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BC’s Public Health Officer, Dr Bonnie Henry, Premier John Horgan, and other government officials held a press conference on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 to outline a plan for “restarting” social activities and business in BC. St Stephen’s will work with both BC’s guidelines and Provincial Health Orders and the guidance from the Bishop’s Office in our Diocese. Bishop John has released a Pastoral Letter directing us to follow diocesan Phase 3 guidelines when we resume in-person/onsite worship after June 15 or when BC enters Stage 2, currently anticipated in mid-June.  

Therefore, our current plan is 
Sunday, June 6 Morning Prayer on Zoom (we will be testing our technical set up for onsite worship)
Sunday, June 13 Morning Prayer on Zoom (we will be testing our technical set up for onsite worship)
Sunday, June 20 Morning Prayer with Zoom and Onsite Options (see more information below)
Sunday, June 27 Morning Prayer with Zoom and Onsite Options 

If all goes well, we anticipate continuing the form of Morning Prayer with Zoom and Onsite Options through July. Our hope is to begin offering Holy Eucharist with Zoom and Onsite Options following BC Day in August. We expect to phase in Coffee Hour in September, as permitted.

 COVID-19 protocols will be mandatory through BC’s Stage 3. This means that as we return to worshipping in the building, we will still be requiring masks, physical distancing, and contact tracing.  

The church remains open and some of our user groups are still able to meet, especially the 12-Step groups. We hope to welcome back more of our user groups over the summer.

Information on private prayer opportunities on Tuesday & Thursday afternoons is available on page 2. We plan to continue offering our worship space for private prayer.

Your continued prayers for one another, those impacted by COVID-19, and for those working in public health are much appreciated. 

MORE DETAILS ON RETURNING TO WORSHIP IN THE BUILDING

When?: We will be starting on Sunday, June 20 (assuming the BC Restart Plan moves to Step 2 on June 15as scheduled).  

How Many People in our building?: We must continue to maintain physical distancing of 6 feet between each person/household group. Most of our congregation come to worship alone, but some folks come as a couple or in a family group. This makes planning a little more difficult. We know from last summer that we can fit 35 individuals in our space. Because of our planned layout, additional family members just increase the number of people who can fit into our space. In Step 2, we are limited to a total of 50 people. 

Reservations & Health Checks:  The Public Health Order that allows us to return to worship in our building requires us to have participants pre-register. You will get a link in the email with the Zoom Code to register. That email will be coming out earlier in the week to accommodate registrations. The registration site will include a place to confirm your answers to a health check. If you cannot find a way to register on the pre-register site, Lois will be taking registrations through the Friday before service (please send an email or leave a telephone message). For example, until Friday, June 18 for Sunday, June 20). 
Please note: When we were open last summer, we heard people say, “I can wait to return; I don’t want to take a spot from someone who needs it more than me.” We are highly unlikely to max out our space before the Province moves into Step 3 (when our maximum numbers are likely to increase). If you feel ready to return to worship in the building, please reserve your space. The reservation system will also allow us to judge if we are getting close to capacity. If that happens (which we think is unlikely) we can look at ways to accommodate more people. 

COVID-19 Protocols: We will continue to be following the standard COVID-19 protocols such as maintaining physical distance and wearing our masks in indoor settings. You should anticipate that we will wear our masks until September 7 at the earliest. Individuals and families who wish to keep wearing their masks, even after BC lifts the mandate will, of course, be welcomed to do so. 

Continuing on Zoom?: We plan to continue the Zoom worship option. At this time we don’t have an end date on using Zoom on Sunday mornings. We will be reviewing the needs for the Zoom format as we go into Step 4 (currently scheduled to start no sooner than September 7), but even with that we suspect we will make joining by Zoom possible through the end of 2021. 

Will there be…?:
There will not be Holy Communion (also known as Holy Eucharist) in June and July. We plan to start regularly having Communion on August 8
There will not be congregational singing. We will still have the soloists sing for us.
There will not be Coffee Hour until at least September.
We are working with our families to figure out what kind of programming we will have for children. 

Please note: It is important for us to remember that while many of us are excited about these re-opening and restart plans, others of us continue to be cautious. When we go through a time of change, we know that not everyone moves at the same speed. Some of us need longer to grieve what we are leaving behind while others jump quickly to envisioning how the new will be. Some of us will need a longer transition from our current practices to whatever “post-pandemic” reality comes to be. (And we are not yet to “post-pandemic” – just taking another set of steps on this journey). There may, in fact, be things that have changed because of COVID-19 that you hope to maintain in your life. We may find the same is true for us as a parish. Please be gentle with each other and yourselves as we continue to move through this 15-month and counting crash-course on living with change and uncertainty.