To God’s Beloved At Cloverdale Baptist Church:
As most of you know, we have received new guidelines from the PHO on services. We have appreciated (and continue to appreciate) that they are treating us as essential, and freeing us from some rules that are placed on concerts, hockey games and other large gatherings. We believe that church is essential, and although we don’t expect this belief from those who don’t love Jesus, we are thankful for it while we have it. We believe church is essential and worth sacrificing political and/or personal comfort and opinions to be in community.
The new rules as we understand them are:
- Passport or mask and keep to 50% capacity in large gatherings.
- We are blessed with a large building, and believe the best way to honour Jesus and continue to worship Him together in unity is to mask with capacity restrictions and not passport. We do not want to turn anyone away, and believe this allows us to welcome all who come, and are willing to join us in humility.
What does this mean for you?
We will ask all who attend ministries at the church to wear a mask, and keep our total numbers in any room under the 50% capacity.
As we continue to surrender to Jesus as the head of His church at CBC, we ask that you will join us in:
- Gathering and loving and encouraging one another (Hebrews 3:12-14). We have lots of space in the new ruling, and will open up overflows if/when needed. Be a builder and join us in unifying worship and this Sunday, communion.
- Seeking His Glory Through Surrendering To His Lordship & Trusting His Sovereign love.
- Grow In Maturity As Seen By Preferring One Another & Avoiding The Politics Of This Current Situation In Our Unity. Keep the essentials what we focus on and what unites us, and let the noise of the world be swallowed by our love for and obedience to the WORD.
- Go: Let us use this current situation to show people how we love one another, and that the Gospel message is what we want to share with people, way more than any other message! People’s eternity and our role in helping them have faith in Jesus drives our passions far more than our views on the pandemic. One of the ways Jesus shares that will reach the world is our unity, when so much threatens to divide. Let us be an answer to His John 17 prayer.
This is another step in God’s Sovereign plan that allows us to show the depth of our maturity, and the devotion of our love for one another as we worship our King together.
Join us on Sunday, as we pursue our hope, and trust in our Head, and as we live our lives exclusively for Him in a fallen and broken world.
Take advantage of every opportunity to share the Gospel with others, and show them what DIFFERENCE JESUS really makes in a life devoted to Him!
Pastor Rob