Another COVID-19 Update

You may have heard that earlier this week, Dr Bonnie Henry, our Provincial Health Officer, issued new orders regarding in-person worship. There are two parts to these orders.

• First, she is now requiring participants in indoor, gathered worship services to wear masks -- an action we were already taking and will continue.
  
• Second, she is setting a capacity limit of 50% of the building's capacity or 100% capacity if everyone has proof of vaccination. For us, 50% capacity means 60 people in our building. At this time, we're only seeing about 30-40 people in the building (with another 15-25 on Zoom). Therefore, for SUNDAY WORSHIP, we will be using the 50% capacity limit and NOT checking for proof of vaccination. We are leaning towards requiring proof of vaccination for Christmas Eve worship and will confirm that after the Christmas Market. All of our worship services will continue to have a Zoom option for those who prefer or need it.
  
• Bishop John Stephens has issued an updated Pastoral Letter which you can find here: https://www.vancouver.anglican.ca/news/bishops-pastoral-letter-regarding-nov-30-phos-orders. It may require some additional changes in how we handle non-worship events at St Stephen's, but we have a few weeks to make the necessary decisions and changes.