New Hope Community Church
Coronavirus Updates
Re-opening Public Worship
As of June 21, 2020, our Sanctuary will once again be open for congregants to attend public worship. We will have a single service that will start at 10:00am. We have diligently tried to study the various guidelines provided by the CDC for safely conducting worship services. These guidelines are listed towards the bottom of this page.
The Sanctuary has been marked for "social distancing" so that worshipers will be a safe distance from others and therefore will not need to wear masks while worshiping. But as established in the guidelines below, masks will be required at all other times you are inside the church or school buildings. We will be able to accomodate from 70-90 people in the Sanctuary with overflow and families with small children set up in the Fellowship Hall. We are not re-opening Children's Church and nursery services at this time.
We also realize that quite a few members of our congregation are still not ready to return to a public gathering. Please don't feel that you have to rush, because we will continue our streaming ministry, for church, adult Bible studies, youth, children and women's groups indefinitely.
So please review and observe the guidelines below as we safely return to public worship.
Online Events:
Sunday Morning Service. We will continue to stream our service this coming Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Join us by clicking this link: http://www.nhccftl.org/sunam.
The AfterChurch - A search for a deeper understanding of Scripture immediately after the Sunday morning service (around 11:45 AM). Join us by clicking this link: http://www.nhccftl.org/after.
Sunday Night Bible Study - Pastor Kirby will be conducting a streaming version of our study of James at 6:30 pm Sunday evenings. Join us by clicking this link: http://www.nhccftl.org/james.
Tuesday Night Bible Study - Pastor Kirby is conducting a streamed study of the Gospel of Mark on Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm. The Tuesday night study of Mark has been paused during the summer months.
Wednesday Night Bible Study - Pastor Kirby is also continuting our study of Acts with a streaming version on Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm. The Wednesday night study of Acts has been paused during the summer months.
Join us for all our streamed services and Bible Studies via our website at: http://www.nhccftl.org/streams.
Tithes and Offerings:
Tithes and Offerings - We have completed the setup of our online giving portal, which can be reached by selecting the "Give" menu item above. You will find instructions on how to make your donation on that page. You may also continue to mail in your offerings to the church office, or drop them in the "exiting receptacles" in the back of the sanctuary if you prefer. Our address is 6400 NW 31 Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309. Alternatively, you may set up the church as a “bill” in your bank account portal, and the bank will mail the church a check. That works well.
Reopening Guidelines:
We have diligently tried to study the various guidelines provided by the CDC for safely conducting worship services. So we will implement the following guidelines this Sunday and the weeks that follow until the guidelines change.
We apologize in advance for the "institutional tone" of the following guidelines, but we want to make sure all our congregants remain safe during this pandemic. So please pay careful attention to the following items.
Symptoms:
If you or anyone in your family (particularly your children) are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 please stay home. We will continue to stream the service at 10:00 AM as we have for the last several months so you can still worship. The CDC website defines the symptoms as follows:
Symptoms of COVID-19 include cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, or at least two of the following symptoms: chills, shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and loss of taste or smell.
Arriving:
Please try to arrive at least 15 minutes before the service starts at 10:00am, because it will take some time for the ushers to seat everyone. After collecting your Communion elements (explained below) go directly to the Sanctuary to be seated and do not gather in the Narthex.
Masks:
It will be necessary for everyone who enters the church to wear a protective mask while in any area other than your seat in the Sanctuary. This includes the Narthex, the bathrooms, the Fellowship Hall, the kitchen, and classroom areas (including the portables). So please make sure you bring a mask. If you do not have one, one of the deacons will supply you with one at the door.
Once the service starts, you may remove your mask while standing or sitting at your seat, but will need to replace it when you leave the pew.
Social Distancing:
While in these areas, please make sure you maintain at least 6 feet between you and the other worshipers. If there are too many people in the bathrooms, please wait outside until room is available. We will have plenty of hand sanitizer available in the Narthex.
Communion, Extra Bulletins, and Giving Envelopes:
As you enter the Narthex, you will be directed to two tables where you may pick up extra bulletins (one will all ready be placed in your seat in the Sanctuary) or a giving envelope. We will also have a table with communion cups sealed with both grape juice and wafer in a protective wrapping. We will observe Communion at the end of the service and ask that you take the wrapper and cup with you when you leave the Sanctuary, and throw them in the waste cans on the way out.
Seating:
We have the Sanctuary marked so that no one (with the exception of couples and families) will be seated within 6 feet of another worshiper. Each place is marked with a bright yellow piece of tape, and an usher will take you to your seat. Please sit where the usher places you. If you feel you may have to get up during the service, please ask for one of the seats at the end of the row. Those seated in the middle of the rows cannot "climb over" others, but rather ask those seated outside them to move.
Children and Overflow:
We will not be re-opening Children's Church or the nursery for some time now, so children will need to sit with their parents in the pew if they are in the Sanctuary. If you do not think your child(ren) will be able to behave for the entire service, we will have space in the narthex and in the Fellowship Hall, where the service will be broadcast via Youtube. The Fellowship Hall will also serve as additional seating if we have an overflow crowd.
Giving:
We will not be passing the offering plate, so please put your offering in the "exit-receptacles" by the back doors of the Sanctuary.
Exiting:
When the service is over, please exit the building and do not gather in the Narthex. Once outside you may fellowship with others as long as you maintain at least a 6-foot distance.
Guidelines for returning to worship after exposure to the virus.
We are doing every thing we can to keep the church a safe environment so those who are able to come and worship will do so. So far, we have been truly blessed. Our cases have been few and have so far have been isolated and contained.
So in order to keep that good record, please follow these guidelines when you decide whether to attend a service or stay home.
1) If you have any cold symptoms of any kind-- please stay home until you are sure it is just a cold. We have had several people test positive for COVID who have only had mild cold symptoms, no fever and had no idea they were infected. So if you have a runny nose, or slight cough, or even a stuffy head-- please stay home until the symptoms are gone, and watch the service online.
2) If you have tested positive for the virus, or if you are in close proximity to someone (like a family member) who has tested positive-- please follow these guidelines for returning to a service.
• Remain in self-quarantine for at least 14-days after your positive test (or that of your loved one). The Health Department says that after 14 days, even if the symptoms persist, you should no longer be infectious.
• I know there are other protocols in place, but for our purposes I think the 14-day quarantine will be sufficient.
3) But even though the Health Department says you are OK, please do not return to a service if you still have symptoms. Even if you are not actually infectious, the public perception of your condition might cause people to stay away from church.
That's it for now. Once again, we are sorry for the clinical nature of this list of requirements, but they are presented with the sincere desire to keep everyone safe until this pandemic is behind us. Please respect the feelings and health of others and comply to the guidelines without being asked. We are very excited to re-open service and worship with you this Sunday.
Thank you and God bless you!
Instructions on accessing services via YouTube.
There are two ways for you to find the services on YouTube.
1) The easiest way is to access the sermon via the church's website.
• Access the Sermon List Page.
Using your web browser (from computer, tablet or phone): Go to the following location: http://www.nhccftl.org/. Then choose the "Resources" menu item at the top of the page. When the submenu pops up, select "Sermons". This will take you to a list of the current sermons in 2020. Alternatively, you can just click the following link: http://www.nhccftl.org/pages/ipages/sermonList/stdpg.php
• Choose the current sermon.
The sermons are listed in reverse order, so the one scheduled for Sunday should sort at the top of the list (you can check the date). Simply click the link which will navigate you to the page for that sermon.
• Access the YouTube stream.
From there, you can access the YouTube stream for that sermon. You will notice on the right hand side of the page, in the sidebar below the sermon series graphic, several links to the various streams. Usually, these are links to both the Traditional and Contemporary services, or a single link to the evening service. For this special stream-only service we will only stream once-- at 8:45 on Sunday morning. But the second link will work because it will point to the same service. You can watch the service any time during the day.
2) If you have a smart tv that allows you to access YouTube directly. Find the little magnifying glass icon that leads to their search engine and type in "nhccftl sermons". This should take you to our sermon channel. Then just find the stream you want to watch and you can view the entire service from there. You can also use this method to access us via the YouTube website at http://www.youtube.com. Once you have found us, whether by TV, computer, phone or tablet-- I would encourage you to subscribe to the channel so you will always be notified of our upcoming streams.
If you have any further questions, or have trouble getting on Youtube, don't hesitate to call the church office.