{"id":25653,"date":"2020-10-02T15:02:45","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T19:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=25653"},"modified":"2020-10-03T10:00:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T14:00:42","slug":"pumc-approves-safety-procedures-for-in-service-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=25653","title":{"rendered":"PUMC Approves Safety Procedures for In-Person Worship Services"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During its meeting on Monday September 28 2020, the church&#8217;s Administrative Council voted to approve a safety plan which will be followed when we phase in live (in-person) worship services.\u00a0 The decision of when to begin any live services is yet to be made; it depends on the state of the virus.\u00a0 Pastor Jim will make the decision.\u00a0 Each in-person service will also require a full slate of volunteers to usher, direct parking, administer the sign-in forms, and other tasks.\u00a0 A congregation won&#8217;t be permitted unless these volunteers are in place.<\/p>\n<p>When this happens, safety will be of the utmost concern.\u00a0 Many restrictions will be imposed to meet insurance\/legal obligations and to minimize the danger of spreading the disease.\u00a0 Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: disc;\">\n<li>Attendance will be limited.\u00a0 Those wanting to attend must call the church office to register in advance.<\/li>\n<li>Masks and social distancing will be enforced.<\/li>\n<li>Anyone entering the building must sign a Indemnity Release and a Health Acknowledgement Form.<\/li>\n<li>Ushers will seat families in an ordered basis to maintain distancing.\u00a0 Dismissal will also be directed, and worshipers must exit immediately without congregating afterwards.<\/li>\n<li>There will be no singing, hugging, hand shaking, or other contact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class='et-box et-warning'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class='et-box-content'><p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It must be stressed that this is NOT an announcement of the imminent resumption of in-person worship.\u00a0 The Council&#8217;s vote only means that we have a plan in place to facilitate in-person worship when the decision to resume is made.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On Friday Oct. 2, the below letter was sent to the congregation:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class='et-box et-shadow'>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class='et-box-content'><p><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><em>Grace And Peace My Friends,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #003300;\">This is to let you know that there is a light at the end of the Covid tunnel!\u00a0 On Monday September 28, the Pitman United Methodist\u00a0Church\u00a0Council unanimously voted to approve a plan for &#8220;Covid Safety Procedures for Indoor Worship.&#8221;\u00a0 This plan needs to be in place before we can resume any form of in-person worship services in our sanctuary.\u00a0 \u00a0Our Father&#8217;s House has also designed a plan, and they have\u00a0 been working all summer to comply with state and local\u00a0recommendations.\u00a0 After reviewing their preparations, the Trustees voted to allow the limited opening of Our Father&#8217;s House starting on October 5.\u00a0 Covid safety plans for outside groups have yet to be completed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Based on the state of the pandemic, Pastor Jim\u00a0will make the final\u00a0determination\u00a0as to\u00a0when the first indoor\u00a0in-person\u00a0service will occur.\u00a0Until that announcement is\u00a0made, the worship service will remain by livestream only. Please check the PUMC website and\u00a0Facebook page for updates on when\u00a0the first indoor service will happen.\u00a0\u00a0Be advised that our safety plan will impose\u00a0unprecedented\u00a0precautions to ensure everyone&#8217;s safety during in-person services.\u00a0 Attendance will be limited, and reservations will be required.\u00a0 Other &#8220;social distancing&#8221; precautions will be strictly enforced.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">For indoor in-person worship to happen safely for everyone, Ron Brown, the Head Usher, will need a team of volunteers.\u00a0 If you are interested in serving as a volunteer, please contact Ron Brown or notify the Church Office.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">As of this time, no other activities have been approved for inside the church building other than necessary public health activities such as blood drives for the Red Cross or the possibility of the church building being used as an emergency COVID testing or treatment center.\u00a0 Other than OFH and limited staff activity, no meetings, PUMC activities, or outside activities are permitted at this time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">While the church doors have been closed, the Church has remained open throughout.\u00a0 Bible studies, BLAST, UMW Circles, small groups, Sunday School, and PUMC committees have all met through Zoom, Facebook Live, or in-person at people\u2019s homes practicing safe social distancing without missing a meeting.\u00a0 If you have been having difficulty with Zoom, Kate Dilks-Bird and Brian Foley can help you.\u00a0 If you have struggled with watching the service through livestream, Rob Brown can help.\u00a0 Just contact the Church office, and Nancy will put you in touch. We will still be connected to you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I would like to thank everyone for their patience and their grace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u00a0 Please stay safe,<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ROBERT K. UYEHARA, JR., ESQ.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 CHAIR, Church Council<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Covid safety plan for in-person worship was approved by the Church Council.  This is the plan which will be implemented when in-person services resume.  The decision to resume will be made later, based on the state of the virus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church","category-evrpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25653"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25658,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25653\/revisions\/25658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}