OUTDOOR SERVICES

Time and Location

We plan to start each service at 11 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Please Come Early in order to park and find a seating spot! The seating area will be on the front/side lawn (see the map at the bottom of this page), with worshipers sitting on blankets or chairs—you will need to bring your own chairs and/or blankets.

What to Expect

We will work hard to make our outdoor service a bit shorter than normal, but very similar in content/structure (singing, praying, reading of Scripture, and preaching). One primary difference will be that we will provide lyrics digitally rather than projecting them, so bring a charged up cellphone, laptop or tablet.

Face Coverings and Social Distancing

Face coverings will not be required outdoors, but social distancing will.

Both the state health department and the CDC recommend that folks remain six feet or more apart from those not in their household and wear a face covering when that is not feasible. We believe there is plenty of room outdoors to maintain social distancing, but face coverings are required whenever inside the building.

We recognize that some of you may want to wear a face covering at all times. You are welcome to do so. And we ask everyone to follow this simple courtesy rule: If you see someone wearing a mask, and you want to talk with them, please put your face covering on too out of consideration for your sister or brother in Christ. Keep in mind that even if you are both wearing masks, you still need to remain six feet apart.

If you must enter the building to use the restroom, or for any other purpose,  a face covering will be required inside the building.

Even if you have spent time with other FBC’ers in other settings, we’d ask that you remain only with those in your household during our service.

What to Bring

When you head to church for the service, you should bring: a) a Bible, b) a chair or blanket to sit on, c) a face covering to wear if you go into the building (we will have some on hand if you don’t have one), d) some water (especially if it’s hot), and d) a device (cellphone, tablet, laptop) to access song lyrics so you can sing along (see “What to Expect” above). You are welcome to bring an umbrella for shade as well.

Parking

When you arrive, you’ll be directed as to where to park. We will have an area reserved for those who are remaining in or near their vehicles during the service.

Bathrooms

Restrooms will be available inside. If you need to use them, please enter and exit the building from the door on the south side of The Commons (main entrance). Children 12 and under MUST be accompanied by a parent and social distancing guidelines are followed (i.e. not over-crowded). Please wash hands and take advantage of the hand sanitizer stations.

Those Who (Should) Stay Home

Though we ideally would love to have everyone with us, anyone who has been sick or experienced symptoms (such as cough, sore throat, headache, fever, chills, body aches, etc.) within the last two weeks should plan to stay at home, along with others from their household. Others may choose not to attend initially as we navigate this unusual crisis, and should not feel condemned for doing so. In order to serve those at home, we are going to live-stream our services at http://facebook.com/fbclivonia and on YouTube as we have been doing (you do not need to have a Facebook account to view this).

Rain Plan

In the event of inclement weather, we may need to cancel our in-person service. If that is the case, we’ll share that on social media and on our website. We would then post a service as soon as possible online.

Those With Young Children

We know these outdoor services will be particularly challenging for you! Our church is full of children who usually love to worship, learn, and play together. But in this season, we are asking you to keep your children with you at all times. We will do our best to plan our services in a way that is engaging for them, but we’d also encourage you to plan proactively as well. Maybe you could bring papers and crayons, or you could purposefully sit in an area where you can easily get up and walk around if they get squirmy without distracting other worshipers. We’d encourage you to talk with your children in advance about what will be different (people wearing masks; not being allowed to play with other kids), but also why you are excited to join together again for worship. Each Sunday, we’ll provide supplemental activity ideas for you, which you could use before or after the service at home.

See You Soon!