We have reopened the building for worship services!
The Church Council and staff worked very hard to make this a reality. We are very excited about this and have created this FAQ to help with the transition.

 

Do we have to reserve a spot for our family?
No, but we are asking for reservations particularly these first few weeks because we don’t know how many to expect, if we need more chairs, or even need to add a service.  (All we need is your family name and how many will be attending.)

 

Will there be something for the children?
Yes. If you choose to have your children sit in service with you, we will have coloring pages and other activities for the kids when you arrive. You will have plenty of space to spread out with your kiddos, and we are keeping the services to 45 minutes.  (And if you wanted a coloring page or activity booklet for yourself – that’d be okay as well.)

Starting Sunday, September 13th, we are relaunching a modified version of our children’s ministry! Here are the Children’s Ministry Reopening Guidelines.

 

What can I expect when we show back up to the building?
To be treated like a rock star. We will have a dedicated entrance and have some hand sanitizer waiting for you. You’ll have a spacious place to sit and get situated. After the service, you will have a dedicated exit. Don’t worry, we will have signs.

Will we sing?  Have music?  Teaching?
Yes! We are gonna sing.  We will start by live-streaming our worship team into the gym.  This allows us to fit around 50 more people into the gym.  Teaching will be live and in-person.  Service time is going to be around 45 minutes long.

 

Will you still have the service online?  With chat and live prayer?
Yes and yes.  If you are not comfortable coming back with all the precautions, join us online on Facebook. We will broadcast live and would encourage you to even have watch parties with your Connect Group. Our online presence will not be going anywhere. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and click to accept notifications to be informed of any new live broadcast postings.

 

What’s with mask wearing and social distancing?
When we provided the church survey, 44% of you said “Yes, I would wear a mask” while 38% said “No, I would prefer NOT to wear a mask.”  Of all the questions we asked, this was by far the most polarizing.

Yes, we are asking people to wear a mask (not small children), and we are observing some physical distancing. We are allowing mask removal while seated, during the message. Masks will remain in place during any movement around the building and while singing. There were three reasons for this decision.

First, our research shows that most COVID-19 positive cases happen when there is prolonged exposure to the virus in droplet form in enclosed spaces. Some activities – like coughing, sneezing, eating, and singing – exponentially produce more droplets. Going to the grocery store or running in and then out of a store provides very little time or opportunity for exposure. Sitting in the same place for 45 minutes while singing does increase the risk significantly. By wearing a mask and physically spreading out, we are lowering the risk of exposure.

Second, we live in a litigious culture, and we received some guidelines from our insurance providers to follow so that if anyone contracted COVID-19 at WHC, we would have coverage for that.

Third, we wanted as many people as possible to feel comfortable coming back to the building. We know that there are people who have strong beliefs all over the spectrum. We believe these initial guidelines navigate a middle road.

 

How long will these guidelines be in place? 
We don’t know.  We anticipate there will be changes every week as we are constantly researching and learning new things.  We are always going to change and adapt as new information comes in.  We are hoping to have children’s ministry up and running in time for the start of school as well as our student ministry and small group Bible studies.

What if I’m having a hard time with some of these guidelines?
First, know that we – Church Council, pastors, and staff – had a difficult time with these decisions. Reopening the building presented the most complicated series of issues we have ever faced. We found ourselves wrestling with our personal convictions versus what was going to be best for a congregation of over 400 people, ages 85 to 8 days.

Second, pray with and for us. We spent weeks praying through this, seeking God’s wisdom. We still are. This is a starting point for us to open, and we know it will change. Every step will require more wisdom than we have right now. So pray that God would give us all a spirit of unity and of grace.

Third, talk to us. You can drop us an email to set up an appointment. We’d love to hear you and see if there is some way we can help each other keep moving forward.

 

Personal Note from Grant English, Lead Pastor:

As our Church Council, pastors, and staff wrestled through all the reopening decisions, I found myself incredibly conflicted. Some of the decisions we made, I am 100% behind and believe in. Some of the decisions (after a lot of thought and prayer), I recognize as necessary for the time being even though I don’t like them. I haven’t known what to do with this inner conflict until God reminded me of a scene that played out in our driveway a couple of months ago.

As many of you know, our family was forced to navigate Cooper’s (our 22-year old son) cancer diagnosis and chemo-therapy during this global pandemic. It radically challenged and changed our family. We were exhausted – emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Cooper has a group of friends that he has navigated life with since middle school. They are very close – been in Bible studies together, graduated high school together, roommates, housemates, vacations, graduated from K-State together. Cooper was supposed to be in a couple of their weddings this summer, but obviously he can’t do that.

Like many of you, we have dealt with a lot of disappointment.

A few months ago, his friends wanted to have a graduation celebration together. It was to be their last hoorah before they all got jobs, got married, and moved away. How could they do that with Cooper, given his vulnerable immune system and the COVID-19 pandemic?

If Cooper gets sick, it could kill him, so Amy and I set the ground rules:

Must be outside, in our driveway/cul-de-sac.
Nobody comes in the house.
Must maintain social distance.
Wear a mask.
Nobody touches Cooper or anything that gets to Cooper.
Hand sanitizer will flow like water.
We can shut it down so Cooper doesn’t get exhausted.

Every single one of them responded: No problem. We’re in.

It was 100 degrees with no breeze. We had Popeye’s and cookies. Not one of them complained. They were too busy laughing and telling stories. I was blown away by their act of love and kindness towards Cooper.

They chose to be inconvenienced because…

They knew it was only for a short period of time.
They knew there were better days ahead.
They did it for someone they loved.

That driveway lesson has stuck with me, because it’s a picture of Western Hills Church.

Western Hills Church has an incredible legacy of serving others. We have a trophy case full of stories where we chose to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of others.

Opening our building and facilities to the community.
Scholarships for a Christ-centered sports experiences.
Providing hundreds of meals to food-insecure families.
Providing funding for COVID-19 affected families.
Adopting three different schools.
Engaging with trash-dump communities.
Supporting missionaries in at-risk/closed countries.
Adopting international college students to show them the love of Christ.
Partnering with Antioch Church to model bridge-building to our city.

We have consistently chosen to be inconvenienced, because we knew that it was only a short inconvenience in light of eternity. We know that there are better days ahead. Most importantly, we do it because we deeply love people.

All people. Because they are made in God’s image, AND because God loves them deeply.

This is living out the reality of Jesus. And my prayer is that this once again comes shining through during this difficult season.

Let’s go be the church.