Session Highlights for March 2020

As the concern about the COVID-19 outbreak began earlier this month, and the CDC recommended restricting gatherings of fifty or more, Pastor Donna and the Session decided after much discussion, deliberation, thought and prayer, to close the church building to gatherings and instead to worship as a virtual community via live streaming. Thankfully, we already had the capacity to do so. As Pastor Donna wrote in an email to the Session members, “Indeed, these are extraordinary times, and I believe that it is our duty as responsible citizens . . . to do everything we can to slow the spread f this coronavirus, and keep our community, and all individuals in it, safe.” By electronic vote, the Session approved the following motion on March 13:

• Approve having worship through a live-streaming platform, rather than physically gathering, each Sunday at 10:30 am from March 15-29 through www.cpcba.org, Youtube, and Facebook so people can virtually gather to worship and pray for one another. Further, to be consistent with our best practices of social distancing, we will cancel all church activities from March 15-29. We will not hold committee meetings, choir rehearsals, or small groups. The Wooden Ladder is closed, and outside groups will not be able to use our building.

The Session convened its first virtual meeting on March 17 thanks to the efforts of Elder Deb Sadowski who trained everyone on the Webex videoconferencing platform enabling not only Session members to meet, but other committees and groups to hold meetings and bible studies remotely. During the Session meeting, much of our discussion was focused on keeping our community safe with the closure of the building, while also thinking creatively about how we stay connected and even participate in communion during the month of April. The following motions were passed.

• Approved closing of the church building until April 30, 2020. Session will meet on March 31, 2020 at 7:00 pm via Webex to assess the situation.
  • Approved sending a daily word of encouragement written by the elders, deacons, Stephen Ministers, and pastor for at least forty days beginning Sunday, March 22, 2020 to the congregation.

• As we worship together via livestream while the church building is closed to gatherings, approved "virtual" communion with the Pastor blessing the bread and juice and encouraging families to partake of bread and juice in their homes as part of the livestream service. The first date will be Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020 and will continue until we are back worshipping in the Sanctuary.

In addition, the elders also approved the use of Fellowship Hall by the Community Theater Players for 7:30 pm performances for Thursday, May 14; Friday, May 15; and Saturday, May 16 on the condition the church is open. Communications was the Featured Committee of the Month in March and it couldn’t have been timelier! Elder Deb Sadowski gave a very informative presentation on Communications, and specifically, the role this committee has played over the past several days as the church building closed to gatherings per CDC recommendations.

As way of background, the Communications Team was created three years ago in response to one of the strategic initiatives - Improve our two-way communication with our congregation and community – to explore how we can effectively communicate. As a result, several tools have been implemented over the past couple of years – livestreaming the worship service, eblasts to both members and friends of the church, and an enhanced website. And now we are embarking on a new level of communicating by meeting “virtually” using the Webex virtual meeting platform. Elder Sadowski encouraged Session members to become familiar, if not proficient, with the Webex software so we can add this tool to our portfolio, and she prepared excellent instructions on “how to use Webex” for committee chairs and team leaders, and successfully brought Session together for its first virtual monthly meeting!

The Featured Committees of the Month for April are Christian Education and Wooden Ladder, so stay tuned to hear more about how these groups are bringing Christ to the. Community and the Community to Christ!

For questions, please send an email to cpcbaclerk@gmail.com.
Diana Petruska
Clerk of Session