Dear Church Family
Due to the new State and County guidance, the leadership of City Bible has decided to implement our plan to regather as a church. We rejoice at the opportunity to begin moving forward to enjoy in-person fellowship! We want you to know that in making this decision we have taken the CA guidelines into account and care about your safety.
If for any reason (conscience, health, etc.) you are uncomfortable to gather in-person, we encourage you to stay home and tune in to the livestream 10:00am and our weekly zoom groups. Though we begin to offer the opportunity to physically meet, we’ll continue to provide everything that we’ve been providing thus far (livestream, zoom community groups, and other online resources).
Just in case you missed the update earlier this week, CA guidelines for church gatherings have changed to 100 attendees or 25% of building capacity (whichever is lower) with other restrictions & recommendations for the next 3 weeks. With this update, here is our plan:
1. Church At Home - Starting This Sunday (May 31)
We mentioned at the Q+A a few weeks ago that our first focus would be to allow you to gather in smaller groups on Sunday. We see the potential of the discipleship and spiritual care that can occur in this setting.
Given the State’s most recent guidelines, the leadership of CBC feels comfortable to give you the freedom to meet in smaller groups on Sunday morning to watch the livestream together, sing, pray, and enjoy fellowship.
We will not be formally organizing these groups, but instead will leave that up to you. Feel free to connect with some individuals or families from your community group or others in the church to meet together. Please note that due to the guideline restrictions most of these groups will be 10 individuals or less. If you’re not plugged into a community group or are having trouble finding a host home, reach out to admin@cbcsac.com and we can help.
For those of you who are willing to host or attend, we have put together regathering guidelines that strive to comply with the mandates and recommendations of CA.
Church At Home Regathering Guidelines
Please read the guidelines thoroughly. We ask each group to comply with all the required points. But we realize that groups may vary on how they apply the recommended points.
We will continue to adhere to state and local authorities unless we are asked to disobey God’s Word, or it is clearly evident that the church is being singled out or persecuted.
2. Sunday In-Person Worship Service - Maybe June 7th
Along with Church At Home, we have a desire to meet in person for Sunday worship service. As a mobile church we have the extra obstacle of not having a building & Hiram Johnson is currently not available. We’re working on securing a facility that could seat 100 people (and more when the guidelines change) with adequate social distancing.
Please pray for the Lord’s provision. If we secure a building, we’d want to begin meeting on June 7th (possibly with multiple services). With this service(s) we’d still provide livestream & Church at Home gatherings would take place simultaneously, due to the limited seating we’d have in the sanctuary. We’d use a registration system and comply with the mandatory CA Guidelines.
If we’re able to secure a facility, we’ll send you more information (registration, guidelines, etc.).
3. Community Groups - ZOOM
Most of our community groups are currently too large to comply with the 25% building capacity standard. We also need to work through the logistics of how groups can still provide Zoom as an option for those who are unable or would rather refrain from meeting in person. We’ll begin discussions with the community group leaders next week. Until there are new developments, each of the groups will continue meeting on Zoom.
In Conclusion…
Once again, even with some of these changes, we’ll continue to provide everything that we’ve been providing thus far (livestream, zoom community groups, and other online resources).
We recognize there will be a diverse array of comfort levels regarding physical gatherings and interactions. May we love each other and show respect for each other (Romans 14).
May we as a church live out Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
Please continue to pray for our church and leadership as we navigate these waters.
In Christ,
CBC Leadership