Dear LEFC Family,
Most of you have heard the news that COVID-19 has been rapidly surging. This has been happening all over the Midwest, but especially in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and of course in the Coulee Region. This unfortunately has put a strain on local businesses and schools as closures and greater capacity limits have been enforced. However, it has also put a great strain on our local hospital systems as these rising numbers have pushed capacity limits to the max and has affected the quality of care that they can give.
This surge unfortunately is greater than many health professionals had anticipated. And these professionals along with many government officials are trying to take action to help lower the spread of this virus. The goal in all of this is for people to be safe, healthy, and able to get the adequate medical care that is needed in our area and across our two states.
However, we as God’s people will not live in fear. In the state of Minnesota, we are still within our right to meet together and we will continue to do so despite the rising numbers in our area. Yet, we also believe that we need to meet with caution and to do our part to not only protect the people that come to our services, but also the community at large. With that in mind, we as the elders, have decided that we will make both of our morning services mask mandatory. (As a reminder, we were already doing this in our first service, but we will now make this a requirement of our 2nd service as well.) This means that we will be asking people to mask if they are unmasked and it also means that we will turn away those who are unwilling to follow these requirements.
We realize that this is not anybody’s favorite way to conduct our services, but after discussing this issue with health professionals in our area we believe it is what is necessary and right at this time. We also understand that there are some of you who have medical conditions that make it unsafe for you to wear a mask during our morning services. If you are one of these people we would ask that you either stay home and watch our services online or contact us ahead of time to let us know that you have a legitimate medical issue that will prohibit you from wearing a mask within our morning services.
On a positive note, we are still planning on providing all the other ministries that we have been currently providing. This includes, Sunday services, nursery, prayer meetings, men’s ministry, women’s ministry, and small groups. However, we do ask in all ministries that people exercise caution. And when those ministries are being conducted in our church building, we will require that each participant be masked and distanced during those times.
We know that these are difficult and less than ideal times for everyone, but we believe that God will use even this for the good of his people at LEFC and for the good of the gospel in our community and region. If you have questions, please contact our elder chair John Young. God bless to you all and may God’s kingdom come and will be done in all of these things as it is in heaven.
P.S. Don’t worry if you forget your mask, we do have masks available in the foyer for your convenience.