I’ve been carefully following the development of the changes in our community brought by the Covid-19 outbreak. Since March 25, Southside has been conducting all services by livestream only. While it has been difficult for us not to physically meet as a church family, I praise the Lord for the technology that we have to make our livestream services possible. I pray that even after we are holding all services as normal, God will still use our livestream to reach souls beyond what we can do locally.
On April 27, Missouri Governor Parson released the Economic Reopening Health Order - a plan to reopen Missouri following the outbreak of this virus. You can view this plan by visiting this page:
https://health.mo.gov/…/novel-co…/pdf/economic-reopening.pdf
In this plan, the governor stated, “Individuals may go to and from an individual’s place of worship, provided that limitations on social distancing are properly adhered to.”
While the City of Joplin has implemented a larger, more detailed plan that includes other restrictions on businesses and places of worship, Southside Baptist Church is located in the city of Duquesne. The city of Duquesne released a statement on April 29 that effective May 4, 2020, “The City of Duquesne will adhere to the guidelines in the Economic Reopening Health Order issued by Governor Parson on April 27, 2020.”
I am excited to announce that Southside Baptist Church will begin holding in-person services beginning Wednesday, May 6, 2020. While our desire is to get church back to normal as soon as possible, we still want to follow safe practices to help slow the spread of any illness. Therefore at this time, the following strategies will be in place.
1. Southside Baptist Church will begin holding in person services beginning on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
Sunday:
10:00 Sunday School - Everyone meet in the sanctuary.
11:00 Morning Worship Service
6:00 Evening Worship Services
Wednesday:
7:00 Wednesday Night Bible Study
2. Please adhere to the social distancing guidelines: Maintain a safe distance, wash and sanitize your hands, refrain from handshaking and hugging, etc.
3. All contact surfaces in the building will be regularly sanitized.
4. If you are sick or are feeling unwell, please stay home. If you are immunocompromised, or you are more susceptible to getting sick, please stay home. We want to keep everyone in our church family and community safe.
5. In order to follow social distancing as laid out in the governor’s order, the following services will not be available: Van Service, Nursery, Coffee/Donuts.
6. All activities will continue to be postponed until further notice, including Ladies Bible Study, Young at Heart, Ladies Fellowship, and Oasis.
7. We will continue to livestream the 11:00, 6:00, and Wednesday services. If you feel it is unsafe to come to church, please feel free to stay home and watch the service online at sbcj.org/livestream.
Missouri’s Economic Reopening Health Order is set to expire on May 31. By then, we will know what the next phase to Missouri’s plan will be, and these guidelines will be readjusted accordingly.
Again, please remember that this is a temporary situation. We plan on having everything back to normal as soon as possible. Until then, we must do our best to continue to serve God to the best of our ability under these strange circumstances.
If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message! We love you, and we can't wait to see you all again!
Pastor Mark Ledford
