Reopening Trinity Church

Greetings Trinity Family!

I am excited to share with you that we are having a soft-reopening of Sunday morning church services beginning June 7th. Let me first say that we are playing everything by ear, dependent upon the state of Florida and their phases of reopening businesses and restaurants at limited operating capacities. We will follow suit with our own process of transitioning back into Sunday morning services by offering three service options:
8:30 AM, 10:30 AM, and 6:30 PM night service.

The reason we have provided three service options is because we can not have 100+ people at the 10:30 AM service. We still have to respect the state guidelines and in respect to our own church family, practice some social distancing guidelines. This means that there will be limit to our seating capacity at 100 people per service (though we don’t believe we will have that many attenders to begin with.  So, here’s where you come into play - the Elders and I are asking that you commit to attending only one service time. We’ve created on online survey that we strongly recommend you fill out so that we can best plan and prepare in case we need to shift people around. Please click the button below to fill out the form:
When we do reopen and restart we will begin with less capacity and slowly move into full capacity as able. I also want to share with you a list of goals and steps we are taking as leaders and staff to prepare. Our denomination, the EFCA, has provided an outline for us that we are currently working towards. Here’s how we are planning:

·      Communication: regularly informing you of any changes updates about our plan for reopening (sign up for our weekly email newsletter, reach out to your pastors as well).

·      Deep Clean: We are working on a "deep clean" of the entire building—bathrooms, carpets, fellowship areas, tables in classrooms, nursery equipment, etc. We will regularly maintain a high level of cleanliness during this transition and season of life.

·      Social Distancing: Less seating will be available within the sanctuary, which means more spacing between rows. (In the case that we have too many guests, we will cap & limit capacity of people within the building). If you are more comfortable wearing a mask, you are welcome to, but we do not require it nor discourage it. There will not be a time of greeting during the services.

·      Supplies: We regularly provide hand sanitizer, soap, tissues, and other cleaning supplies for you within the building during services.

·      Committing to Prayer: We ask that you pray along with us as we seek discernment and wisdom from the Lord for our leaders & staff as we seek guidance about reopening. Our Leaders, Pastors & “Prayer Warriors” regularly pray for our church family, so we invite you to submit your prayer requests and needs whether through email, phone call, or stopping by the church office.

·      Children’s Ministry: Both our Nursery and J.A.M. Sunday morning children’s ministries will be available, but we will only provide a nursery for the Sunday night service. Our Children’s Ministry Director, Lisa Simpson, will have her leaders and volunteers limit the amount of kids per room, as we have plenty of space in the Impact Center to spread out and distance if necessary. We also regularly clean all toys and surfaces within our children’s ministries rooms.

·      Adult Sunday School: Our ABF’s (adult bible fellowships) will not be meeting during the first few weeks of our reopening. We will work towards providing these studies again, but will begin our reopening process by postponing the studies.

·      Food/Drink Policies: Our coffee room & Sunday morning food spread will not be available as we begin reopening. You are welcome to bring your own coffee.

·      Order of Service: We do not pass the plate for tithes & offerings but instead ask you tithe online on our website at www.trinityfree.com, or drop off your tithes in the box in our front lobby. Our greeters will be asked to not shake hands, and we will not provide a time of greeting at the beginning of our services.

I hope that you are staying connected with your small groups, bible studies, prayer partners, and one another as we all adjust to this “new normal” in our community, state, and world.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me by text, email, or phone call. Email - ryan.schmitz@trinityfree.com, church office - (352)589-5673.

Until then, we hope you’ll join us at our Final Drive-In 10:00 AM church service May 17th. We will transition to only having online services for May 24th and May 31st so we can prepare for our soft reopening on June 7th. I invite you to stay up to date with our prerecorded sermons, devotionals, and other information at our website, www.trinityfree.com.

God bless you and your families! It is a pleasure to serve you as we grow in belief, love, and service like Jesus.  
Ryan Schmitz
LEAD PASTOR

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