FUMCOR’s Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak
November 23, 2021
First, limitations on the number of people who are allowed to attend worship services and other events will be dropped for after Sunday, December 5 in time for this year’s Christmas at First Church concerts held on Saturday, December 11th at 3 pm and Sunday, December 12th at 7 pm. This means attendance limitations will also be dropped for Christmas Eve worship services.
Second, mask restrictions will be removed in the church building following Christmas Eve services. However, masks are strongly encouraged for those who are unvaccinated. Both Keystone Adult Day Program and First Steps Child Development Center are exceptions to this policy—masks will continue to be required in these locations.
Likewise, let us also continue to exercise loving hospitality and common sense by wearing a mask for 14 days after exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 or until a negative test result. And remember: fully vaccinated people might continue to choose to mask if they or someone in their household is immunocompromised or at increased risk for severe disease, or if someone in their household is unvaccinated.
Finally, food and drink restrictions will be lifted on Sunday, January 2. This means that coffee and doughnuts will return to our Welcome Center that morning.
April 30, 2021
Stage 2 Protocol
Small Group Protocols
1. Members of Sunday School classes who are fully vaccinated may now gather on Sunday mornings in their designated rooms, without masks and physical distancing. Given our current resources, staff will not be able to offer classes a hybrid option on Sunday mornings. Classes who want to arrange for non-present members to participate virtually in their Sunday morning in-person class will need to make arrangements for themselves. In-person Sunday School meetings where attendees are not all fully vaccinated will be required to mask and remain physically distanced.
2. Other small groups who are fully vaccinated may gather without masks and physical distancing in the building. However, they must contact the church office to schedule a day, time, and room. All in-person small group meetings where attendees are not all fully vaccinated will be required to mask and remain physically distanced. The staff, with the help of our congregation’s medical personnel will determine the number of people who will be allowed in each space in the building. A sign will be posted in each room indicating how many may safely gather.
3. Masks, hand sanitizer, and signage with instructions will be available at all entrances. That signage will stress all participants (even those fully vaccinated) are required to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from non-family members unless they are in a small group where all present are fully vaccinated.
4. Enough masks will be available for distribution that in case someone forgets to bring one, there will be an adequate supply.
5. No food or open drinks (cups, pitchers, punch bowl, etc.) will be allowed in small groups; however, participants are permitted to have individual bottled water as long as they maintain mask and distance protocols.
6. No nursery will be offered for small groups.
7. Those who are non-compliant with our safety rules will be asked to leave the building. Small groups which have non-compliant people will not be allowed to reserve rooms for the remainder of stage 2.
Worship Protocols
8. Every other pew will be utilized for worship and congregants will be required to sit in family groups six feet apart from one another in the sanctuary. The multi-purpose room will have chairs arranged so that people/family groups may sit 6 feet apart. Upon entry to the room, family groups will be encouraged to arrange chairs so their member are together. The maximum number of people allowed to attend worship without special permission from the Council is 125 in the sanctuary and 50 in the MPR.
9. To ensure that worship is available for all, we will begin with the following schedule, offering shortened services. 8:45 am – 9:30 am Traditional in sanctuary; 10 am – 10:45 am Contemporary in MPR; 11 am – 11:45 am Traditional in sanctuary; 1 pm Worship On The Lawn Vesper Service in sanctuary. Our Abiding worship service will be suspended during stage 2.
10. All entrances on the second floor will provide masks, hand sanitizer, and signage with instructions for worship.
11. Signage at the entrance will provide extensive guidance on COVID-19 warning and make clear that all participants during Stage 2 will be required to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from non-family members. Masks will not be required for: children under the age of 2. Those who have difficulty breathing and those are unable to remove the mask without assistance should worship online during Stage 2. Anyone who refuses to wear a mask will be refused entrance to the building.
12. Coffee and doughnuts will be suspended in the Welcome Center.
13. No nursery or children’s church will be offered.
14. The contemporary candle station will be allowed.
15. Electronic bulletins for all services will be available on the church website. Printed bulletins for the traditional service will be arranged in a way that they can be picked up without touching more than one. Printed contemporary bulletins will be suspended during stage 2. Congregational members are encouraged to sing quietly while remaining masked.
16. Attendance will be tracked using the “Save-A-Seat” system for online registration for worship. All persons will be encouraged to reserve a place using this system on the church website. If all seats for a service are reserved, the program staff will consider offering and publicizing extra worship services for the day.
17. Staff for each service will offer “kind but firm” encouragement regarding safety practices.
18. The contemporary service band will be smaller in number to enable proper social distancing. The traditional choirs will be suspended, replaced by smaller vocal ensembles that can maintain a proper social distance.
19. In-person Holy Communion and Holy Baptism will be performed at the discretion of the pastoral staff.
20. Worship leaders will wear masks prior to and following leading worship. While leading worship, they will maintain safe social distancing guidelines.
21. Worship announcements will include an emphasis on maintaining healthy social distancing and the importance of masks for those around us. Pastoral Care Protocols
22. During Stage 2, weddings, funerals, in-person pastoral care, and in-person community assistance may be conducted at the pastoral staff’s discretion utilizing the general social distancing and precautionary measures outlined in our protocol. Receiving lines are prohibited. “No touch” alternatives will be clearly explained and utilized. Other Ministry Protocols
23. Organized sports, camps, VBS, and other activities in stage 2 must utilize safety protocols.
24. Mission trips which involve travel are prohibited in stage 2.
25. Under Stage 2 protocol, all local missions initiatives involving off-site volunteer groups must have pastoral approval prior to being organized, marketed, and implemented to ensure proper protocol adherence at their sites of work.
July 6, 2020
UPDATED Stage One Protocol for Reopening FUMCOR
Click here for an updated version of the Stage One Protocol.
June 1, 2020
Taking Steps Forward Faithfully and Safely
Holston Conference Resident Bishop Mary Virginia Taylor and her cabinet and staff have released their plan, “Taking Steps Forward Faithfully and Safely,” offering guidance to United Methodist Churches who are seeking to reopen with added healthy and safety precautions.
May 26, 2020
A Stage One Protocol for Reopening FUMCOR
Assumptions
1. In this document, “Stage 1” does not refer to any local, state, or federal government phased opening. It refers to our congregation’s plan to reopen. Our Church Council will approve and implement additional stages when necessary.
2. Our Bishop will make the decision about when churches can reopen. When she does that, our pastors, in consultation with the staff will make a recommendation to the Church Council about when and how FUMCOR’s re-opening takes place. The Council will make the final call on approving this plan.
3. We will seek to make any gatherings hospitable, safe, and respectful for people with different attitudes toward social distancing.
4. Things will look different on the Sunday’s we are back in worship/church together.
5. We anticipate Stage 1 of our plan to reopen to be stricter than the following stages.
Stage 1 Plans
1. The staff will distribute both written and video explanations of our plans and expectations for worshippers in the weeks leading up to the reopening. This will include A) a statement that if parishioners have traveled out of the country, currently have or recently had a fever, those who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, then they should not attend in person worship; B) recommendation that people in high-risk groups or not comfortable in public gathering at this time seriously consider continuing to worship online during stage 1; C) a description of the order of worship for each service, so people are aware there will be music but no communal singing; D) a reminder to parents that children should remain with them at all times; and E) instructions on how same-household family members can maintain appropriate social distance from others while at church (no physical embrace or shaking hands, etc.).
2. Those leading in the service, including ushers, will be required to participate in a health and safety training zoom call to clarify goals and precautionary measures.
3. We will focus on creating both safe worship and small group gathering spaces.
4. We will continue to provide online contemporary and traditional worship services.
Worship Protocol
5. We anticipate that we will be restricted to either A) no more than 50% of seating capacity in worship spaces or B) 100 people or less in worship spaces during stage 1. To ensure that worship is available for all, we will begin with the following schedule, offering shortened services. 8:45 am – 9:30 am Traditional in sanctuary; 10 am – 10:45 am Contemporary in MPR; 11 am – 11:45 am Traditional in sanctuary; 6 pm – 6:45 pm Vesper Service in sanctuary. Our Abiding worship service will be suspended during stage 1.
6. There will be one entrance into the church building through the Welcome Center with masks, hand sanitizer, and signage with instructions for worship and small groups. There will be tape on the ground signifying safe social distances of 6 feet apart for those standing in line to enter. All Welcome Center, narthex, and multipurpose room doors will be propped open to minimize people touching door handles. One half of the Welcome Center doors will be labeled as entrances to the building; the other half will be labeled as exits from the building.
7. Signage at the entrance will make clear that all participants during stage 1 will be required to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from non-family members. People can bring their own masks from home. Anyone who refuses to wear a mask will be asked to leave the building.
8. Enough masks will be available for distribution that in case everyone forgets to bring one, there will be an adequate supply. 20-30 new masks will be added for distribution in subsequent weeks. When people are leaving the building, they may keep the masks or place them in laundry baskets, so that they can be laundered during the week.
9. Coffee and doughnuts will be suspended in the Welcome Center.
10. No nursery or children’s church will be offered.
11. One trained greeter will be present outside the entrance to answer questions for those arriving, while maintaining a safe social distance.
12. The contemporary candle station will not be present.
13. The multi-purpose room will have chairs arranged so that people can stay 6 feet apart. Upon entry to the room, family groups will be encouraged to arrange chairs so their member are together.
14. The sanctuary will have every other pew marked as available for seating. Ushers will ensure individuals or family groups arriving in the sanctuary sit in the first available pew closest to the altar, at least six feet from the previous persons. Later arrivals will fill the rest of the available seating. In order to limit the areas that need to be sanitized, no one other than a sound person will be allowed in the balcony.
15. Upon arrival, people will be encouraged to maintain proper social distancing.
16. Electronic bulletins for all services will be available on the church website. Printed bulletins for the traditional service will be arranged in a way that they can be picked up without touching more than one. Printed contemporary bulletins will be suspended during stage 1. Congregational singing will be prohibited in stage 1 because singing offers a significantly greater chance of an asymptomatic person spreading the virus. Therefore, hymnals and all other materials in the sanctuary pews will be removed so that people will not be tempted to touch them.
17. Attendance pads will be removed from the worship spaces. Visitors will be requested to text information to a number or email/call the church office with their contact information.
18. Designated health managers will be appointed for each service to offer “kind but firm” encouragement regarding safety practices. These health managers will have the authority to request that non-compliant people leave the building.
19. Photos of each worshipping congregation will be taken so that staff can examine to see which regular attenders are not present and can be contacted.
20. The contemporary service band will be smaller in number to enable proper social distancing. The traditional choirs will be suspended, replaced by smaller vocal ensembles that can maintain a proper social distance.
21. Holy Communion will be suspended during this time; Holy Baptism will be allowed with detailed safety measures in place.
22. Worship leaders will wear masks prior to and following leading worship. While leading worship, they will maintain safe social distancing guidelines.
23. Worship announcements will include an emphasis on maintaining healthy social distancing and the importance of masks for those around us.
24. We will not be passing the offering plates. Single plates will be made available at each exit from the worship spaces for people to drop their offering. An usher will be stationed at a safe distance from each of these plates to watch it.
25. Concluding announcements will encourage people to be thoughtful and understanding of those who do not want to socialize, even while maintaining masks and proper social distancing. Those who do want to socialize will be encouraged to do so in the parking lots following the services while maintaining proper safety features.
26. Services will be shortened so that people can have phased exits to support social distancing in hallways. At the conclusion of worship, there will be phased exits of worshippers to keep hallways and exits clear of crowds. To enable easier exiting following the traditional services, ushers will prop open the exterior sanctuary doors at the end of worship services.
27. The sanctuary will be sanitized on Sunday morning following the 8:45 am service and Sunday afternoon following the 11 am service.
28. Our custodial staff will have a list of areas to be sanitized throughout Sunday morning, including but not limited to bathrooms, water fountains, and door handles.
29. Weddings and funerals will be allowed for less than 100 people, using the same protocols.
30. The staff is exploring the cost of cameras, editing software, and staffing to make Livestream possible in the future. The goal is to continue to provide recorded worship experiences (as they currently are) until our Livestream technology is high quality.
Small Group Protocol
31. All small groups and Sunday School classes must contact the church office to schedule a day, time, and room. Reservations must include the maximum number of people who might attend so that rooms with adequate space to maintain social distance requirements can be reserved and setup.
32. Small groups and Sunday school classes cannot meet on Sunday mornings during stage 1.
33. In order to limit the amount to sterilization necessary in the building, only rooms on the second floor, accessible through the Welcome Center, will be available for meetings. The staff, with the help of our congregation’s medical personnel will determine the number of people who will be allowed in each space on the second floor. The parlors are off limits to small groups, due to difficulties of sterilizing them.
34. All small group members will enter through the Welcome Center, where masks, hand sanitizer, and signage with instructions is available. There will be tape on the ground signifying safe social distances of 6 feet apart for those standing in line to enter. All Welcome Center, sanctuary, and multipurpose room doors will be propped open to minimize people touching door handles. There will be an obvious queue in the Welcome Center indicating a side of the room for entering the building and a side for exiting the building.
35. Signage at the entrances will make clear that all participants during stage 1 will be required to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from non-family members.
36. Enough masks will be available for distribution that in case everyone forgets to bring one, there will be an adequate supply. 20-30 new masks will be added for distribution in subsequent weeks. When people are leaving the building, they may keep the masks or place them in laundry baskets, so that they can be laundered during the week.
37. No food or drinks will be allowed in small groups.
38. No nursery will be offered for small groups.
39. One trained greeter will be present outside the entrance to answer questions for those arriving, while maintaining a safe social distance.
40. A designated health manager will greet small group participants as they arrive and begin to offer “kind but firm” encouragement regarding safety practices. These health managers will have the authority to request that non-compliant people leave the building.
41. Rooms must be sanitized after each small group meets, prior to the next small group.