Church family,
In light of all the recent news of the COVID-19 virus, Sound City’s leaders want to communicate how this virus may affect our own community, and offer some plans to help.
As has been communicated constantly across various news and media sources, the Coronavirus or COVID-19 is a rapidly spreading pandemic. Our local community is where the first U.S. deaths related to coronavirus have occurred—eleven at the time of writing. Truth be told, it has likely been in our community for weeks and many cases are going unnoticed, undetected, or unreported. This is a sobering situation. We want to address:
Our Sunday Gatherings and Ministries
COVID-19 Awareness Points
Jesus, COVID-19, and Wisdom
Sunday Gatherings and Ministries
How will COVID-19 affect our Sunday Gatherings?
We are still planning on meeting, but are watching the situation closely and will notify you of any necessary changes.
LHS and/or all of Edmonds School District may close, which would force us to consider other meeting places as possibilities.
What about other ministry areas and events?
We’d encourage your Community Groups and other smaller gatherings to continue as normal, but making sure you are aware and taking necessary precautions with anyone who is sick, symptomatic, immunosuppressed, or who has other underlying illness.
For other ministry areas, we will continue to evaluate those on an ongoing basis and communicate with you as appropriate.
See the Awareness Point section below for more information to help you make an informed decision for church related events and otherwise.
COVID-19 Awareness Points
How Has COVID-19 affected our area?
Our community is experiencing illness, disruption to schools and businesses, travel bans, and even local deaths. As the number of those infected rises in Snohomish and King counties, so will fear and panic. Fortunately, the vast majority of people that are infected do not require hospitalization and recover without lasting effects. Depending on the source that you examine, the death rate of the disease is about 1-3%. The first deaths in the United States were people with other pre-existing illnesses that made them more susceptible. As with most ‘influenza-like’ diseases the COVID-19 most adversely affects those who are:
Very young
Pregnant
Socioeconomically depressed
Immunocompromised or have chronic illnesses
In the aging population
Sound City is home to people that fall into each of these categories and no less important, our local neighborhoods and communities are full of people in these categories. This is a fact that should be understood and respected as we consider the implications that coronavirus has for us as a church and otherwise.
How Do We Respond?
There are several precautionary steps and safety precautions we can take as a church family that will help us protect one another while we are apart during the week and when we meet corporately as a congregation, and even within our Community Groups:
Regular hand hygiene with hot water and soap, or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. While this sounds trivial, poor hand hygiene produces a rapid way to spread germs to one another. Watch this video to learn more about the WHO’s recommended hand washing technique.
Covering your cough—not with your hand, but with your arm, sleeve, or a tissue. Again, this sounds trivial, but many people with coughs cough into their hand and touch common surfaces such as a handrail or door handle.
Observing the “Well Child” policy set by the church and consider staying home if you as an adult are coughing or have symptoms.
Children with fever, nausea, or who have thrown up within the last 24 hours may not be checked-in to Kids Ministry.
Adults who have had symptoms should consider staying home all together, and if they do attend, should consider keeping their children out of Kids Ministry even if they are not yet symptomatic.
Be conscientious that what may be an insignificant cold or illness to your child may be devastating or even fatal to an immunosuppressed church member.
Anyone with any concerning symptoms should not shake hands with others in the church, and should steer clear of anyone within the church known to be immunosuppressed or to have other chronic risk factors.
Jesus, COVID-19, and Wisdom
Here’s the good news — Jesus is King over Satan, Sin, Death, and the COVID-19 virus. Throughout the centuries, the truth of God’s sovereignty has given Christians an unshakable confidence despite great trials. It should for us as well. So, we remember that God is in complete control. God is a rock of refuge to which we can continually go. (Ps. 71:3)
In this we also acknowledge that we are not God. We acknowledge our need for wisdom.
Wisdom is navigating the intricacies of life, and right now, intricacies abound. Should we meet as a church? Do I take my kids to school? What level of care should I give to the ill? These are not black and white issues, but grey. As Tim Keller puts it in his book on Proverbs, God’s Wisdom for Navigating Life:
“The main word for wisdom in Proverbs…includes being moral but goes beyond that. It is making the right choice even when there are no clear moral laws telling you explicitly what to do. Some decisions require only knowledge (like the proper medicine to take) and some only compliance with rules (like whether to commit adultery or not). But no Bible verse will tell you exactly whom to marry, which job to take, whether to move or stay put. Yet a wrong decision can be disastrous (pg.2).”
So how do we get wisdom? Centuries later James answers the question by saying that God provides wisdom to those who ask. (Jm. 1:5) So, Sound City, let’s ask. Let’s ask God not only for protection and health, but also for wisdom so that we might skillfully navigate the myriad of decisions before us.
To God be the glory,
John Fox, on behalf of the Elder Team
Many thanks to Jordan Galbraith (RN, BSN, CCRN-CMC-CSC, CEN, EMT, SRNA/Doctoral Candidate Oregon Health & Science University) for heavily contributing to this post.