It has been five months since ACC began holding in-person worship services on Sundays. I am grateful for the safety guidelines developed by our Re-Opening Task Force and for the hard work done by our Hospitality Team each Sunday to help us follow protocol.

When we returned to in-person worship, we decided to be more cautious than required by public health guidelines. The thought was that we could relax some of our precautions over time as we became more accustomed to worshiping together as a church. One precaution we initially took was the decision not to engage in congregational singing. Worship leaders behind plexiglass on the platform have been singing hymns and praise songs while the congregation has been humming along softly or quietly meditating on the music.

On Sunday, March 7, we plan to begin singing again as a church. This decision is based primarily on our confidence in how effective our safety measures have been; on the successful examples of other churches that have been singing during COVID; and, on the fact that we have now developed helpful habits in our gatherings such as social distancing and proper mask-wearing. We will ask that people sing softly, that they wear well-fitted masks, and that they remain socially distanced throughout the entire service. As we have been doing, we will include less singing in our services than we did in pre-COVID days.

Please pray for our church as we take this next step. After a few weeks of singing together, church leaders will evaluate the practice to see how it is going. Many of us are eager to praise God in song again with other believers. Pray that we will take this step safely and with joy.