DATE: Friday, March 13, 2020

TOPIC: Living Neighborly (Important Community Update) 

Dear Church,

As we read about many things being canceled and suspended out of caution and fear, we as a church want to respond with changes rooted in our value of neighborly love. For this reason, Hope East Village will be canceling our in-person Sunday services for the time being and shift over to an adapted virtual service structure. We will continue to monitor and update you primarily through email and hopeeastvillage.org/coronavirus as the situation unfolds.

Historical Response of the Church

During the pandemics that swept the Roman Empire during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, while civic leaders and even medical professionals fled for the countryside to protect themselves, Christians remained in the cities to care for the sick and dying. The resurrection of Jesus made these Christians unafraid to die, which freed them to love their neighbors sacrificially. This compassion inspired many people to become Christians and the Church grew exponentially.

When Bubonic Plague devastated Europe in the mid-1300s, Christians demonstrated this same sacrificial love by choosing to remain and care for the sick rather than run to safety.

Living Neighborly in the Midst of a Pandemic

Today, we see the same sacrificial love for our neighbors take on a new form. Though many in our community may be at low risk, the primary reason for not meeting is to protect those who are most vulnerable in our community and among our neighbors. As containment efforts have failed, the best way to serve our neighbors now is to slow the spread of this virus so that medical facilities and professionals are not overwhelmed by more patients than they can care for.

We can do this by avoiding physical gatherings and practicing good hygiene. While we recognize the need for physical distancing in order to care for our neighbors, we want to continue to encourage social engagement and care for one another -- replacing our handshakes with phone calls or messages, our hugs with words of exhortation. If you are interested in the science of why physical distancing matters, we have attached two documents below that are among the best resources we have seen.

Hope East Village’s Immediate Response

While we are saddened by the prospect of sacrificing some of our in-person gatherings and fellowship time, we believe God will continue to meet with us as a collective church. The Pastoral Staff, Transitional Leadership Team, and Ministry Leads are exploring ways to connect virtually, provide support to one another, and continue to grow in fellowship during this time. Please see below for a list of ways we are continuing to meet as a community. Primarily, our Sunday service gathering will continue virtually at the usual time of 5pm. We encourage you to join, if possible, on our YouTube channel and to share with others interested in joining our virtual worship gathering.

Recently, churches in Japan were forced into virtual gatherings during their quarantine, but some found that this allowed many of their neighbors to join them who might have been reluctant to show up at a service in person. Many new people are finding Jesus that way. Imagine if God opened new doors for the Gospel even while we are all stuck behind closed doors!

Thank You

Finally, we want to say THANK YOU to the many medical professionals, researchers, and community leaders at and around Hope East Village who are on the front lines against this pandemic. If some of the rest of us have extra time at home over the next few weeks, let’s use some of it to pray for those who are working even harder to protect everyone else, and in many cases, facing much greater risks.

As always, check in on each other. If you have needs, please share them with others in your home group, circle of friends, or Hope East Village Facebook group so that we can be a body together. If you know someone who needs specific support or is particularly vulnerable at this time and seeking assistance, please let us know at hopeevtlt@gmail.com as we are creating support teams for those in higher need. We will not be dominated by fear, but by love.

Grace and Peace,

Drew & Matt

(This letter was copied and modified with permission from Pastor Dave Swaim’s letter to Highrock Church in Arlington, MA)

 

WAYS TO CONTINUE COMMUNAL WORSHIP & FELLOWSHIP:

 1) Virtual Sunday Gatherings

  • We will be hosting a YouTube livestream of a truncated version of our usual in-person service beginning at 5:00pm EST

  • The YouTube livestream can be accessed at: https://youtu.be/ihUpv_-mZTc

    • You do not need a YouTube account to join in, though you may need one to engage in comments with others

    • The livestream video will only begin appearing on our site once the livestream time arrives

    • If you experience any trouble with accessing the livestream during the service, we will have a team of tech support standing by, monitoring the comments section. You can also email hopeevtlt@gmail.com 

2) Home Group Gatherings

  • Home groups will be meeting online via Zoom. If you are not connected to a home group you can sign up here!

3) Prayer Meetings

  • Join our Daily Zoom Prayer Gathering every morning (except Sundays) from 8-8:30am. You can join via Zoom here: https://zoom.us/j/191956032 

    • You can download the Prayer Guide for our daily prayer gatherings here

  • Our Sunday Pre-Service Prayer will continue on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month. Join here: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/785991289

5) Resources for Worship in Your Home

6) COVID-19 Resources

  • Agape Initiative

    • The Agape Initiative is designed to minister to individuals or families during a time of hardship or crisis by temporarily supporting them with basic needs, care support, and skills building. Find out more here.

  • Access a helpful resource guide compiled by Redeemer’s Center for Faith & Work + The Commons here