Coronavirus Contingency Plan Options – March 2020
March 12, 2020
Dear Pastors and Leaders of the Church of God in Colorado,
We are living through unprecedented events in our lifetimes. Yet during any and all moments of time we have a sure and firm foundation (Matthew 7:24-27). Thus, we do not live in fear but in faith in the risen and reigning Lord of all – Christ Jesus our Lord – who is Lord of all!
As our local, national, and global situation unfolds we are ones who know that an important part of our roles is to be a non-anxious presence in anxiety-ridden situations. We can help reduce people’s levels of stress and worry by making wise, faith-based decisions and avoiding unwise, fear-based reactions.
An important question to lead us through these times is, “What does love compel us to do?” Love compels us to care for one another and our neighbors well. Love compels us to help keep our most at-risk people as safe as possible. Love compels us to do all we can to care for and serve our neighbors. For God is love (1 John 4:8 & 16) and love is the fulfillment of all things (Romans 13:8 & 10).
What follows are not rigid rules but general guidelines. They were developed by my counter-part in Western Pennsylvania, Rev. Rebecca New-Edson, PhD. She is one of the State Pastors of the Church of God I most admire and call upon for advice, perspective, and wisdom. In response to the spread of the coronavirus she assembled a wise team of researchers and advisors so that together they could create a helpful outline of current contingency plan options in responding to COVID-19. That information has been slightly adapted for our use here in Colorado. I hope these options will be helpful to you as you devise your own responses as the situation changes and unfolds in the days ahead.
If I can be helpful please do not hesitate to contact me.
I am in your corner and am praying for you,
Steve Rennick
Colorado State Pastor
Church of God
(317) 373-1423
Level 1- If there are no known infections in your area
- Keep events as scheduled and planned
- Prevent Spread:
- If you have any flu-like symptoms (fever, cough, sneezing, etc.) stay home
- Refrain from handshaking and hugging at gatherings
- Hand sanitizer at entry/exit doors and at all gatherings (youth, small groups, etc)
- Disinfecting wipes in children’s areas (nursery and classrooms)
- Serve:
- Members gather contact info for senior friends and seniors in their neighborhood
- Assemble team of volunteers to make deliveries to seniors
- Assemble team of volunteers for pastoral care (calls and cards)
- Prepare:
- Guide our church and community families for basic preparation
Level 2- people in your area become infected but incidents are isolated
- Gather for Sunday morning worship as scheduled
- Prevent Spread:
- Suspend serving the Lord’s Supper unless highly sanitary methods are adopted – such as servers using medical gloves and individually handing the elements to persons, thus not allowing persons to touch the tray or other elements
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- Cancel all Senior Adult events (as it has been established that seniors are most affected by virus)
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- Eliminate all handshaking and hugging at gatherings
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- Hand sanitizer at entry/exit doors and at all gatherings (youth, small groups, etc)
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- Disinfecting wipes in children’s areas (nursery and classrooms)
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- Minimize in person hospital/nursing home/home visitations
- Serve:
- Implement Seniors Care
- members contact their senior adult friends/neighbors for wellness check
- church coordinate getting groceries and Rx for seniors as needed (help seniors learn to use options such as Grocery Store Pickups and Amazon Market)
- Deliver community food bank senior food boxes as needed
- Implement Seniors Care
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- Implement team to call and send cards to quarantined/hospitalized persons
- Prepare:
- Prepare for online worship services
- Worship team video record multiple songs
- Develop plan for pastor to record weekly video messages
- Develop plan to put video on Facebook and church website
- Prepare for online worship services
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- Encourage basic family preparations listed in Level 1
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- Encourage people to set-up online giving
Level 3 – active community spread in your area
- Prevent Spread:
- Cancel all gatherings (worship services, small groups, meetings, etc)
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- Implement remote meetings (phone, email or online/video)
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- Suspend in person hospital/nursing home/home visitations
- Serve:
- Produce at least weekly online service via Facebook and website
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- Encourage online giving to keep ministries going
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- Continue implementing Seniors Care
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- Continue to use team to call and send cards to quarantined/hospitalized persons
- Prepare:
- Establish online worship services
- Create telephone call prayer meetings (you can go online to register for a free conference call at www.freeconferencecall.com.)
ADDITIONALLY:
Serve
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the household of faith.” (Ephesians 6:10). These unprecedented times also provide us unprecedented opportunities to “do good to all people” while we give particular attention to “those who belong to the household of faith.” Let us fulfill the law as Jesus teaches us by loving God and our neighbors as we love ourselves. May the Church of God in all of our communities be the people and the place that cares well for one another and for our neighbors. This is the best time for us to demonstrate in attitude and action, in word and deed, the love of God for all people.
Prevent Spread (based on the early-March 2020 direction of the CDC and US Surgeon General):
Hand washing; Thoroughly washing hands for 20 seconds with soap and water is one of the best way to prevent coronavirus spread. Wash hands after social interactions, after being in a public space (worship service, store, restaurant, etc), after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
Carrier vs symptoms: You may be a contagious carrier of the coronavirus for 14 days prior to having any flu-like symptoms. It is imperative that anyone having symptoms immediately self-quarantine and alert others with whom you’d had contact in the last 2 weeks that you have symptoms of the coronavirus.
Hand Sanitizer: When hand washing is not possible, hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol can be used. It may be difficult to find it in your local stores or online. Many online recipes are available, but caution should be used to ensure that the final mixture is not contaminated and contains at least 60% alcohol. Additionally, many of the ingredients needed to make your own sanitizer have become scarce and difficult to purchase.
Masks: The CDC and Surgeon General have repeatedly stated that wearing masks will not prevent you from getting the coronavirus. But the mask can help infected people from spreading it to other people in their home by preventing droplets from being spread from the infected person’s mouth/nose.
Quarantine: Whether the quarantine is because you have symptoms or because you have been exposed to someone with symptoms, be prepared for at least a 14 day quarantine:
- 90 day Rx- as most prescriptions are imported, it may become difficult to get certain medications. By having a 90 day supply (available by getting a 90 day Rx from your Dr) you can minimize the possibility of running out of medications.
- 14 days food for you and your pets
- Cleaning products and toiletries (including toilet paper, paper towels, tissues, and cleaners or diluted bleach water). A CDC approved list of cleaners can be found here: https://www.americanchemistry.
com/Novel-Coronavirus- Fighting-Products-List.pdf - Soap for hand-washing
- Masks for use if person in home becomes infected
- Laundry detergent
- Thermometer to check for fever (one of the primary signs of coronavirus)
- Over the counter flu medications to treat symptoms
Prepare:
Producing Online Service– Most of us have never taken a video editing/production class. But there may be someone in your church or family who would be able to take the raw footage of songs recorded by your worship team (during level 2) and messages recorded by you and put together a meaningful time of worship that you can put on your church Facebook page or website. The following link suggests some low-cost equipment that might make your recordings done with your smart phone a higher production quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Online giving– If not already set up, there are many options available for online giving. If you use a Church Management System (Planning Center Online, Elexio, Servant Keeper, etc), you probably have online and/or text to give options available through that system that might be the best way to get started with electronic giving. Here are a list of other possible options: https://www.capterra.com/
Additional Information:
Again, all of these are not rigid rules but general guidelines to prompt your thinking and decision-making in your context. I am praying for you and for your church families. These unfolding circumstances provide us unparalleled opportunities to be the Good News of Jesus as we live with hope and act in love.
May God guide you as you lead in your context and minister to others in an overflow of Christ’s compassion, mercy, and love.
