Special Letter from Pastor Jonathan
Dear Church,
With the exception of social distancing and some other things (including the fact that it was much worse in Jeremiah’s day), the context of Jeremiah 17 isn’t too unlike our current times. There was a pestilence and it was a mess, and while human counter-action was on the rise, Jeremiah spoke these words:
Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind. He makes human flesh his strength, and his heart turns from the LORD. [… But] the person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed. (Jeremiah 17:5, 7 CSB)
Come what may, brothers and sisters, we are called to trust our Father, and so we will — even as we won’t be seeing one another on Sundays for a while.
This Tuesday the pastors met to decide on a plan for our church in the coming days and weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. We determined right away that our primary task is less about replicating a digital version of our corporate gatherings, and more about how to care for each of you during this season when we can’t corporately gather. Leaning on our threefold discipleship structure, the following is the plan currently in motion:
1. Worshiping on Sundays
We are planning not to gather on Sundays for the next eight weeks.
We’re constantly monitoring the situation, and it’s subject to change (hopefully for the shorter), but right now we want to batten down the hatches and think “eight weeks.” All Sunday services and every other previously scheduled event is cancelled.
Since we are not gathering corporately as a church, we are encouraging household worship services, whether among your families, roommates, or a small group of friends. Each week, Pastor Nick is crafting a specific liturgy for use on Sunday, including Scripture readings and songs, and still following the basic outline of our normal services.
As a substitute for the sermon, the pastors will be making shorter video teachings directed to you watching from home. We realize that this is going to be a little weird. We’re not used to preaching to a camera, but we think this is the best stand-in for the sermon until we’re able to gather again.
We’ve decided to hit pause on the book of Exodus, and bump up our Psalms series scheduled for the summer. Picking up from where we left off last summer, we’ll be in Psalm 13 this coming Sunday, and it’s wonderfully providential. We’re aiming to do these videos under 20 minutes, and straight to the point, imagining each of you huddled around a computer screen. We’re also planning to shoot a shorter version of the teaching specifically for kids, which parents could show them separately.
2. Reading the Bible Together
To help keep our entire church together, on Monday, March 23, we are launching a Bible reading plan with daily video content. If you currently have a Bible reading plan, this should be simple enough to add-on. If you don’t currently have a plan, could there be a better time to start?
Each of these reading plans will be short, and easy to jump into at any point. We’re starting with Paul’s letters written from prison: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. It’ll be a chapter a day along with a concise video devotional from someone on our team.
To help you engage with the Bible during this season, the crew over at the Dwell app have offered their entire app to our church free of charge. The Dwell app is the leading audio Bible app out there. I use it personally, and it’s incredible. If you want it for free, just follow this link and go get it.
This Bible reading plan is for every member of our church, but we encourage you to discuss the content and pray together in your Life Groups, whether that means over a video call or huddled together with a good six feet between your washed hands. If you don’t have a Life Group, let your Community Group leader know, and we can help figure that out. Now is a great time to get connected with others from our church as we walk through the trying days.
3. Loving Our Neighbors
We have amazing Community Group leaders, and our staff has a plan for regular communication with them during the next several weeks. We are especially encouraging our CGs to be a virtual headquarters for you when it comes to how to be remarkable neighbors. We believe these turbulent times provide an opportunity for us to witness to the grace of Jesus like never before. One such idea is to simply send a note or email to your neighbors offering words of hope and asking for prayer requests (more on this is forthcoming!)
We want you to lean on your CG leaders, and trust that they’re a resource of care for you.
How Can We Access the Content?
We are planning to make all of this content accessible through our smartphone app. If you currently don’t have the app, it’s easy to get. Simply text “CitiesApp” to 1-888-364-4483 for a quick download. We’ll house everything there — the liturgies for Sunday, the video teachings, the reading plans, all the devotional content, the whole hog. We’ll be posting content on our website and social media channels as well, and be on the lookout for more emails.
Cities Church, your pastors love you very much. The Lord is going to bring us through this together.
In Jesus, in hope,
Pastor Jonathan
