Friends in Faith,
We pray that you are well and in good spirits. This month (April 2021), the Council of Faith Lutheran Church decided that we will move from recommending face masks be worn for in-person ministry activities to making mask wearing optional for congregants. We will now leave the decision to wear masks in worship and at in-person ministry activities up to individuals and families based on determinations about their own health and their own consciences, without input from the church. This decision is based on consideration of regular worship attendants who have collectively reported high rates of vaccination in our congregation. Thanks to the willingness of our members and friends to get vaccinated, we are confident that we have achieved herd immunity by vaccination in our worship services over the past few weeks. Virologists consider herd immunity achieved when a minimum of 60% in a group have achieved natural immunity or have been vaccinated, and in several of Faith’s services recently we estimate 80-90% of attendants have been fully vaccinated. As a result, the Church Council feels that we have come to a place where we can leave the choice to wear a mask for in-person ministry activities up to individual consciences and health calculations. We expect that this decision will seem long in coming for some, while others may perceive it to be hasty and rushed. Varied responses are understandable for how we have endured and experienced pandemic realities in our area up to this point. However, we ask everyone to continue to hold one another in grace and prayer as God leads us forward together as people of faith. May we live out, now as much as ever, the words that the Apostle Paul wrote to the divided church of Corinth:
“Let all that you do be done in love” – 1 Corinthians 16:14
In Christ,
Pastor Seth and the Church Council
We pray that you are well and in good spirits. This month (April 2021), the Council of Faith Lutheran Church decided that we will move from recommending face masks be worn for in-person ministry activities to making mask wearing optional for congregants. We will now leave the decision to wear masks in worship and at in-person ministry activities up to individuals and families based on determinations about their own health and their own consciences, without input from the church. This decision is based on consideration of regular worship attendants who have collectively reported high rates of vaccination in our congregation. Thanks to the willingness of our members and friends to get vaccinated, we are confident that we have achieved herd immunity by vaccination in our worship services over the past few weeks. Virologists consider herd immunity achieved when a minimum of 60% in a group have achieved natural immunity or have been vaccinated, and in several of Faith’s services recently we estimate 80-90% of attendants have been fully vaccinated. As a result, the Church Council feels that we have come to a place where we can leave the choice to wear a mask for in-person ministry activities up to individual consciences and health calculations. We expect that this decision will seem long in coming for some, while others may perceive it to be hasty and rushed. Varied responses are understandable for how we have endured and experienced pandemic realities in our area up to this point. However, we ask everyone to continue to hold one another in grace and prayer as God leads us forward together as people of faith. May we live out, now as much as ever, the words that the Apostle Paul wrote to the divided church of Corinth:
“Let all that you do be done in love” – 1 Corinthians 16:14
In Christ,
Pastor Seth and the Church Council
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