Pastor's Desk

22 August 2020

UPDATE (22 August 2020, 8:50pm)

Under the direction of the Chief Health Officer, a maximum of 10 people can gather in homes INCLUDING the members of a person's household (see: https://www.health.qld.gov.au/system-governance/legislation/cho-public-health-directions-under-expanded-public-health-act-powers/movement-gathering-direction, item 16).

In our video and post at the time of publishing, we followed instructions as per https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/public-health-directions/movements-gatherings. It was stated in an FAQ (specifically "How many visitors can I have at my house, at any one time?") that "If you live in a Listed Government Area you can have a maximum of ten people visit your home. Those ten people can be from up to ten different households.".

Our change team has since contacted the COVID19 Helpline to clarify. Officers from the Helpline has acknowledged the discrepancy between both sources, but highlighted that the Direction from the Chief Health Officer will take precedence over the Queensland Government FAQ page. We will be heeding this advice.

We will aim to provide our church members and regulars with any updates around this issue if/when it arises.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Hi SLE Church,

I’m recording this pastor’s desk on Saturday, 22^nd of August, at approximately 2:30PM. Noting this now for a reason I’ll come back to in a moment.

The past six months have been very different for our church. For many of us Sunday mornings contained the rush of the morning before we headed off to church to see many of our friends and those God called our family together. We’d come together, find our seats, sing gladly, and rejoice that God who created and sustains us also speaks to us.

It's been a long time since we’ve experienced that normal.

Over the past six months we’ve settled into live streaming our church services and using other virtual platforms for bible studies and catch ups.

A few people have asked when we can begin to regather – other churches have organised it, schools have been in full swing for the term, what about us? The short answer is that things are unlikely to go back to their pre-COVID19 times in the near future. The old normal is still a long way off.

Despite this, what hasn’t changed is our focus on the SLE Mission and Vision. Our vision ‘to be a prayerful Christ-centred community that proclaims the Gospel to unbelievers and grows disciples of Jesus Christ’ – that vision remains a key focus of why and what we do at SLE Church.

So about here in this week’s pastor’s desk I was going to make a slightly different announcement. I was going to explain how Queensland’s COVID19 numbers and local transmission rates were really low, and how things were looking pretty good. That was until this morning when the news broke of a new cluster in Ipswich, and new restrictions on gatherings within homes.

See, prior to this morning the SLE Church Change Team and SLE Church Staff Team were working together on a plan to relaunch our gatherings. We had a two-fold plan of opening up the church a limited number of people each week, and to organise household gatherings to watch the live-stream with others.

The plan’s details were going to come out in the next few days and weeks. But, with the news of this fresh outbreaks, the new restrictions going in place, and the directions from our Health ministers in Queensland to be extra cautious this weekend – we’re going to delay for a moment pushing ahead with the re-launch.

What does this mean?

First, it means that the plans we were forming with the change team and the staff team are still being worked on. When the time is right and our community confidence is higher, we’ll aim to release details of this plan.

The plan – very briefly – includes organising in-home gatherings to watch the livestream together. Alongside this we will open up a limited number of seats at the church building. Registration for both in-home and in-church gatherings will help us organise this. Of course, more details about this process and these gatherings will come out soon.

Secondly, this means that we’d like to ask everyone of our regular attendees – especially those in Brisbane – to prayerfully consider being a part of these gatherings.

The main idea behind this all is the belief that the Bible encourages us to be together – to gather with fellow believers as we hear God’s word preached to us, as we sing our praises to God, as we pray together, and to build each other up through our words and reflections upon God’s Word.

Virtual meetings have been helpful in the past months – but we want to encourage more physical gatherings.

Let me reflect a little bit more on some scriptural passages regarding our church gatherings.

Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us to “…consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” It’s not hard to see that personal convenience and complacency naturally take over when we are not meeting together. And it will be to the detriment of our godliness.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul tells us about how the Holy Spirit has gifted each Christian to serve the body. We are all different parts of the body needing each other and serving one another and building each other up with the gifts we have been given. Virtual platforms have limited these opportunities.

And on a practical level, many of us felt at the height of the restrictions that it took much more effort to connect with another person over a screen. It would seem our personal experience has affirmed the creation order: that we were created for physical interaction.

We want to encourage everyone of you, if you are just tuning into church events as an individual or only with your household, to seriously consider meeting with others to livestream the Sunday services. Under the current new restrictions announced this morning you are limited to 10 people in your home INCLUDING members of your household.

Find opportunities to meet with fellow SLE-ers to be encouraged and to encourage them.

Now when the plan rolls out there are going to be some who choose not to physically gather due to health reasons – and other valid reasons as well. These should be the exception rather than the rule. If you find yourself in one of these situations, then please let us know – so that we can find ways to keep you connected, and to help you use your gifts and abilities to serve the body of Christ.

Others will want to be cautious about regathering – especially in the light of this morning’s news. This is understandable – so let us be patient and gracious with each other. Let’s also keep being mindful of those who are making their way back slowly, to keep encouraging them as well.

As mentioned briefly on Sunday 16^th of August, SLE Church is planning to relaunch our physical gatherings. We were hoping to start these gatherings on the 6^th of September – but we will wait, pray, and see what happens with all the recent news.

And also, just to mention briefly – Kids Church will remain online for term 3. For parents wishing to come to the service, there will be Kids Church options available – so yes, families can come to services when we relaunch.

The SLE Change Team and SLE Staff Team have been working very hard to iron out the details to allow for both church in the St Lucia building, and for organised gathered groups in various homes. More details will be coming soon.