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3/22/21
Providence family,
As you all know, our Session met yesterday to prayerfully consider changes to our current “COVID protocols” surrounding Sunday worship. We are excited to share with you the changes that will be occurring in the coming weeks and the intended timeline for moving back to “normal.” Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate these unusual circumstances.
First, on Good Friday and Easter, the sanctuary capacity will increase from the current 120 to 150. In connection with this capacity increase, we will be moving chairs back into the sanctuary to ensure people can space out as desired without being limited by the chair configuration or number of chairs in the sanctuary. Masks will still be required for these services.
Second, beginning on Sunday, April 11th, masks will not be required at the 10:30 am services, but will continue to be required at the 9:00 am service as they have been. The sanctuary capacity will continue to be 150 people during both services as it was on Good Friday and Easter. We hope this will provide all members with the ability to pick the service that better matches their preferences and risk tolerances for the remainder of the spring.
Third, as of today, we intend to move back to one “normal” service on June 6th barring some significant change in conditions that the Session determines requires reconsideration of that date. At this time, we would resume all normal operations and service opportunities. You will certainly hear more about this in the weeks leading up to that.
Fourth, starting this coming Sunday, March 28th, capacity in the children’s wing will increase from 6 children per class to 10 children per class. We will also no longer be conducting temperature checks as children arrive at church. We hope to increase the number of church members volunteering in the children’s wing during service in order to reduce our reliance on outside nursery workers. If you want to start volunteering, Kristi would love to hear from you.
This has been a long and trying year for all of us in many ways. We are excited to see a light at the end of the tunnel and move towards what things were like pre-COVID. As we move towards having more normalcy, we will also need to reengage all of our volunteers for the various aspects of Sunday worship. Be on the lookout for communications about ways to serve.
Thank you, dear family, for your faithful support and encouragement. We pray that God would continue to bless Providence Presbyterian Church as Christ is preached and His Gospel truths declared. Soli Deo Gloria.
The Session of Providence Presbyterian Church
6/7/20
Dear Providence Family,
After much prayer, discussion, and thoughtful consideration, our PPC Session has decided to resume in-person worship on Sunday, June 7th. Please know how much we love and care for all of you – and your health and safety are extremely important to us. If you and/or your family do not feel comfortable attending worship at this time, please know that we support your decision. We encourage each of you to make a decision that feels wise and safe for you and your family. (The CDC’s list of those who are at a higher-risk and what precautions they should take can be found on the CDC website):
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/COVID19-What-You Can-Do-High-Risk.pdf. For those who choose to continue to worship at home, the 8:45 service will be live-streamed, with a recording posted to our website shortly thereafter. While we look forward to worshipping together at our church, Sunday mornings at Providence will look quite different during this time. As we start meeting together again, we are doing our best to balance the importance of meeting as a body of believers to worship with deeply caring for our congregation and those around us in the city of Dallas. To that end, we have some details below that lay out how we will move forward in worship. While we have provided an overview, it is important that you read the details that follow it so that you will know what to expect when you arrive.
Overview
• In-person services resume on Sunday, June 7th.
• 2 services with limited capacity: 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
• Reservations for the service you wish to attend need to be made online ahead of time.
• We ask that each family unit or individual seated in the sanctuary leave two open seats between them and the next individual or family unit.
• Face masks are required.
• No children’s ministry programs or childcare will be provided.
• If you are sick or have symptoms, please worship from home.
Worship Services:
• 2 Services: In order to reduce the number of people in the building at one time, we will offer two services of worship at 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. We ask that you make a reservation online for yourself and any others in your family.
• Our maximum capacity for each service is 115 people and we will be utilizing the following two spaces: the sanctuary (capacity of 90) and a live streaming space in the children’s wing (capacity of 25).
• The church doors will open 10 minutes prior to each service.
• Communion: We will use prepackaged bread and grape juice for communion. They will be located on the tables by the sanctuary doors in the foyer when you enter. Please pick up your bread and juice as you arrive and carry it into the service with you.
• Singing: Initially, there will be limited congregational singing (three hymns of three stanzas each) and we lovingly implore you to wear masks at this time.
Children’s Ministry:
We will not be providing any children’s ministry programs or childcare on Sunday mornings, as it is not possible to do so while also abiding by CDC guidelines and social distancing recommendations.
• All children will be with their parents during worship, and we ask that parents keep your children close with you at all times while inside the church building.
• The children’s wing classrooms, playrooms and the napping room will be closed on Sunday mornings.
• The nursing mothers’ room will remain open and available for nursing mothers.
• If you have young children (infants-young elementary), we have created a worship space in the “I AM” open area in the children’s wing that we hope you find helpful as you worship and encourage you to use it if you wish. We recognize that sitting through an entire service quietly may be difficult for most young children and this space will provide a little more room and flexibility. This “family friendly” area will live-stream the service on the screen to allow folks to worship together comfortably, while also allowing us to spread out to different areas in the building.
Social Distancing:
In order to care for our community and do all we can to stop the spread of the virus at church, we ask that “each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil 2:4) by observing the following social distancing guidelines:
• We ask that you please fellowship outside, before and/or after the service that you attend. When you enter the building, we would like everyone to go directly to their seats, and to also exit the building at the end of the service. Please enter the building by the main doors, if you plan to worship in the sanctuary, and enter through the children’s wing doors if you plan to worship in the “I AM” space.
• Face masks are required. Those up front will not wear face masks while leading worship.
• Our deacons have removed multiple rows of seating in order to space out our chairs. We also ask that each family unit leave open two open seats between themselves and the next individual or family.
• Regarding worship in the children wing, there will be family-sized clusters of chairs, socially distanced, in the area for families with young children. We ask that you sit in those groupings with your own family.
Health and Safety Measures:
• For the health and well-being of everyone at the church, we ask those with any symptoms of sickness to not come to church and watch the worship service at home. Likewise, if your children are sick or have been sick during that week, please stay at home.
• We will not have coffee and refreshments at this time.
• We will have hand sanitizer placed visibly all around the building that we ask you to make liberal use.
• You will not receive bulletins as you come into the sanctuary; rather, they will be placed on the chairs for you before worship begins in a sanitary manner.
• The office will be closed, except to church staff and officers. No children in the office, please.
• We will not be passing offering plates during this time. If you would like to submit a tithe on Sunday morning, you may put it in the box on the lobby table before or after worship. Online giving will remain an option as well. Thank you for your prayers and patience as we attempt to wisely love each other as well as our neighbors during these challenging times!
Much love in the Lord,
The PPC Session
4/3/20
Dear church family,
The worship guide for this Sunday, April 5 will be available soon on our website, www.providencedallas.com/this-week/. You may also find it as an attachment to this email. We hope this will be a helpful resource for you to facilitate your participation at home during our online worship service this Palm Sunday.
Also, just a reminder that the worship service will be posted to our website at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning and will be available for viewing anytime thereafter.
We also want to let everyone know that we will be having a Good Friday service next week. This online service will be posted to our website next Friday, April 10 at noon, and we will send out a worship guide for it as well.
Please know how much we love you and care for all of you. Our elders and deacons are in the process of reaching out to all of our members to check in with you and know how they can be praying for you. It is our privilege to serve you during this difficult time.
Allyson Crow
Ministry Coordinator
3/27/20
Dear church family,
I hope and pray this note finds you well despite the restrictions and limitations we’re all experiencing. God is at work through this, and opportunities for growth in Christ abound. For example, Paul Tripp sent out a helpful reminder of how the Lord is using the pandemic for His glory and our good:
- This pandemic confronts the delusion of human independence and self-sufficiency.
We like to think, as human beings, that we are so advanced and capable. But look around – all it takes is a single virus to shut down the entire world. Let this time remind you that you were created to be dependent on the Creator. The development of spiritual maturity is a move from independence to greater dependence on God. Exposing our delusion of self-sufficiency is a painful thing, but a good thing.
- This pandemic makes God’s sovereign power and amazing grace shine even brighter.
In moments where our helplessness is on full display, isn’t it amazing that God remains in careful control of his world? He is not confused or surprised by any of this. It’s okay for us not to be able to reconcile what is happening. But there is One who is not afraid at this moment. We won’t always know why he does what he does, but we know who he is, and we know what he has promised to his children.
- This pandemic reminds us that there is a greater, darker, and more dangerous pandemic – sin.
Not everyone will test positive for the coronavirus, but everyone has been infected by sin, from birth. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5, ESV) Sin is eternally more destructive than the coronavirus will ever be, but there is a known cure. God looked at his world in awesome mercy and love and decided he would not let us perish from this disease (John 3:16).
- This pandemic reminds us that nothing in all of creation can separate us from God and his boundless love (Romans 8:31-39).
Know this: Your greatest friend, your deepest lover, and your sweetest companion knows no distance between him and you. He draws especially near to the lonely and the broken-hearted in times like this.
- This pandemic makes us long for our final destination.
The final promise of the gospel is this: There will be a day when such things will end forever, and we will be in a place where there will be no more sickness and no more suffering (Revelation 21:4). Hope in heaven is not some faint, dreamy wish, for those who are embracing some religious delusion. Hope in God’s promise is a confident expectation in a guaranteed result. Paradise is coming; it’s yours by grace. It’s hard to imagine right now, but there will be a time when we will look back on this as a brief moment of trouble. We will do so in a perfect world, with perfect bodies, with perfect hearts, and in perfect relationship with God. Everything will be as it’s supposed to be, and we will live in peace and righteousness forever and ever. This scary moment reminds us of the most precious truths of the gospel. Instead of focusing on the what-ifs and the negativity and fear, how about meditating on those truths today?
Our Session met and prayed for you via ZOOM yesterday. The officers of Providence are also dividing into groups to check on each family and pray for them throughout the week.
The worship service will be posted to our website at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning and will be available for viewing anytime thereafter. You can find it at www.providencedallas.com/worship/.
Lastly, many have asked about an online giving option, and we now have one available on our church website. You can now find a “Giving” tab on our homepage, www.providencedallas.com.
Much love in Christ,
David
3/20/20
Dear church family,
I hope and pray you are making the best of what might be a very isolating time. Please know that we at the church are praying for you and love hearing from you. I received lots of replies in response to my last post and loved reading them all. Keep them coming!
God’s Word tells us that He does all things for the good of those who love Him and we trust that He is at work even in this. In fact, I think much fruit will be born in the lives of God’s people that otherwise would not have blossomed. The church is going to learn new things about how to minister in a very restrictive environment that will no doubt train her in ways that will help in the future.
In the midst of this unprecedented situation, Ligonier Ministries has made all of their material available at no charge. It is outstanding and will be a blessing to your time at home. Please click here to access.
As far as Sunday goes, a link to the worship service will be posted on our website at 8am on Sunday morning. There will also be a link to a worship guide to facilitate your participation at home.
Beloved, that’s all for now. Please join us in praying for the Lord’s people and that this crisis would come to an end.
Blessings to you,
David
P.S. As long as we are unable to gather on Sundays, please consider sending your offering through the mail to the church office (10727 Midway Rd, Dallas, TX 75229). We hope to add an online giving option next week.
3/13/20
Dear Church Family,
Last night, as many of you already know, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and Dallas County health officials held a press conference. In response to more confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in Dallas county, and in effort to slow down the spread of the virus, gatherings of 500 people or more will be prohibited, starting today. For all other gatherings, they “strongly recommend following the social distancing protocols including canceling, rescheduling, or not attending events with more than 250 persons.” In effort to adhere to this order and to love and care for our congregation well and with wisdom, we are canceling our worship service this Sunday, March 15 as well as our weekday activities that week.
We will send another update next week regarding the following Sunday (March 22) and activities that week, as we gather more information and prayerfully consider.
If you would like to live stream a worship service this Sunday morning, we recommend:
Christ Covenant Church in North Carolina, https://christcovenant.org/
We have not yet heard whether Park Cities Presbyterian Church will live stream, but here is the link if so: https://pcpc.org/
As we continue to follow the Coronavirus developments, we will be sending updates through email and through our website, www.providencedallas.com. (There will be a COVID-19 link added to our homepage today.). We continue to pray for the health and safety of all of our PPC members and our community, as well as for wisdom for our government, doctors and public health officials.
We love you, and we are praying with you and for you, dear church family. “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46:11)
PPC Session and Staff