Online Worship Announcement

Dear Church,
We are at another one of those crossroads moments where we need to make a decision about what we do for the next few weeks.  I know that many of you have been watching the Covid-19 case counts in Missouri and in Linn County go up, and many of you know a number of people that have been in quarantine, or tested positive.

Because of that, we are going to online Worship for the few weeks with an anticipated return to in person worship on December 6th.  The difference between now and last Spring is that our kids are going to continue to meet, both young kids and youth from 10am to about 11:15 on Sunday mornings.
 
This is one way of doing this, other churches in town are cancelling everything but in person worship. Both are valid options. We chose this route because it is easier for us to go online or even on the radio as adults, and then we can work with the kids both for the Christmas Program and for their own spiritual health.
 
As always, all of this is subject to change based on the changing events around us. There is hope that in the coming months we will have a vaccine and we’ll be able to begin transitioning into a new, more permanent, context for our church.  Until then, please continue to wear masks, maintain social distancing, and all of the other very good recommendations coming from our health department and the CDC.
 
Please also follow some good recommendations for our mental and spiritual health as a community. 

1. Continue to keep each other in prayer
2. Reach out and visit by phone/text/email/Facebook/etc with each other
3. Spend time in reading scripture and/or taking part in the many excellent worship services that have moved online

I would also ask that you continue to give to the church. If you would like some self-addressed stamped envelopes, we can send them to you. You can also give online by going to our website marcelineumc.com and clicking on Give Online. Through the end of October, we have received about $128,000 in offerings and expenses of $126,000 which was beyond my expectations for this year. However, we haven’t received an offering this month, and our expenses continue.
 
Since we returned to in person worship we have maintained about 50-65% of our average attendance from before the shutdown (which is a very good percentage), and that goes up to between 80-90% when we include those of you who are worshiping online.
 
Thank you for your patience as we go through this time, and for your prayers for our church, nation, and world.
 
Peace,
Pastor John