Note from the Pastor

Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

It has been several months now since we last worshiped together in our beautiful sanctuary. I believe I speak for you all when I say that we miss meeting together and are eagerly awaiting the day when we can come back to the church.

This past week we have heard from both President Trump and Governor Cuomo about lifting some restrictions. The President has declared that all churches be considered “essential services” and open up immediately. Our governor has stated that religious groups can begin to meet with a maximum of 10 people. Each of you may also have differing opinions about opening the doors to the church.

Recently, Bishop Bickerton wrote a 26 page document about the process of how and when United Methodist Churches in the New York Annual Conference. In reading this, it was a carefully and prayerfully written plan which will be used by all United Methodist churches in his conference. Without going into all the details, he says that churches will open by regions, with less infected regions opening first. Also, within each region, each local church must submit detailed information about their plan for reopening. The plan will be based on certain requirements set out by our bishop and needs to be submitted to our district superintendent for approval. Only after our region is declared safe and our local church has met all requirements will we actually open. No specific dates have been given yet for our region but for now, all churches will remain closed until JUNE 15.  For more specific information, I encourage you to read the bishops most recent letter sent out to all the churches in his region. Here is a link to the 26 page document detailing the process: 
https://www.nyac.com/files/pdfs/nyac-covid-19-guidelines-for-church-reopening.pdf
Here is a link to the NYAC website for the Bishop’s letter and other resources: 
https://www.nyac.com/covid-19-guidelines-for-church-reopening

I understand that there may be some concerns about this news but I have been a lifelong Methodist spanning three generations and trust in our denomination and leadership very much. Unlike “free” or “independent” churches who make their own decisions, we are part of a connectional system of churches under the leadership of regional bishops. Therefore, we will trust our leadership and follow their requirements.

Our church council will begin to meet and make our plans for reopening based on the document we received. Thus, when our region is declared safe enough to reopen, we will be prepared to open our doors to all of you under very specific criteria. Safety will be of utmost importance. We will inform the rest of the church once our plan is approved by our district superintendent.

Again, I thank you all for your patience and let us keep praying until the day we see each other face to face!

In Christ,
Pastor Kim