As the continued global pandemic of COVID-19 persists, the leadership of Northeast continues to adhere to the guidance of local, state, and national health care professionals.
As you know both the governor as well as our local school district and some of our local cities have moved to recommending, but not requiring masks. As a church we have been carefully monitoring this transition as well as evaluating what is best in our particular context.
We are happy to say that we have not had a single person-to-person transmission on our campus since the start of the pandemic, and we thank God for that. 🎉 Currently our area has a decreasingly low positivity rate, hospitalizations are low and increasingly more and more of you – including the most vulnerable in our community – have gained access to a vaccine. For these reasons we are ready to take a next step towards less restrictions for the sake of ministry.
Now, we realize that for some of you this may be welcome news and for others you may need to remain masked because of a medical condition or other reasons. If you are concerned with attending our worship services as we make these changes, please consider our 8a service, which will allow you to maintain the most social distance between families.
No matter your preference when it comes to masks, we want you to know: “You Belong Here.” And in a spirit of grace please be respectful and courteous towards those on the other side of your position.
**After prayerful consideration we will be moving our campus to “Masks Optional (but recommended)” beginning Wednesday, April 28th.**
Please know this doesn’t change our cleaning and disinfecting that we do after every service, and we will continue to offer space next to family units in the auditorium (upon request). We’d also ask that you would be mindful of social distancing while on our campus.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Is Northeast requiring masks for in-person worship?
As of Sunday, May 2nd, Northeast is not requiring masks for our in-person worship gatherings. Masks are strongly recommended for our most vulnerable members including those with pre-existing conditions that may put them at higher risk from the impact of Covid-19.
What safety measures are remaining in effect at Northeast?
We have an extensive list of procedures that we follow to ensure the health and safety of everyone who comes on our campus, including (but not limited to):
Social distancing encouraged across our campus and provided upon request in our worship center;
Capacity limits in our classrooms;
Additional time between services to accommodate the cleaning of all hard surfaces as well as sanitizing our auditorium after every service;
Wall-mounted offering boxes and online giving so as to avoid passing offering plates;
Hand sanitizers throughout our campus and masks provided for those wishing to wear one;
Temperature checks in all of our NextGen (kids and student) Ministry spaces.
Will online worship continue to be offered?
YES! We realize that not everyone is ready or able to gather in person because of pre-existing conditions; as such, we will continue to offer online streaming of our services through our online platform
What ministries will be offered on Sundays?
All of our regular Sunday morning ministries have resumed. This is subject to change based on local conditions and we will continue to keep you up to date if things change.