Update: We’ve made the difficult decision to move our church gatherings online instead of meeting physically as a church. We will be creating video resources for our members and guests to use as they gather as a church at home. You can find join us online here.

Here is a video from Michael Plaege, our Lead Pastor, speaking more about this decision and its implications for us:

Join us online

Dear Church Family,

With the increased spread of COVID19 (Coronavirus) and the growing social implications for our region, we want to assure our church family that we’re committed to taking appropriate precautions during this time without alarmism nor complacency. Added to that, we want to encourage our church family to continue to express Christian love to one another and the community around us.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Galatians 6:9-10

CONTINUE TO PRAY

We believe in the goodness and sovereignty of God and we want to be a church that is prayerfully dependent on him. We believe in thanking God for the health services available to us while always confident in his power to heal. All the while we are ultimately looking forward to the day when Jesus will wipe away all sickness, pain and death.

CONTINUE OUR ASSOCIATION’S RESPONSIBILITIES

As an organisation, we will follow the general advice provided by the Australian Department of Health and NSW Health regarding public meetings, self-isolation and other guidelines they may provide in the coming months. We will also cooperate with any requests for information from government health authorities.

We’d encourage people to follow the current NSW Health advice; if they have recently been to a high-risk country (as identified here or a doctor suspects they have COVID19) and/or are experiencing any of the symptoms associated with the virus (fever, flu-like symptoms such as coughing, sore throat and fatigue or shortness of breath) they should not attend church and isolate themselves (or practice social distancing) as directed and seek medical advice.

If it comes to the point where health professionals recommend certain high-risk groups (e.g. elderly) not attend public events, we will seek to ensure those members of our church community are contacted with that advice.

CONTINUE MEETING TOGETHER

Unless otherwise instructed, we’ll continue to hold all our regular meetings (e.g. Sunday gatherings, Small Groups and other church activities). We’re encouraging all Salt Church members to keep attending these events and continue serving, giving, welcoming, and inviting others along. If we reach a point where we don’t think we can run a Sunday church gathering, or another church program, we will communicate that via an email to members and updates on our Church Facebook page.

We’re currently looking at possible ways to best connect with one another as a church family if people are unable to attend for prolonged periods of time. The sermon will continue to be recorded and published on our website www.saltchurch.info/sermons, Apple Podcast and Spotify if you miss it.

We encourage everyone to follow the NSW Health guidelines regarding self-care (regular hand-washing, etc.), and we’ll seek to provide adequate cleaning provisions for people in our programs.

IF YOU ARE SICK – CONTINUE CARING FOR OTHERS

Please continue to love others by staying at home to recover well if you are sick. While this is good practice within children’s programs, it applies to everyone at Salt Church – even if there were no current COVID19 concerns.

As a normal matter of practice we’d encourage individuals to lovingly excuse themselves from attending gatherings for 48 hours if they have shown any of the following symptoms; fever, vomiting, or diarrhoea. Parents may also need to consider withdrawing children from church programs in the event of other symptoms (e.g. newly developed cough, sore throat, runny nose).

In general we want to encourage people to be wise; keep making church and Small Groups a priority, and at the same time, avoid putting others at risk of getting sick. If you’re unsure let us know, or speak to a health professional about appropriate social activity.

It’s important we all follow these guidelines, especially those on our staff team and those who volunteer across our church in various ways – since those roles can involve lots of contact with other people

GATHERINGS AT SALT

Given the ongoing concerns about the virus, we are implementing the following precautions to reduce the risk at our gatherings:

  • We are not encouraging handshakes, high-fives, hugs or kisses to minimise direct contact. While this might seem a bit awkward, we are hoping you will understand this precaution.
  • We will be making hand sanitiser available to everyone. Those involved in food preparation and serving will particularly be extra vigilant regarding hygiene and hand washing.
  • We will encourage good hygiene including washing your hands frequently with soap and water, before and after eating and covering your cough or sneeze with your elbow, disposing of tissues and using alcohol-based hand sanitiser

IF OTHERS ARE SICK – CONTINUE CARING FOR THEM

If people in our church family become ill or if they are required to stay at home for long periods of time, we want to be a community that is quick to provide support for them and their families/flatmates. In most circumstances this initial support will come from people within their Small Group, as our Small Groups are best situated to be aware of people’s needs and provide care.

Therefore, we encourage everyone at Salt Church to be aware of the particular circumstances of others, especially people in their Small Group (i.e. health concerns, financial concerns, and social circumstances). We would also encourage Small Group leaders to let the staff know about those people who are in need so that we can seek to best coordinate support as a wider church family.

Some ways we can show God’s love to others at this time:

  • Do someone’s shopping for them
  • Run errands for a sick, elderly or anxious person
  • Teach a friend to shop online
  • Ask a concerned friend or neighbour if you can pray for them
  • Pray for people around Australia and the world who are suffering or anxious at this time
  • Send someone a message, book, article or song that might be encouraging to them

Further to this, our Christian concern for others goes beyond our own church family.

We want to encourage everyone at Salt Church to be aware of people experiencing difficulties in their own communities (workplaces, school communities, local groups, etc). While many Christians are blessed with a church family around them to provide care when in need, many people in our wider community may find this time very isolating. As such, we want to be a church family that displays the love of Christ far and wide so that people may glorify Jesus when he returns (1 Peter 2:12).

CONTINUE WALKING WITH CHRIST

We continue to trust God in the midst of this concern, and – because of God’s grace shown in and through our church family over the years – we’re confident that God will continue to help us show maturity and love in Christ in the coming months.

If you do have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the staff.

SUMMARY

As a church community:

  1. Let’s keep praying to our good and sovereign God
  2. Self-quarantine if we’re showing signs of COVID-19 or have returned from visiting an affected area overseas (including mainland China, Iran, or South Korea), or have been in close proximity with someone who has contracted the virus. If you are feeling unwell with respiratory symptoms (runny nose, sore throat, cough, fever, difficulty breathing, etc), we encourage you to self-isolate.
  3. Wash your hands regularly
  4. Care for those affected at church and in our community

Your Brother,
Michael Plaege
Lead Pastor

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