It has been a little while since I’ve given you all an update on the Synod’s response to COVID-19.
The Synod office (housed in with the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane) will remain closed as long as the Diocese is closed. Following a conversation with Bishop Rehberg, we are in agreement that this will be in Phase 4 at the earliest—possibly later than that if the numbers are still going up. Once again, the Phase process is closely connected to economic realities—not necessarily the realities of the case numbers in a given county, so we will be looking to those numbers to make our final decisions. Because NWIM is a tenant of the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, we will respect their boundaries around the health and well being of our employees.
To the people of the Northwest Intermountain Synod,
Attached to this letter you will find a substantial document focused on how to reopen our congregations safely. We are grateful for Rev. Brad Munroe, Executive Presbyter of the Presbyteries of Grand Canyon and de Christo, for sharing with us the work his Presbyteries did in preparation for re-opening. We have taken that document and edited it for our contexts. We have also taken a checklist that is contained within the body of the document and sent it as a separate document to make it easier for you to find and use. I strongly encourage you to review the entire document, and to distribute it to your congregation members so that everyone knows the criteria that leadership is using to establish safe parameters around worship.
Dear partner in ministry,
Weeks may have passed since you last walked in the doors of your congregation and worshiped, face-to-face, with your community of faith. To be sure, being the body of Christ looks and feels differently than it ever has before.
Despite all of this, we are called to be church — together.
To the People of God in Northwest Intermountain Synod,
There are those who like to say that we are living in “unprecedented” times. They certainly feel unprecedented. However, for anyone with a knowledge of history there is nothing “unprecedented” about the time of pandemic due to COVID-19. The scale is, perhaps, larger than epidemics that have come before. But perhaps it is not. Perhaps it is our increased global connectedness through technology that has given us the sense of this being an unprecedented pandemic event—because we are seeing this virus unfold in real-time, not simply receiving reports of devastation months or years after the fact.
Please click “Read More” below to see the letter from Bishop Kristen summarizing the NWIM Synod Executive Committee meeting on March 17, 2020.
Highlights include:
An update on the Regional Gatherings.
An update on the Synod Staff travel ban.
The Committee’s current considerations regarding how the 8-week ban affects Holy Week and Easter.
How to contact synod staff via email and phone as we work from home.
And more.
A copy of the letter is also available for download & printing.
New CDC recommendation: Starting immediately and for the next 8 weeks, CDC recommends cancelling all events of 50 or more people.
If you have not yet made the decision to suspend worship, please contact Bishop Kristen here.
Ongoing guidance recommends that, in areas where there is even minimal COVID-19, events likely to include 10 or more people at high-risk for serious issues should be cancelled. People at higher risk include older adults and people who have chronic medical conditions such as lung and heart disease, as well as diabetes.
If there is substantial spread in your area, all gatherings should be cancelled.
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