecting group leaders, social group leaders, committee and team chairs to be in touch with your groups and let us know if there are any needs so we can help each other and others in our community.
I look forward to the time when we can all be together again in person. We will get through this, with God’s help, and by all of us doing our part to make a difference. So “do all the good you can” by washing your hands according to the guidelines, and practicing the social distancing that we have been asked to do, with “all the people you can” via new ways until we can be face to face again safely, “as long as ever you can.”
Show Love. Be the Light.
Pastor Melanie