Corona Update | hopechurch
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6.03.20

Here are a few changes we're making starting the weekend of June 6/7.  We continue to evolve & adapt so you can expect us to keep expanding offerings as time goes by & our Elders & Leadership Team feel it is safe to do so.  Don't forget to keep inviting friends who may not have a home church.  We want to keep reaching more & more people with the Gospel.

  • Adding a Parking Lot Service at the Kennedy Campus at 9 AM Sunday mornings.  The green space will also be open for you to sit in as a family when the weather is nice (please practice social distancing with other families).  The service will include live music as well as the weekly sermon.

  • Our Online Services content will remain the same except we are moving our Saturday evening service to Sunday evening just to experiment to see if a different day is more convenient for you.  Online services will look like this:

    • Sunday Morning:  

      • 9:30 AM Children's content for Pre-K through 5th grade

      • 10:00 AM Worship service

      • 11:00 AM Youth content from middle school & high school

    • Sunday Evening:

      • 4:30 PM Children's content (same as morning)

      • 5:00 PM Worship service

      • No Youth content

5.18.20

Our campuses remain closed for now. Our Board and Leadership Team continue to pray and discuss what makes sense and when it will be safe to reopen. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as we navigate these decisions.​

4.29.20

Hey, we want to keep you in the loop as we process the possibility of reopening sometime in the future. 
Here are our main thoughts for now (more to come):

  • On Monday, 4/27/20, Governor Reynolds lifted restrictions on religious gatherings as long as churches implement strict social distancing protocols & increased sanitary measures.  At the same time, she is still encouraging mainly online services.

  • We are not sure what reopening looks like for Hope Church, but we are beginning to think through it.  Our main focus is everyone's safety & right now feels too soon to reopen, even though we're as excited for that day to come as you are.

  • 2 things we can tell you:  1) Our campuses remain closed at least through the weekend of May 16/17 and 2) Most EFCA churches in our Central District are looking toward the end of May or early June as the earliest possible time to reopen.

  • Be sure that we are thinking through this & having conversations.  We'll communicate plans as they firm up.  For now, let's keep worshipping together & inviting friends to worship with us online.

4.23.20

We will be extending the closure of our office and campuses through May 17th. Looking forward, we plan to re-assess our closure two weeks at a time. We hope your are staying connected with your LifeGroups and the rest of the church at Church Online and Facebook in the time being.

4.02.20

Hey Hope Church Family!

Wow, the sense of community has been so strong across the whole Hope Church family!  It has been so cool to see people connecting at Church Online and through Facebook and also to see many of our Life Groups meeting by Zoom to stay in touch.  We also appreciate your many encouraging notes, cards, texts and emails.  I love being part of this church!

​

While we feel the need to extend the closure of our office and campuses through the end of April, we wanted to share all the things that are going on with Hope Church these days.  There are lots of ways to stay connected!

 

Online Church Services (BethanyL@ehope.org)

 

Weekly Times with Pastor Matt (Collins@ehope.org)

  • Pastor Matt devotionals Wednesday mornings on Facebook

  • Chat with Matt on Facebook Wednesdays at 6:30 PM

 

Fun for Children (Deanna@ehope.org or Laurie@ehope.org)

  • Hope Kids Church Online Saturdays 4:30 PM and Sundays 9:30 AM

  • Facebook Live times (Children’s Ministry Facebook group)

    • Hope Kids Challenges every other day

    • Wednesdays 6:00 PM

    • Storytime for younger kids Saturdays 10:00 AM

    • Scriptural Encouragement for Parents Sunday evenings

  • Drive-by Hope Kids (drive through and get a weekly lesson and craft) Thursdays 3:00-5:00 PM at the Kennedy Campus front doors

 

Stuff for Students (Nelson@ehope.org)

  • MS/HS short teaching and connection with Pastor Nelson and Troy right after church services at Church Online 6:00 PM Saturdays & 11:00 AM Sundays

  • HS Youth Group and small groups via Zoom 5:30 PM Sundays

  • MS Youth Group and small groups via Zoom 5:30 PM Wednesdays

 

Worship Leaders Facebook Events

our worship leaders will be connecting with you on Facebook too!  Look for Facebook Premiere and Live events happening on the Hope Church Dubuque page.  Be sure the Like the page!

 

Connect on your favorite platform!

@hopechurchdbq on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube & Twitter 

 

Finally, many of you are used to picking up the Daily Bread or Today In The Word devotionals at Hope Church.  You can find them online at ODB.org and TodayInTheWord.org.

 

We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 1 Thessalonians 1:2

Blessings,

Dave Clarke

3.18.20

CHURCH ONLINE IS EXPANDING!

  • Regular church services online at 5 PM Saturdays & 10 AM Sundays.

  • Addition of Hope Kids & Bridge 45 Online starting at 4:30 PM Saturdays & 9:30 AM Sundays before the worship services.

  • Middle School & High School students online starting at 6:15 PM Saturdays & 11:15 AM Sundays.

  • The Church Online platform has been updated.  You can still access it directly from our home page, but if you have it bookmarked, you’ll need to change your link to hopechurchdbq.online.church.

 

FACEBOOK GROUPS ARE HERE!

  • Go to www.facebook.com/hopechurchdbq/groups and join our new Facebook Groups – we’ll have postings & time to interact with Pastor Matt, Pastor Mark, our Elementary & Early Family Directors & our Youth Pastor every Wednesday starting March 25th.  Check it out!

 

HOW TO CONTACT US

  • The office will continue to be staffed Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 4 PM.  Give us a call at 563-556-7724 or email office@ehope.org.   We’re here to help.

  • Through the Church Online platform, there is a place to submit prayer requests – please take advantage of that.  Our staff Leadership Team will continue to meet virtually every week & we will continue to pray over all of those requests.

 

PLAN NOW TO JOIN US FOR EASTER ONLINE!

  • While we have had to cancel our Easter services at the Grand River Center, we’re still planning some very special services to celebrate the resurrection on Sunday, April 12th at 9 AM & 11 AM.  Join us through Church Online as a whole family!

 

DON’T FORGET TO GIVE

  • Many of you have faithfully contributed to the ministry of Hope Church through the offering every week.  Like many people in our economy right now, we expect church income to be reduced.  While we have an emergency fund to help us weather the storm, 50% of giving comes from the weekend offerings.  We would definitely appreciate any amount you are able to give to support Hope’s ministry.

  • Click Here to set up recurring online giving – it will really help us as we grapple with uneven cash flow during this time.

 

WHAT’S BEEN CANCELLED?

  • Everything on-campus through April 12th including children & youth programs, on-campus groups & bible studies, Celebrate Recovery, SHINE & MOPS.

  • The Roshek Youth Group Skate Night (refunds will be processed for anyone who already paid).

  • Spring Quarter GroupLink & Life Group Leader Training

  • Living Last Supper

  • Easter at the Grand River Center

  • Baptisms & Baptism classes (we’ll have classes in June/July & baptisms at Flora Park in July, Lord willing)

 

WHAT’S BEEN POSTPONED?

  • Hope Wednesdays & Roshek Youth Group were scheduled to start April 1st.  We have suspended registration & will revisit the possibility of having something in late April & May depending on the status of the Coronavirus.  Stay tuned for more info.  Refunds will be processed for anyone who already paid.

3.15.20

Late yesterday on Saturday, March 14th, an additional case of Coronavirus was confirmed in Iowa & we have now moved to a stage where community transmission has been confirmed in our state.  Currently, there are no known cases in Dubuque.  Community transmission seems to be a threshold where transmission from person to person within a community occurs rather cases being limited to people who traveled outside the community and brought the virus back.

 

The Iowa Department of Public Health is now recommending that gatherings over 250 should not be held.  Based on this guidance and our desire to help limit the spread of the virus, we will hold services today, but cancel services for next weekend, March 21/22.

 

However, starting this afternoon after worship services through at least next Sunday, March 22nd, all on-campus activities will be cancelled.  This includes any children’s activities, youth activities, on-campus Life Groups and Bible studies, Celebrate Recovery, SHINE, etc.

 

We will be adding more online church services next weekend and we’ll publish those times by the middle of this coming week.  We will also continue to post sermon guides for Life Groups who want to continue to meet in homes.

 

For clarification, in-home Life Groups can decide for themselves whether they want to continue to meet during this time (off campus).  Please take into account the risk of those who are most vulnerable to the virus (those over age 60 or those with young children, people with other health concerns, or people with compromised immune systems).

 

As of right now, we will continue to have normal office hours Monday through Thursday from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM this coming week.

 

As we continue to monitor things this coming week, we will communicate any additional measures and cancelations as proactively as possible.

 

Good sources of timely information regarding the virus in our state and community are the Iowa Department of Public Health (www.idph.iowa.gov) and the City of Dubuque website (https://www.cityofdubuque.org/1649/SeasonalCurrent-Disease-Outbreak-Informa).

3.14.20

Due to the Coronavirus threat to possibly vulnerable attendees, our SHINE program has been canceled for the rest of the year. SHINE will resume in the Fall of 2020.

3.12.20

Dear Hope Church Family,

We continue to monitor developments related to the Coronavirus and want to give you an update.  Things are developing rapidly and we want to err on the side of caution.

 

Currently, local officials are not recommending the cancellation of public events or church gatherings in the Dubuque area. Hope Church will remain open and we will continue to have weekend services and midweek programming. In the event that health officials do recommend closure or we determine it is in the best interest of our church family to close, we will inform everyone through our website (www.ehope.org/corona-update), emails, texts, and social media.

 

During this time, here’s how we are committed to practicing caution at our campuses: 

  1. We will sanitize highly touched surfaces before every service such as doors, handles, tables and check-in stations.

  2. Our staff and volunteers will wash their hands frequently and stay home if they are sick. In addition, our café volunteers will wear gloves when they serve coffee or handle food.

  3. Offering baskets will be relocated to the back of the worship space so you don’t need to pass them down the row. Remember, you can also give online.

  4. For the time being, we will discontinue Communion.

 

During this time, we are asking you to help stop the spread of the virus in the following ways:

  1. Stay at home when you or a family member are sick.

  2. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

  3. Cover your sneeze or cough with a tissue or your arm.

  4. Forgo shaking hands at church for a wave or a friendly smile.

  5. If you or someone in your home tests positive for COVID-19, please let us know so we can find a way to help, pray for you, and take necessary precautions here at Hope.

 

Hope Church Online:

If you are sick or need to stay home during this time, you’re welcome to participate in our online service. We’ve got an open spot for you during our 10am service on our website. 

 

Online Giving:

The ministry of Hope Church in people’s lives happens because of the generosity of those who are a part of the Hope Church family.  Even though the rhythms of life may change during this season, we encourage all of us to continue to be faithful in our giving.  If you would like to utilize online giving options, go to www.ehope.org and click on “Give”.

 

Questions or concerns?

If you’d like to share your thoughts, concerns, questions, and ideas with us as we navigate our response to this situation, we’d love to hear from you. Your input and feedback are truly important to us. Please email communications@ehope.org with any questions or comments.

 

While we cannot control the virus, the spread, or the impact it has in our church, we’re doing everything we can to make our campuses as safe and clean as possible. We appreciate your cooperation and commitment to help us do just that.

 

Dave Clarke

Executive Pastor

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