UPDATE: Per Governor Brown’s order, our services are now suspended until it is safe to gather again. Our Oversight team will follow the direction of local and federal authorities to determine when we can safely meet again. Until then, beginning Good Friday (April 10) and Easter Sunday (April 12), we will be transitioning to live-streaming Sunday worship services. Links to the service will be at our homepage just before the service starts each week.

Dear Pearl,

As our Oversight Team met last night to discuss the life of the church and the spread of COVID-19 we returned again and again to the question, what does the animation of love look like in this situation? Our answer, as difficult and strange as it may seem, is to suspend our corporate offerings for the next month, until our Good Friday service on April 10, at 7pm. This decision allows our community to participate in the much larger societal decision to be proactive in not passing along or contributing to a spike of COVID-19, which in this moment, is the expression of love. 

Connection
Before getting into the logistics, a word about connection. Right now it is good, wise, and loving to physically distance ourselves from one another. However, this is not the same thing as socially distancing ourselves. Our connection to one another is invaluable. Meeting, talking, sharing a meal or a cup of coffee, telling and listening to story—these are deeply human activities that ground and support our daily lives. Thankfully, through technology, many mediums for connection are available to us. Over the next few weeks please consider sending that extra text or email, making that phone call, and/or setting dates to FaceTime. These are just a few ways that we can remain connected to one another as opposed to being isolated. Although these mediums aren’t the same as meeting in-person, they are options that can help to keep us relationally connected and physically healthy until we’re able to begin meeting together, in-person.

Sunday Worship
Some churches are choosing to offer their services live but we think it best to provide you with Sunday content instead. Rather than allowing our staff to self-select whether they feel safe meeting together to provide a live, virtual service for our church, we have decided to make the decision for them, as an expression of our church’s love. We don’t want our staff to have to make a difficult decision about their involvement nor do we want to expose them to unnecessary risk.

With this in mind, each Sunday at 10am we will send an email that will include links to the bulletin, the sermon, content for children, and as we are able, music. Due to copyright laws we are limited in the way we go about providing music, but we’ll do our best. Then, on Wednesdays, we’ll send a second email that will include a Lenten devotional as well as sermon questions to consider, if you’d like to dig deeper into the sermon. 

Other Ministries
Besides cancelling Sunday worship, we’re cancelling our other in-person offerings:

• Home Groups: We’re cancelling our winter term for Home Groups. Next week was the last week that they were supposed to meet. The plan is to begin offering electronic sign ups for spring term in a couple weeks and when we are able, we will launch those groups. 

• Neighbors: We’re cancelling our monthly meal during March and April and our pantry for March. We are currently working with management at Pearl Court Apartments to give them access to our stored pantry goods, in case that is helpful for the residents.

• Formation: Pastor Ben will be in touch about potential formation offerings that may be able to happen virtually. If you aren’t on his email list for formation but would like to be, please contact him.

• Other ministries: Over the coming days we’ll be sure to clarify what will be happening and how things will be happening via email and on our website.

Resources
We encourage you to regularly keep updated from the CDC, World Health Organization, the Oregon Health Authority, and Multnomah County sites. Also, there is a Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990, which is a crisis hotline for people experiencing distress during COVID-19.

As time passes we may be able to offer our services or ministries in-person sooner than expected. Or, we may need to delay our offerings beyond April 10. We are committed to asking again and gain, “What does the animation of love look like in this situation?” and we will keep you apprised of all decisions moving forward. 

Please be in touch with questions.

Sincerely Yours,

Pearl’s Oversight Team