guidelines for reopening | nichfirstassembly

Guidelines for reopening Nicholasville 1st AOG services May 24.

Everyone needs to read, understand and apply all of these guidelines for attendance to any services at Nich. 1st for the next several weeks. If you attend services during this time, you are accepting the risk that you could contract the Covid19 virus and will not hold Nich. 1st liable should someone contract the virus. Nicholasville 1st AOG will make every reasonable effort to clean, disinfect and sanitize surfaces as well as provide masks, hand sanitizer or other P.P.E. as deemed necessary. Realty Church will be responsible for providing their own P.P.E., sanitizer etc. during their service time. These guidelines are in cooperation with state and denominational requirements for church reopening.

I. Initial return cleaning.

We will have the cleaning company (Judy’s still on duty) come in and do a deep cleaning of all surfaces and carpets.

II. Safety Specifics.

We will have masks, gloves and hand sanitizer available. If you want to bring your own mask or P.P.E. and it makes you more comfortable to do so that is fine. We will obviously be limited as to the amount of P.P.E. we will have, so we need to be mindful of our use. Also, the use of P.P.E. is strongly suggested by the board and I for everyone to wear, but you will not be asked to leave if you don’t wear P.P.E. You may get a bad seat however.
Our greeters will be wearing P.P.E. and observing social distancing. Hugging and handshaking should not be done at all for the first couple of weeks. There will not be any bulletins passed out, nor will there be any bibles or hymnals in the pews to avoid transfer of any virus germs.
The seats will have to be cordoned off in order to observe 6 ft of space between congregants both front and back. And families will have to sit together. If children come with parents, they need to sit with their parents to avoid any passing that could occur should they sit with other youth or friends. Also, any children under 18 that are brought to church by any members need to sit with the family that brings them. Further, those who are under 18 brought by someone not of their family need to get the parents of the children to sign a release of liability paper.
If you feel sick or feverish, please stay at home. We want to be together again, but we need to be wise and if you don’t feel well stay home until you feel better and then join us. What we don’t want is to be known as the church that is ground zero for a spike in the cases. Our witness to the community is still important.
Please make sure we are using good health practices. Let’s keep our hands washed both at church and at home. This is a simple way we can all help keep the virus at bay. So, wash for 20 seconds, rinse and dry.
In response to one of the questions asked during Wednesday night’s live stream, hugging the children should be restricted. The parent’s permission should be asked and received before anyone hugs the child. If the parent of the child is not at church caution should be taken before initiating or reciprocating any physical contact. Pastor Sara is posting a video to the private page to explain this further.

III. Service Times and Procedures.

We will have 1 service that will begin at 10 am (no Sunday School). The service will last around an hour and follow the normal schedule, Announcements/ worship/ message/ altar call. Pastor Sara will do a children’s sermon (5-10 minutes) before the church service starts. Kelsi will be given an opportunity to do the same.
Most of the church will be cordoned off and access will not be allowed at this time. The foyer, the sanctuary and the restrooms will be opened, but the rest of the church will be closed off to prevent any contamination. We are sorry for any inconvenience, but we are taking as cautious an approach as we can for the benefit of all. Also, restrooms will be limited to one person at a time unless a parent is in there with a child.
Everyone will have to sit 6 ft apart to observe social distancing policies. This means we will have to be cognizant of where we are even if it means we cannot sit in our favorite seat.
There will not be any children’s church, nursery, Sunday, or Wednesday night services until we feel comfortable allowing the services to resume in a safe and healthy manner. The governor has projected June 15th for nurseries and daycares. Pastor Sara and Kelsi will decide when they feel it is safe to resume services. The online/streaming services will continue in the interim.
It has been recommended that churches only open at 33% of membership. However, with the number of people we have attending Nich. 1st the board and I feel that we can get the congregation seated with social distancing without any issues. We also have contingencies for foyer and fellowship hall overflow.
If we have visitors, they will be offered P.P.E. and welcomed as normal. They are still our guests and we need to treat them as such, even if the circumstances are unique. So, if a visitor sits in “your seat” please sit somewhere else and allow them to worship with us.
The offering will be received after the service. The large offering plates will be placed in the back of the church and you may place your tithes and offerings in the plates, and we will collect them after everyone has left.
When the service is over, we will be dismissed by rows. Each row will be dismissed, and you will be asked to put your offering in the plates and move outside. We will have ushers posted by the plates to ensure everyone feels secure about this method. This means we will not be able to congregate in the foyer. You can group outside where it is better ventilated, but we need to keep moving in the church. Yes, this will seem awkward and clunky for the first couple of weeks, but we will make the needed adjustments as we move through and learn more about how to function more efficiently.
Finally, our church family will obviously exercise their freedom as to whether they come or not, but we must make every attempt to keep everyone as safe and healthy as possible.
Let me reiterate again, if you attend services at Nich. 1st you are assuming the risk of being exposed to Covid 19 much like you do when you go to Lowe’s, Walmart, or any other place where many people gather. So it is not out of line for us to ask the same responsibility from you that these other places ask. Furthermore, if you do attend service you are asked to follow these guidelines fully and by having or attending services you automatically agree to the terms in this guideline. This goes for the Nicholasville 1st family and our Reality Church friends.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Pastor Bruce or one of the Servant Board members and we will respond to you as quickly as we can. Thank you all and blessings upon you.