Update on Online/In-person Services

We hope you have all had the opportunity to participate and engage in the worship options that work for you as we seek to stay vibrant as a congregation despite the virus!  We wanted to provide an update of our ministry plans as we know there are questions about worship options such as drive-in and when we may plan to get back to in-person worship.  As a church council, we continue to make decisions keeping the health and safety of our congregation, the capacity of our staff, and the resources available to our church as priority factors.

As a result, we are currently prioritizing the following 3 types of weekly ministry options:

  • Online services – to date, online services have been vital to keeping our ministry vibrant despite the virus.  They allow us to reach many and provide a flexible option.  We will continue online services until we are through the pandemic and it is safe to return to “normal” worship.
  • Outdoor services – our summer outdoor services provided great opportunity to soak up some MN summer sun and see faces we’ve missed the past few months.  We hope to hold a few more if we can be blessed with good weather through the fall months!  We are planning to hold outdoor worship on Sunday, October 4 at 3 PM followed by Sunday School.
  • Indoor worship – we are currently evaluating a return to indoor worship beginning October 11 abiding by our Covid Preparedness Plan protocols, the state of MN requirements, and the guidance established by the CDC and the MN Department of Health.  This means we will hold a 9:30 AM worship service, allowing <75 people in the sanctuary with masking and social distance procedures in place.  You can expect to hear more soon.
We also wanted to let you know we have investigated drive-in worship, but our council has determined we will not invest additional resources into further investigation or planning at this time.  We have learned there are a lot of factors to consider, making drive-in worship complex and more resource intense to plan.  These factors include strict legal requirements in the type of low power part 15 transmitter, power source and proximity to power source, weather, a need for strong WiFi if a wireless transmitter is used, and a long application process to obtain radio licenses.     


Thank you for your interest, participation and support as we continue our ministry as beloved children of God!

- LOC Church Council

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