Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates
Updated July 31st, 2020
Join us online every Sunday at 11 am!
We are suspending our in-person church worship gatherings on Sunday mornings at 822 W. Linebaugh Avenue until further notice and will instead stream online every Sunday morning at 11:00 am for a time of worship, prayer, announcements to the church and a biblical message. We are also hosting a weekly Bible Study on Wednesdays at Noon and 7pm via Zoom. Please complete a contact card on this website to be added to our church's email distribution to stay aware of online and other Living Faith activities. Please see the video below for our reasoning for not re-opening in the near future and the likely duration of our continuing online gatherings.
1. The latest guidelines we have from the federal government is to refrain from social gatherings of more than 10 people, and in some cases practicing complete social distancing. There are three reasons why we think it is important for us at Living Faith to comply with this rule:
A) Love for you (Philippians 2:4, 1 Peter 2:11). The last thing we want is for you to be sick, and it would further sadden us if we made you sick. As those who shepherd you in your walk with Jesus Christ and who are tasked by God to look out for the progress of your soul, we know this also means we should be mindful of how we can protect and preserve your body for your encouragement and the glory of God.
B) Love for neighbor (Matthew 22:39, Galatians 6:10). By complying with the directive concerning social distancing, we actually help mitigate the spread of the virus and contribute to its eventual containment.
C) Submission to governing authorities (Romans 13:1-2). We should be mindful that any form of resistance to what our government is telling us to do about this virus would be resistance to the Lord himself. It is righteous to obey these directives and unrighteous to reject them.
Corona Virus Links & Resources:
Below are links and resources from the CDC concerning COVID-19
http://www.all4healthfl.org/resourcelibrary/index/collection?alias=Covid_19_Resources
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
https://www.google.com/covid19/
BayCare has a nurse line available as a community resource.
The line is available from 6am to midnight by calling 1-800-BayCare (2292273).
For our members, you can get local information from
https://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/residents/public-safety/emergency-management/stay-safe
https://www.tampagov.net/emergency-management/alert-tampa
Please be careful where you get your information about coronavirus.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/be-careful-where-you-get-your-news-about-coronavirus-2020020118801
You can sign up for Tampa Alert and Hillsborough County Alert from those pages.
Below are links and resources from the CDC concerning COVID-19
http://www.all4healthfl.org/resourcelibrary/index/collection?alias=Covid_19_Resources
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
https://www.google.com/covid19/
BayCare has a nurse line available as a community resource.
The line is available from 6am to midnight by calling 1-800-BayCare (2292273).
For our members, you can get local information from
https://www.hillsboroughcounty.org/residents/public-safety/emergency-management/stay-safe
https://www.tampagov.net/emergency-management/alert-tampa
Please be careful where you get your information about coronavirus.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/be-careful-where-you-get-your-news-about-coronavirus-2020020118801
You can sign up for Tampa Alert and Hillsborough County Alert from those pages.
What we are doing as a Church
- First of all, for our elderly members and those who are immunosuppressed, we are happy for you to stay home for now until there's more resolution around this outbreak. We don't want your health to be compromised due to your understandable desire to be with the saints on Sunday, and we would be more than grieved if that were to happen. We want to see you strong and healthy long after this coronavirus scare has been truly contained.
- Ministry workers and attending members should stay home if they are sick. We'll provide more details next week on how we'll manage this, but for now we simply ask that if you have clear cold or flu like symptoms, that you refrain from attending or serving on Sunday. We are not likely to eliminate the sound of coughing or sneezing from the sanctuary, nor do we need to, but if any of us know we are sick, we can lovingly serve each other by not exposing others to those infections.
- We encourage everyone to refrain from hugging and handshaking for the time being. This may be a bit awkward, but it will serve us all well. We'll eventually provide more instruction and illustration on effective ways of greeting while avoiding this.
- We will provide some preliminary guidelines and practices to those who serve on Sundays as ushers and children's ministry workers regarding sanitary practices in advance of this Sunday's service. We'll share the details of that with you once those practices are finalized in our scheduled conversations next week.
Two Final Thoughts
A) Pray without ceasing!
B) Practice social distancing
We love you all with the love of Christ!
B) Practice social distancing
We love you all with the love of Christ!