各位弟兄姐妹，平安： (Scroll down for English version)
转眼间我们教会转用网路方式的聚会已经将近7个月了。我们也感谢神在过去这段时间对教会的保守与带领，教会各样事工不但没有收到亏损，反而能够在这种特殊的环境下找出新的事奉主的方法，如：防疫式浸礼、网路宣道小分队、网路会堂……等。
在过去一个月来，相信弟兄姐妹也听到教会开始为回归做预备。我们相继为回归做了规划、制作了宣导影片、标示牌、组织了招待和消毒团队……等。所以大家可能会问：『那我们到底什么时候可以回到会堂？』
我们需要知道回到会堂实体聚会一定是阶段性的，而不是像开关一样能瞬间回到以往的状态。无论我们什么时候开始回归，我们都需要经历过有特殊的安排与应对的阶段。所以我们目前的各样预备都是有必要的，也会持续进行。但是我们如何决定回归的日期呢？
关于回归聚会，我们有几个前提：
-
符合政府法规
-
尽我们的能力把安全和卫生做到最好来保护弟兄姐妹的安全
-
对于现有的线上崇拜与聚会没有负面的影响
1. 符合政府法规
根据最新加州政府于疫情间对敬拜场所的使用条例（7/29），敬拜场所已经可以在符合规定的状况下开始实体聚会。人数限制为会堂容量的¼ ，最多总数是100人。这代表以此条件回归的话，我们教会仍会有⅔ 的弟兄姐妹需要继续透过网路聚会。所以我们来参加实体聚会的弟兄姐妹们需要实名制，以掌控人数。
另外，政府的规条里也提到实体聚会中应避免唱歌。这对我们回归是一个很主要的决定因素，因为我们现在的事奉人员和众弟兄姐妹都可以各自在家里自由地唱诗，若是回到会堂反而不能唱，就降低回归的意义。所以政府需要能允许会堂的歌唱，我们才会考虑回归。
2. 尽我们的能力把安全和卫生做到最好来保护弟兄姐妹的安全
为了能确保弟兄姐妹的安全，我们的各个事奉团队必须有完善的训练与演习。在事奉人员还没有完全预备好前，我们也不会贸然开放。
美国疾管局在近日也发表证实新冠病毒有可能透过气溶胶传播（漂浮在空气中一段时间），增加了室内聚会的风险。一个解决的方法是除了会众以外，台上的带领者也戴口罩来领崇拜、讲道。这明显也不是比从家里带崇拜更好的状况。所以在政府放宽这方面的顾虑或是教会找到更安全的解决方法前，我们也不会轻易回归。
3. 对于现有的崇拜与聚会没有负面的影响
崇拜对基督徒是最重要的动作，教会也将继续不厌其烦地提醒大家，无论在哪里聚会，要把正确的敬拜态度表现出来。我们也不希望因着回归而导致其他⅔在家里聚会的弟兄姐妹有更差的敬拜体验。如上面说到的若是因回归而不能唱诗，或是在画面上需要戴口罩，这些都会影响我们决定是否回归。
另一种状况就是如果因为极度繁琐的安全配套动作，导致每周需要有多人大量的时间和精力投注于此，却只为了能让少数人在现场聚会，我们也需要做评估其可行性。
这告诉我们什么呢？我们将继续为回归预备，也邀请弟兄姐妹加入主日的事奉团队，越多人参与，我们就能轮班，降低个人的工作量，以达到良好的持续性。而同时理事会将谨慎评估，决定合适的开放回归日期。我们会等到会堂有能唱诗的可能性、教会预备好所有的安全措施与团队、也会衡量实体聚会所需要的工作量和它对于网路聚会的影响。在这当中我们继续祷告神赐智慧并施恩带领。愿我们无论何时回归，线上或实体，我们都能持续追求蒙神喜悦，继续跟随耶稣，做基督徒该做的事。愿神祝福大家！
理事会
洛杉矶西区华语浸信会
———————————————————————————
Greetings, brothers and sisters
We are approaching the 7-month mark since our meetings went online. We praise the Lord for His guidance and protection during this time, allowing our church to keep all ministries going without severe negative impacts. We were able to even come up with new creative ways to serve (special-format baptism, internet mission teams, online meeting hall, etc).
You’ve probably heard about our preparation for reopening over the past month. We made plans, educational videos, signages, formed usher and disinfection teams…. With all these going on, one may ask, “when exactly can we get back to have physical gatherings?”
We’ll need to understand that returning to physical gatherings is going to take gradual steps. It’s not going to be like a switch that turns everything back to where it was. Regardless of when the return day might be, we will need to go through transitions where special arrangements like what we’re rehearsing right now are going to be needed. So all the preparations we are currently doing are necessary, and we’ll keep preparing. But how do we decide on the returning date?
Regarding when to return, we have the following conditions to consider
-
Comply with the government’s rules and regulations
-
Do our best to maintain a safe environment for our brothers and sisters
-
Returning will not negatively affect the current online meetings
1. Comply with the government’s rules and regulations
According to the state government’s latest guidance for places of worship (7/29), churches can hold physical meetings if it can meet certain conditions. That includes up to 1/4 of the building capacity and no more than 100 people total. This means that when we return, 2/3 of our congregation will still need to join online. And we will need to pre-register in order to control the number of attendees.
In addition, the guidance does not allow singing in places of worship. This will be a main deciding factor for us. Because our current online meetings afford us to sing freely at home. If we returned to our building and couldn’t sing, it’s not adding too much value. So we will only return when singing is allowed.
2. Do our best to maintain a safe environment for our brothers and sisters
To ensure the safety and wellbeing of our brothers and sisters, our usher and disinfection teams need to have proper training and practices. Before these are satisfactorily completed, we won’t irresponsibly reopen.
Lately, CDC has confirmed the possibility of airborne transmission of Covid-19 (virus could suspend in mid air for an extended period of time). This increases the risk of indoor gathering. One of the solutions to this is to have worship leading teams who are on the stage to wear masks. This is obviously not a better worship experience compared to meeting from home where you can see each other’s faces. So before the concern is lessened or that we found ways to effectively deal with this, we won’t ruthlessly go back either.
3. Returning will not negatively affect the current online meetings
Worship is Christians’ most important act, we have and will continue to remind everyone, no matter where we join the meeting from, we will display proper attitude. We do not wish that our returning to the building leads to a worse worship experience to the 2/3 of our congregation who are still meeting online. As mentioned above, if we can’t sing when we return, or need to lead behind masks or reflective plexiglasses, these will all be factors for us to consider whether returning makes sense.
Another possible situation is that it becomes extremely tedious to prepare and to maintain a safe return, that it requires a huge workload and manpower, causing very few to be able to worship wholeheartedly. This will also make us think seriously about when and whether to reopen.
What does all these tell us? We will continue to prepare for reopening, and we cordially invite brothers and sisters to join our Sunday service teams. The more people sign up to participate, the less workload each will have to do as we can take turns, making the process more sustainable. In the same time, the church council will continue to carefully assess, plan for a suitable date to return. We will wait for the opportunity to be able to sing in our building. We will get our teams trained and ready. And we will weigh the effects on our online meetings if we return. We will continue to pray and seek God’s wisdom and guidance throughout this process. It is our prayer that whether we return or not, meet online or physically, we will seek to please God, continue to follow Jesus, keep doing what we’re called to do. May God bless us all!
The church council
CBCWLA
