Virginia United Methodist Church The...
5
Virginia United Methodist Church The Messenger Volume Guiding Principles for Decisions about COVID-19 Our church leadership will find it necessary to make lots of decisions as we continue to deal with trying to keep people safe from COVID-19. The IL Great Rivers Conference has specific guidance on when and how we might resume worship services and other gatherings. Those guidelines may be found at: https:// www.igrc.org/coming-back-to-the-heart-of-worship. A copy will also be available on the small table outside our church office. These guidelines were derived from the principles described below. If we have questions beyond the details of those guidelines these principles can be used to evaluate and determine the best response. 1) Do no harm. The first rule of a Methodist is “Do no harm.” Our churches should attempt to minimize harm as much as possible. This will likely require inconveniencing many people in order to make it safer for some other people. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this means that we must do all we can to keep people as safe as possible, even if it is difficult, inconvenient, frustrating, unprofitable, or disruptive. Some people are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19, but it has the possibility of killing anyone who contracts it. Doing no harm, in this case, means keeping people from dying. 2) Avoid close individual contact. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is primarily spread by water droplets carried on the breath of someone with the virus. It is also possible for someone to have the virus for several weeks without showing any symptoms or even being aware that they could be spreading the virus to others. Avoiding close contact between people can significantly lower the possibility of someone unknowingly infecting another person. People should remain at least six feet apart (about the length of regular breath transmission) and wear masks to prevent water vapor traveling between people. People who suspect they might have COVID-19, people who are ill, or people at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 should avoid contact with any other people. 3) Avoid shared object contact . Water droplets containing the virus can easily pass from mouth to hand to objects to another person who touches that object and then their mouth, face, or eyes. There is still a lot unknown about how long the virus can be contagious once it gets onto an object, but the best practice is to limit touching of common objects. This includes door handles, handrails, bathroom fixtures, bulletins, toys, coffee pots, hymnals, microphones, keyboards, and cleaning supplies. Shared objects should be thoroughly cleaned between usages. 4) Rule of the Least Compliant Person. Because of the nature of viral transmission, the safety level of a group of people is not set by the safety practices of the majority of the group’s participants. Instead, the safety level of the entire group is set by the safety practices of the least safe person in the group. One person who does not follow safety practices can infect an entire group, even if the rest of the group is fully complying with all recommended safety practices. This means that church gatherings will need to clearly communicate with all of their participants the mutual needs of the entire gathering to reduce risk. Remember to review the guidelines go to: https://www.igrc.org/coming-back-to-the-heart-of-worship. A copy will also be available on the small table outside our church office.
Transcript of Virginia United Methodist Church The...
Virginia United Methodist Church
The Messenger Volume
Guiding Principles for Decisions about COVID-19
Our church leadership will find it necessary to make lots of decisions as we continue to deal with trying to keep people safe from COVID-19. The IL Great Rivers Conference has specific guidance on when and how we might resume worship services and other gatherings. Those guidelines may be found at: https://www.igrc.org/coming-back-to-the-heart-of-worship. A copy will also be available on the small table outside our church office. These guidelines were derived from the principles described below. If we have questions beyond the details of those guidelines these principles can be used to evaluate and determine the best response.
1) Do no harm. The first rule of a Methodist is “Do no harm.” Our churches should attempt to minimize harm as much as possible. This will likely require inconveniencing many people in order to make it safer for some other people. In the light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this means that we must do all we can to keep people as safe as possible, even if it is difficult, inconvenient, frustrating, unprofitable, or disruptive. Some people are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19, but it has the possibility of killing anyone who contracts it. Doing no harm, in this case, means keeping people from dying.
2) Avoid close individual contact. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is primarily spread by water
droplets carried on the breath of someone with the virus. It is also possible for someone to have the virus for several weeks without showing any symptoms or even being aware that they could be spreading the virus to others. Avoiding close contact between people can significantly lower the possibility of someone unknowingly infecting another person. People should remain at least six feet apart (about the length of regular breath transmission) and wear masks to prevent water vapor traveling between people. People who suspect they might have COVID-19, people who are ill, or people at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 should avoid contact with any other people.
3) Avoid shared object contact . Water droplets containing the virus can easily pass from mouth to hand to objects to another person who touches that object and then their mouth, face, or eyes. There is still a lot unknown about how long the virus can be contagious once it gets onto an object, but the best practice is to limit touching of common objects. This includes door handles, handrails, bathroom fixtures, bulletins, toys, coffee pots, hymnals, microphones, keyboards, and cleaning supplies. Shared objects should be thoroughly cleaned between usages.
4) Rule of the Least Compliant Person. Because of the nature of viral transmission, the safety level of a group of people is not set by the safety practices of the majority of the group’s participants. Instead, the safety level of the entire group is set by the safety practices of the least safe person in the group. One person who does not follow safety practices can infect an entire group, even if the rest of the group is fully complying with all recommended safety practices. This means that church gatherings will need to clearly communicate with all of their participants the mutual needs of the entire gathering to reduce risk. Remember to review the guidelines go to: https://www.igrc.org/coming-back-to-the-heart-of-worship. A copy will also be available on the small table outside our church office.
Congregational Prayer List as of 6/30/20
6/29/20 Pastor Joe & family, Toby Brake, Raquel & DJ Reid, Barb Ring, all the victims & families in the Bunn-O-Matic shooting 6/24/20 Residents and staff at Heritage Health 6/22/20 Family of Al Kobernus 6/19/20 Charlie & Barb Ring, Jim Fox 6/17/20 Residents and staff at Walker Nursing Home 6/9/20 Jeremy Moore
Ongoing Prayers: Hayden Ahrens, Deanna Anderson, Caroline Bacon, Jim Baehar, Janet Brammer, Gina Brissey, Asher Brockhouse, Gladys Browning, Chris Bulger, Cecilia C., Christian Caley, Susan Carnes, Clara Chumley, Chris Cota, Julia Covarrubias, David Cox, Devin Cox, Bobbi Jo Curry, JD Daniel, Delores Dohm, Pearl Dong, Ethel Doyle, Joann Felker, Fonda, Dave Gibson, Bobbie and Doc Goodin, Wyatt Goodsell, Robert Harris, Alan Hays, Albert Hoesman, Trudy Jones, Robbie Kemp, Virginia Kuo, David McGrew, Roberta McNeely, Bob Parlier, Kevin Reiterman, Lorrie Reiterman, Pat & Waldron Siltman, Gary Spangenberg, James Smith, Brent VanBebber, Lori Williams, and Lyle Wolf Our Home Bound: None known Our Nursing Home Residents: Morris Bell, Eva & Hannah Blair, Jim Fox, Bob Goodin, Elaine Harper, John Ridder, Ruth Saylor, and Dorothy Smith Serving in the Military: Nathan Travelstead, Josh Denning
ACOLYTES GREETERS NURSERY WORKERS July 5 DJ Reid Kevin & Mary Ring Robin Brown July 12 Logan Kay Mary & Carolyn Taylor Laura Burrus July 19 Jenna Nault Charlie & Barb Ring Rebecca Ring
July 26 Hallie Clement Charlene Anderson & Bobbie Goodin Anna Burrus
COLLECTION COUNTERS July 5 Laura Burrus & Ann Reiterman July 12 Deb Kilby & Mary Ring July 19 Jim Crum & Josh Doyle July 26 Steve Clement & Charles Taylor
Worship Offering Attendance (Pledges & Tithes)
Online Views June 7 59 $5,910.00 June 14 68 $1,240.00 June 21 26 (Outdoors) $1,020.00 June 28 23 (Outdoors) $1435.00
NEWS ABOUT OUR MISSIONS . . .
July/August 2020 Gordley Trust Fund The July/August Gordley Committee will meet on Sunday, July 12, 2020 at 10:00 AM and have $2,137.60 to distribute. Committee members are Nancy Anderson, Steve Clement, Jana Raymond, Barb Ring, and Jim Crum, Chair.
July Mission Spotlight . . . In 2018 the Cass County Health Department launched the Blessing Box from images they had seen on Facebook. The health department had discovered that Beardstown had recently installed a blessing box outside of a local business and they wanted to bring that idea to the Virginia community. The health department already had a Community Resource Closet (at that time located inside the Virginia office) but loved the idea of reaching more people with food insecurities while allowing it to be accessible at any time of day. The box was built with the help of the Virginia High School shop class and their teacher, Darin Waters. The blessing box turned out to be needed more than initially thought and has been much utilized. The box is stocked primarily from staff donations and contributions. The community also bought into this project and have been awesome in donating items to the box as well as not misusing it. The blessing box is filled mostly with non-perishable items, baby items and hygiene products. During the summer, you may find some items from our community garden inside it as well! We will be taking a collection for this mission on July 26th.
Food Pantry Food of the Month For July, the Cass County Food Pantry is requesting donations of ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, salad dressing, and cereal. Other non-perishable foods and canned goods are also welcome and needed. Monetary gifts and volunteers are also welcome.
We Are a Mission Oriented Church Through the end of June, our church has given $5,462.80 to fifteen organizations/agencies through Gordley Committees, $981.00 through individual giving to eight charities, and $3,426.00 to IGRC connectional ministries through the General Fund! The Summer Lunch Program Mission kicked off on May 29th for packing and May 30th for distribution. The mission has continued through the month of June for a total of three packing days and 3 distribution days. We were able to get a grant from the Illinois Great River Conference of $500.00 and had a donation of $50.00. During this time we have spent a total of $4,553.95 with the grant/donation included and have a total of 98 children receiving lunches. We will continue this mission during the month of July with the Virginia Christian Women’s Fellowship!
Upcoming Meetings at Virginia UMC: The Scholarship Committee will meet on Tuesday, July 14th at 7:00 PM in the Bread of Love room. The Trustees will meet on Wednesday, July 15th at 7:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall. The Nurture Committee will meet on Thursday, July 16th at 7:00 PM in the Fellowship Hall.
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 7 PAGE 3
The safety of our families and volunteers has also been and will continue to
be our highest priority. The next paragraph is brief outline of what VBS will
look like this year:
VBS is scheduled to start August 3rd at 6:00 p.m. We are hoping to be in the Restore Illinois stage four by the beginning of August so we can keep our numbers close to 50 people. To do this we are going to have A and B Weeks. Age 4 through 2nd grade will be meeting on Week A and Grades 3-6 on Week B. Families may choose to send all their children to A or B week of their choice. This means our VBS will run 10 days until August 14th excluding the weekend August 8-9th which VBS will NOT be held. Our VBS crews are normally small but with the number of participants cut in half they should be even smaller. For most of the rotation’s, participants will be assigned to a room that Leaders will visit to give the bible-filled lessons. Participants and volunteers will be encouraged to sanitize and wash their hands often and highly touch surfaces will be wiped down frequently. For some of our families that are unable to attend our in-person VBS there will be an online version that will be posted on Facebook every night starting August 4th. This is the current plan of action, changes may happen throughout the summer and we will do our best to keep you updated.
• We are highly encouraging families to preregister their children so we can determine the amounts of participants we’ll have each week. Register at https://vbspro.events/p/virginiacommunityvbs
• Our Virginia Community VBS page will have more upcoming information for volunteers and families at https://www.facebook.com/Virginia-Community-VBS-112012593723778
August
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Week A:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Week B:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 7 PAGE 6
Climb aboard for
mountains of fun at
Rocky Railway! On this
faith-filled adventure,
kids discover that
trusting Jesus pulls
them through life’s ups
and downs.
Age 4 through 6th grade
AUGUST 3-7 and 10-14
6:00-8:00 P.M.
At New Life Church
20090 Garner Rd,
Virginia, IL 62691
Bridal Shower Due to the recent COVID outbreak in Virginia, we’ve decided to proceed with canceling Jenny and Nathan’s bridal shower on July 5th. If you would still like to send them a gift , please refer to the invite for the registry information and shipping address (2710 Harris Road Jacksonville, IL 62650.) If you would rather take a gift to the church , we would be happy to deliver them! We are sadden that this has transpired, but feel it’s the safest course for all of you invited. Please contact Amy at 309-363-9010 if you have any questions. Thank you for your understanding.
Thank you to all those that have sent graduation cards, planned or stopped by the drive-through celebration. You have made me feel special during such a “not so ideal” situation. I appreciate all the support that you’ve shown me throughout the years. Anna Burrus
OUR STAFF AND SERVICES AT A GLANCE
VIRGINIA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 401 East Broadway
Virginia Illinois 62691
8:15 AM Choir Practice (during school year)
9:00 AM Virginia Worship Service
10:00 AM Fellowship Hour
10:15 AM Sunday School
10:50 AM Fairview Worship Service
Pastor: Joseph Tomich
Administrative Assistant: Jess Miller
Music Director: Raquel Reid
Janitor: Linda Curry
Our Mission Our mission is to make us and others disciples of Jesus Christ in order to transform the world.
VOLUME 25, NUMBER 7 PAGE 7
Pastor’s Phone: (217) 251-8563
Pastor’s E-mail: [email protected]
Church Phone: (217) 452-3534
Church E-mail: [email protected]
Websites: http://www.virginiailumc.org
CCLI License No.: 11161661
Early August Birthdays August 3 Kirk Massie Katie Noland, Bernadette Pankey August 4 Stuart Huffman Carol Stufflebeam Roger Strang August 6 Kate Fox Merle Sayre Matt Yaple August 9 Ninia Toquinto August 10 Denton Cox August 12 Chad Fox Trista Barrett Melissa Hardwick
