New Hope Church of Christ

General Guidance, Procedures, Recommendations for Family Gatherings, Worship and Building Use

Effective Date: March 23, 2021

Guiding Principles/Philosophy for Plan:

Glorifying God and staying centered on Jesus is an absolute

• Let the Spirit guide New Hope – adjustments to plan will occur as we follow His Plan
• Serving God and serving others must remain our goal
• Creativity and adaptability in building faith and worshiping God is critical
• Accept that God has something special that will come out of this and we will look for those new ways to serve and glorify Him while rejecting fear and defeat

We need to support our community and stay connected

• Building use for worship, classes, fellowship and outside groups will have new guidelines (detailed in this document)
• To the best of our ability, we will follow the guidance of our city, state and federal government
• Using online meeting services to conduct classes and meet together
• Regular communication is essential and should continue. We must seek to OVER communicate to support the New Hope Family.

We will be worshiping together in many ways

• Members at New Hope will respond differently based on their health and family situations to attending a worship service or other meeting at the church building so we must provide multiple ways to attend and participate
• Developing small groups to worship and study together should be encouraged to meet the needs of those who cannot or are nervous about attending larger group worship
• People without access or the ability to view online services should reach out to the New Hope Staff or Elders to assist with getting connected

Guidance Team/Ministry Staff are enabled to make decisions in a timely manner

• A smaller team consisting of Bob Peterson, Keith Davis, David Knight, Eric Newberg, Mark Ruff, Clete Ross, Calvin Weeks, Ken Johnson, John Humphreys and Jacob Conger will meet as needed to discuss needed changes to the plan, schedule, or Ministry Staff should feel empowered to work within these guidelines without having to seek approval unless they prefer to review

General Recommendations for members and visitors at the building for official gatherings:

1. Per the City of Edmond Ordinance No. 3813 there are no restrictions on face coverings or restrictions for building use.  New Hope will continue to follow the guidance from local and state ordinances as they change in the future. Face coverings and social distancing will not be required but are recommended for use in the building and communication on the building will state this. We feel this is in line with mutual care and respect for one another.
2. Members and visitors who are not feeling well or running a fever will be asked to join us online.
3. All classes can now return to the building with the removal of restrictions. Providing online options will exist for some classes.
4. Spacing in the auditorium will be the responsibility of the members. We ask that everyone respect distancing and leave open seating to create spacing.

Worship Services

• Current worship services will include live services at the building and a live stream on YouTube or other service for those who cannot be at the building. The gym will be set-up to livestream the service in order to provide more space.
• Proper preventative practices: hand-washing, avoiding touching eyes, nose, mouth, avoid close contact with others, practicing social distancing (6ft of separation), covering coughs and sneezes, cover nose and mouth with a face mask, staying at home if you are ill and staying at home if you are caring for the ill will be recommended to members and visitors through normal communication methods and postings on appropriate locations within the building
• Wednesday night services at the will restart at the direction of New Hope Staff
• Communion – Sealed individual communion cups are provided at the entry points in the auditorium. Individuals who are gloved will pass them out. Please refrain from serving yourself. This will be reviewed continually to determine the right time to return to our normal communion methods or a new method.

Adult Classes (Sunday and Wednesday)

• Offer Zoom Classes for members not returning to the building yet
• Adult classes can return to the building as soon as possible
• Consider adding a time break between class and worship to allow for travel to the building from home

Children Classes (Sunday)

• Classes at building will return April 4
• Teachers will need to be located and trained on proper procedures/cleaning
• Cleaning procedures need to be documented. Supplies must be readily available.

Youth Classes/Activities

• Youth are currently using Youth Room for Hang-Out on Wednesday night. Sunday classes can restart as determined by New Hope Staff.
• Parents should be made aware of any gatherings and agree to their child attending

Communication/Social Media

• Continue supporting current Website, Newsletter, and Facebook activities. We need to improve on this by engaging interested and capable members, thus spreading out the work and providing backup.
• Continue with current videos and communication
• More defined plan around social media is needed – develop a team to define

Use of Building by Outside Groups

• Priority is getting operations running in support of New Hope services and classes
• Our expectations is that we will not open the building to outside groups for now. A decision will be made in the summer to determine when we will open for outside groups
• Proper cleaning policies to be developed prior to allowing outside use

Food Preparation in Building

• All people handling food or serving people should wear gloves
• Proper cleaning and sanitizing of the area used is required
• A food service committee will be created to develop food service guidelines

COVID 19 Response Plan

• If the New Hope Staff or Elders become aware of a possible COVID 19 infection the response plan will be initiated
• Based on the situation, the New Hope Staff and Eldership will decide what type of response is needed
• Should a positive infection be confirmed by someone who was in the building then the following steps will be taken:

1.   An email to all members and visitors (who filled out an information card) will be written to notify about the exposure and provide further details about upcoming services. Due to privacy issues names and specific details will not be included. 

2.   The Reopen Team will determine if closing services is required.

3.   Each Elder will call every member of their flock and provide the same information as was provided in the email

4.   Social media (Weekly Newsletter, Facebook and New Hope Website) will be updated to share this communication 

5.   The building will be cleaned and sanitized

6.   Communication will be reissued once services are allowed be back on site

7.   If onsite services are canceled, the worship services will be prerecorded