Dear Brethren,
We appreciate your patience as we have worked out contingencies in response to the recent CoronaVirus outbreak. Many of you have voiced your thoughts and concerns to us and we want you to know we have listened to each one of you. On Tuesday evening we had a combined leadership meeting to discuss how to appropriately respond to request by local and state authorities that no gatherings of 10 or more people meet at this time. Outlined below is how our congregation will adapt to these challenges over the next few weeks:
Sunday Morning Services
The decision was made to cancel Sunday morning services at this time. Tentatively, we will plan on resuming our Sunday AM assembly on March 29th. We must stress this is only tentative as the situation may warrant further cancellations. This is in addition to the Sunday PM and Wednesday PM services being canceled until further notice. In response, here are some things to think about and ways we are seeking to accommodate our brethren:
- We are not canceling worship, nor could we if we wanted to. Sunday will always be the Lord's Day. We are merely suspending our gathering at the building until this outbreak subsides. We are eagerly anticipating a time when we can all be back together again. We encourage all families to worship together in their homes.
- Our deacon over technology, Dennis Ingles, has been working diligently to make online streaming available. Our Wednesday evening Bible class will be LIVE streamed on Facebook at 7 PM EST. The video will be made available on via a Youtube link after the LIVE broadcast. We will be sending out a second message on Friday regarding the LIVE stream of our Sunday morning worship service. Please note, we are planning on LIVE streaming a full Sunday morning service at 10 AM Sunday.
- The disposable communion supplies we used this past Sunday are being made available at our church office. You can stop by the building between 9am and 4:30pm Monday through Friday to pick up supplies for your family. PLEASE CALL OUR SECRETARY AHEAD OF TIME. In addition, Natalie Green has provide a communion bread recipe that can easily be made at home (please see attached recipe).
- Regarding the contribution, we ask that you either mail your contribution to our PO Box - PO Box 1301 Hopewell, Virginia 23860 - or hold your contribution until we gather together again. We are working this week on making online giving available. We will include that information in our Friday message.
Meeting the Needs of the Elderly and Shut-In
We feel this current pandemic presents an especially difficult challenge for our elderly and shut-in. Each of our deacons and our minister have been assigned a number of brethren who fall into those categories. They will be responsible for calling and checking up on those people and working to meet any pressing needs present.
In addition, if you would like to assist one of our deacons at this time in meeting these needs we ask you to call the church office at (804) 458-3563 and you will be added to a list, email the church office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or sign the online registration form (form will be emailed out later). You will be contacted by the deacon you are assigned to.
If you have any questions please contact the church office or one of our church leaders. Always remember, "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven" Psalm 11:4.
On behalf of the Cawson Street leadership,
Mike G.
Michael S. Green
Cawson Street church of Christ
Preacher
Hopewell, Virginia
(804) 898-4705
"The things that are impossible with people are possible with God."
Gospel of Luke 18:27