April Consistory Update
Dear Congregation of Zion,
Your Consistory met for our regular monthly meeting last night. During our meeting several decisions were made of which we want to make you aware.
First, as some of you may have already heard as we notified many of those regularly serving earlier today, we spent a significant amount of time reviewing feedback from our survey in March regarding the mask wearing policy at Zion, latest CDC guidance, and the rising case hospitalizations and case numbers in Michigan. We also recognize more and more of our regular attenders have already been vaccinated. With all of those factors in mind, we decided to change our mask policy to allow people to remove their mask when seated in the sanctuary. To be clear, masks are still required in Children’s ministries, any time someone is moving around in the building, and when singing. We still encourage everyone to continue to wearing their mask at all times in the building to minimize the risk of spreading Covid to those at particular risk or unable to receive a vaccine, but trust your wisdom to decide if you need to wear the mask when seated.
On a related note, I also want you to be aware that this past Sunday someone attended worship who was later diagnosed with Covid-19. We immediately identified and notified everyone who would be considered a close contact to this person. As I reflect on this event, I am reminded of the importance of all of us following social distancing practices, especially of keeping 3 seats between you and anyone outside of your household when finding a place to sit in the sanctuary. I am also particularly grateful the person who was diagnosed with Covid did the right thing by immediately contacting the church and helping us identify those who may need to be quarantined. They did exactly the right thing once they had been diagnosed.
Second, and completely unrelated to Covid, the Consistory approved remodeling our bathrooms last night as well. If you have been in our bathrooms recently you may have noticed they not only look dated, but also have a particularly uncomfortable scent and are in need of some significant repairs. The approved plan will intentionally fit with the larger building remodel plan we approved prior to Covid rather than simply updating the bathrooms. By doing so, we leave open the possibility of moving ahead with the building remodel after Covid and as the financial impacts of this past year become more clear. This small project, however, will cost about $125,000. We will not move forward with this remodeling step until at least half of those funds are raised. If you would like to give to the bathroom remodel, you can do so by donating to our building fund. We do ask that anything given to the building fund be in addition to your regular support of Zion ministries through the general fund so we can still effectively fund our ongoing ministries.
As always, please know your generous support in prayer, service and finances do not go unnoticed and are greatly appreciated.
On behalf of your Consistory,
Pastor Greg
