in-person worship protocols
ARC
is meeting in person at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Services are also
live-streamed on ARC's page on Facebook.
Please
keep in mind the following protocols, which are vitally important as we seek to
protect the health and safety of all—especially the most vulnerable among us.
Watch the YouTube video at
left for a visual tour through the church.
- Doors will be
unlocked and held open at 9:15 a.m. to
prevent pre-service conversations in the facility. Please do not try to enter
the facility before the doors are opened for you.
- Sanitization
stations will be provided, and all who attend will be expected to sanitize
hands immediately upon entering.
- Masks will be required
to be worn throughout
the building for all adults, high school youth, middle school youth, and upper
elementary school students. It is up to parents of young children as to whether
their children wear masks in the building. (The CDC does not recommend that
children under age 2 wear masks.) Please wear your own. Disposable masks will
be provided for those who do not have masks. Please keep your mask on your face
the entire time you are in the facility. If you use a disposable mask, please
wear it out the doors and dispose of it once you arrive home. Do not remove
your mask and dispose of it or leave it anywhere at church.
- Seating will be
clearly marked to ensure spatial distancing. Families who live together may sit together.
Additionally, those who are friends who are sharing the same “contamination
circle” may sit together. Those who do not live together or are not a part of
the same contamination circle should maintain spatial distancing.
- No physical
touching—no hugs, no
handshakes, no fist bumps, and no elbow bumps. No exceptions. Please do not ask
your neighbor for permission to do so either, as it may put your at-risk
neighbor in a difficult position, feeling the pressure to say “yes” when that
at-risk neighbor should say “no.”
- Instrumental music
will be included. There may also be a vocalist in the very back of the balcony.
But there will be no congregational singing. The science is clear
that it simply is not safe to engage in congregational singing at this time.
- The
upper-level restrooms will be available for emergency use only. The
lower-level restrooms are closed. Please use the restroom before coming to
worship. The service will be shorter, with a target length of about 45 minutes.
- There will be no
bulletins or sharing of
items.
- The congregation
will be dismissed by row and will be
asked to leave the facility immediately. If you wish to talk with your
neighbor, please do so outside the facility.
- The 9:30 a.m.
Sunday worship service will continue to be livestreamed via Facebook Live, and will also be broadcast on
local cable access television stations on Sunday and Saturday evenings.
- The nursery will
remain closed.
The ARC Facilities
Reopening Planning Team will evaluate and adjust these protocols as needed. It
is important to acknowledge that if there is a spike in coronavirus
infections in our area or there are other complications at any services, it is
possible that in-person worship for future Sundays will be suspended and we
will focus to virtual worship only.