The Loudonville United Methodist Church
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COVID-19 Update
Dear Church family, On May 18, the Administrative Council appointed a task force to explore reopening our church building for worship, under the Guidelines for the Phased-in Reopening of EOC Church Buildings published by our Bishop and cabinet. That task force consists of the following persons: Chair, Ad. Council, Cheryl Raines Chair, Trustees, Kevin Donley Chair, Finance, Barb Burd Chair, SPR, Cindy Maxwell Chair, Worship, Gene Heller Chair, Education, Linda Mehaffey Custodian, Patti Them Nurse, Nancy Heller Pastor, Rev. Steve Sullivan That committee met on May 26 and has begun making plans for a safe way for us to gather for in-person worship. No date has been determined at this time, but the statement on the back page gives you the guiding principles that the task force has agreed to follow. As much as we long to gather again for worship, your safety and your health are our first concern. We are writing for two reasons. The first is to let you know that conversations have begun and we are working toward a safe re-launching of in-person worship. The second is to let you know that if you want to offer input, you can contact any of the members of the task force. The task force will next be meeting on Monday, June 8, when it will once again consider if we have come to a time where it will be safe to gather again. Worship will not look the same, because there are social distancing guidelines that we will be following, but we long to be together again as the family of God, even if it is in a new way. Blessings, Pastor Steve Given that the Ohio Governor and the Director of the Ohio Department of Health have issued a new Urgent Health Advisory (known as Ohioans Protecting Ohioans), which has not rescinded the recommendation that meetings consist of 10 or fewer people (source: https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal /gov/covid-19/resources/news-releases-news-you-can-use/ Ohioans-Protecting-Ohioans, accessed 5/26/2020), and Given that Bishop Tracy Malone has published guidelines entitled Guidelines for the Phased-in Reopening of EOC Church Buildings and has asked that churches be in Phase 2, characterized by preparing for the reopening of our sanctuaries when it is deemed safe, therefore: The task force appointed by the Administrative Council has recommended that the sanctuary remain closed until such time as the recommendation that meetings remain at 10 or fewer persons be amended by state officials and/or the recommendation to implement Phase 3, which includes reopening with appropriate modification of our worship service, be issued by our Bishop, our sanctuary will remain closed for the health of our membership. The task force will be working to have a plan in place to open as soon as either the state or the Bishop declare that it is safe to re-open, so that we can open as soon as it is reasonably safe. Until we reopen, videos of the pastor’s sermons and Angela’s music will continue to be posted online, with links posted on the church web page. Adopted May 26, 2020 June's First Community Meal Our next community meal will be Monday, June 1st from 5 until 6:30pm. The menu will include Gladys Mumper’s Luscious Chicken Bake, coleslaw, and fresh fruit. We observe the guidelines from the US Dept. of Agriculture, which include taking meals to those who come for them in their cars. Persons will be asked not to leave their cars so that they will not have the opportunity to violate the social distancing we are trying to maintain. We will keep the number of volunteers to a minimum, in order to further maintain as much social distancing as possible. Sermons During the Stay-at-Home Order
Pastor Steve's sermon for May 31st, entitled There Is Power, can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/steven.sullivan.7946/videos/10216701956010702/ Angela's music for May 31st can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUMfuX5qdmQ&fbclid=IwAR24x0dp9BjdeFEQskLLFWOyIIvBo1HiqgRcsAAIvUazyavBz0Pb4Jscks0 Archives of past sermons can be found here. In lieu of our service airing on Tuesday mornings at 11am on 95.7 WZLP, we will post a video of the sermon on our Facebook page with a link at the top of our webpage.
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This Week’s Daily Scripture Readings
05/31 Joel 2:18-29 06/01 Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 06/02 Romans 4:13-25 06/03 Psalm 8 06/04 Genesis 1:1-2:4a 06/05 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 06/06 Matthew 28:16-20 06/07 Matthew 7:21-29 |