Dear Emmaus Road,

WE WILL NOT MEET IN MAPLE LEAF for the foreseeable future.

WE WILL ADAPT, as a church, to walk with the Lord, and with each other.

Your Council met…via teleconference…Thursday evening, March 12th. We will be meeting, virtually, every Thursday morning at 9am. Our church treasurer, Christina, continues to track and manage our income and expenses. Our building caretakers, monitor and clean the building, as recovery groups continue to gather, for now. Our Young Church leaders are innovating, learning, and leading. Many of you pray one day a week for Emmaus Road, and the list of members participating is expanding. Beyond leaders, I have been in touch with a few families; I will be getting in touch with each of you, soon.

We are adapting.

SOME IMPORTANT THINGS TO SHARE

EASTER – MAYBE

For the foreseeable future, we will not be meeting in Maple Leaf on Sunday mornings. How will COVID-19 spread, what timespan will we be dealing with, and what level of social distancing or lock down will be warranted? None of us know; we make adjustments week by week, day by day. IF POSSIBLE, we would love to aim for gathering again, April 12th! We cannot predict, though, that this will be possible. Nor do we know whether or not our SERVE TOGETHER SUNDAY event, March 29th, will work (we may need to adapt). Sadly, our Maple Leaf Easter Egg Hunt has been cancelled this year.

STAYING TOGETHER

Your Council, along with our treasurer and Young Church leaders, pledges to be in contact with you. There are many, many ways for us to continue in fellowship (even virtually), to discern how to remain faithful, learn, and serve as a church.

FUTURE ENEWS AND COMMUNICATION

Future eNews editions will feature notes from member conversations and experiences, resources for learning with kids, study, reading, prayer, suggestions for small group life to continue, and ideas for meaningful, relevant service in our communities. We may launch a livestream event or liturgy if it seems like a good idea. But now is the time, if ever there was, for the habits of CHURCH BEYOND SUNDAY to hit home. Ministry and mission do not cease; the forms of our faith expression, of love and action, must adapt to what is happening to us and our neighbor.

Remember Acts 8:4: 

“Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”

God’s people have been through things like this before.

Feel free to contact Pastor Eric Likkel with any questions or concerns.