Greetings Patterson Road Church family,
As we enter this week of focused intentionality toward giving thanks, we find ourselves in
another heightened occurrence of worry and anxiety. We read in Phil. 4 that thanksgiving (the
action) is how we ought to combat anxieties. It is through joyfully giving thanks that God’s
peace makes its way into our hearts and minds to stand guard against the enemy’s schemes. It
is most important during these times that the church remain a “bright city on a hill”, shining our
lights of hope into a world suffering in darkness.
It is no new news that COVID-19 levels have been rapidly increasing in our community and such
being the case, county and state health department restrictions have continued to increase as
well. With that truth in mind, our leadership would like to clearly communicate our current
actions to navigate these restrictions. In addition to simply “following the rules” we are also
tasked with “loving our neighbors”, “being all things to all men” for the sake of Christ, and “not
forsaking meeting together”. This is certainly a daunting task, one that we are thankful to have
God’s Spirit guiding us through.
Since Friday, Nov. 7 th , Mesa County has been operating under the “Orange – Safer at Home”
level of restrictions. This limits places of Worship to a maximum of 50 people in their
auditorium. As we have transitioned to online only worship services, we have used this number
to allow the families of those involved in serving in various capacities during our service, to
attend in person. This gives us a few people in the seats to participate in the live service and
makes things a bit more comfortable for those leading. Since some of those families include
young children, we also are maintaining our available nursery for little ones. While we will
continue the reciting our students’ monthly memory verse, we will suspend children’s church
for the time being.
Effective, Friday, Nov. 20 th , the state has placed our county into the “Red – Stay at Home” level
of restrictions. Additionally, there has been an even more restricted “purple level” created.
Since the state has created the new, more strict level of guidelines beyond red, they have
updated the current “Red – Stay at Home” guidelines for churches to have the same 50-person
maximum capacity. This change allows us to continue meeting on Wednesday evenings as well
as using the same structure for Sunday mornings.
If you would like to be involved in our Sunday services, but are not currently serving in some
capacity, please reach out to our office Mon.-Fri. between 9am-1pm and we will add you to the
list of those willing to serve. If you have other questions about our current strategies for our
Sunday services, feel free to reach out as well. As has always been the prayer of our leadership,
but especially so during this stressful and challenging year, may “The Lord bless you and keep
you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward
you and give you peace.”
Charlie DeLong
