In-Person Worship At FPC Dunellen 2020
We are excited to reopen the sanctuary for worship starting September 13, 2020. In order to follow state regulations and keep everyone safe it is important that you read the new procedures that we will be following at worship each Sunday. Thanks for your understanding, cooperation and careful observation of all of these necessary safety measures We look forward to seeing you soon. Please contact the church office with questions: by phone at 732.968.3844; by email at office@dunellenpres.org; or check out dunellenpres.org or our Facebook pages for more information.
What, When, & Where?
New Service Times
Our worship service times have changed to provide more time in between each worship service for health screening and cleaning the Sanctuary and Narthex between services. Here are the new times:
Traditional Worship Service
8:30 am - Arrive for Screening
9 am - Worship Service Starts
Contemporary Worship Service
11:15 am - Arrive for Screening
11:45 am - Worship Service Starts
Spanish Worship Service
2 pm - Arrive for Screening
2:30 pm - Worship Service Starts
Sanctuary Only
Only the Sanctuary & narthex will be open for designated worship services. The rest of the building remains closed. No other ministries, gatherings or meetings will be held in the building until further notice.
Bathrooms
Bathrooms should be used only if necessary. For everyone’s safety please help us keep bathroom usage to a minimum. The Narthex bathrooms are now both unisex and are available as needed. Return to your seat in the downstairs sanctuary via the middle aisle or to the sanctuary balcony carefully using the stairs on your side.
No Childcare or Choirs
There will be no Children’s Sunday School, no Fusion Kids and no childcare provided. The Danza Team, Choir, and Bell Choir will not be restarting at this time.
How Will We Keep One Another Safe?
No Physical Greetings
No physical greetings please (no handshakes, elbow/fist bumps, hugs, kisses, touching), all interactions must observe the 6-foot social distancing requirement and we will all be screened upon entry.
Face Masks
State regulations require Face Masks be worn at all times inside & outside on church grounds. Anyone unmasked will be asked to put their mask back on in order to remain in line or in the building. (Preachers & worship leaders are allowed to un-mask while leading & then re-mask.)
Bring Your Own
No bulletins, church bibles, pens, offering envelopes, pillows, tambourines etc. are available. You can bring your own (please take them home after). Print bulletin here: https://dunellenpres.org/downloads
Restricted Items
No food, drink, flags, banners or waving materials will be allowed in worship at this time.
At Risk
If you are at greater risk for Covid19 or are concerned about your health and safety for any other reason, we invite you to prayerfully consider staying home and worshipping online or on Zoom. While we would love to see you in person, please know that your well being is our highest priority and we support you not coming to in person church in order to prevent contracting Covid19. Some of the at-risk groups include: chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma, serious heart conditions, cancer treatment, smoking, bone marrow or organ transplantation, immune deficiencies, poorly controlled HIV or AIDS, prolonged use of corticosteroids or other immune-weakening medications, severe obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and undergoing dialysis, and liver disease.
Future Closures
Please be aware IF circumstances arise that require it, the session will close the church building again and notify you of this change. Such closures could include if the Governor or state so orders a shutdown, if there is a significant outbreak in Covid19 in our area, if there is a confirmed case of Covid19 among staff, volunteers or attenders that necessitates a temporary closure as well as other unforeseen circumstances.
Contact Tracing
We know that Covid19 is still spreading in our nation, state and community and anyone can contract it. If you are diagnosed with or suspect you might have Covid19 within 14 days of attending worship please contact the church office immediately. We will not criticize, stigmatize or be angry with you. We need to know so we can notify anyone affected and keep you and our whole congregation safe. We promise to serve you, support you, encourage you, help you through your illness and will keep your identity confidential. Thanks.
What About My Children?
Children must also wear masks, remain in the pew during the entire service and stay with their parents at all times. The necessary restrictions in place will make this experience too difficult for many of our young children and their families. We ask all parents to prayerfully and carefully consider if their children will be able to follow the FPC Dunellen’s in-person worship guidelines.
Unfortunately, children under 2 will not be able to come to in-person worship at this time. (It is unsafe for children 2 and under to wear masks, and we cannot ensure a safe environment for them in our building without masks.) We recommend that parents with children under 5 seriously consider not bringing them to church if they cannot follow the safety guidelines. We also recommend that parents of all children 12 and under go over the guidelines with their children to consider whether the in-person worship service or the online at home worship experience will be more worshipful for your family members.
We cannot wait to see all of our FPC Dunellen kids but also want them to be safe, connected with God and blessed by worship. Please see this document from our Discipling Team for more help: Should I Bring My Child to Church When We Reopen?
Registration
In-Person Worship begins on September 13th. Registration for Sunday Services opens on Wednesday, September 2nd at 8am. (REMEMBER: we are NOT open for In-Person Worship BEFORE September 13th.)
To come to our in-person worship services at FPCD, you must register your family group ahead of time. Due to state restrictions for safe indoor meetings a maximum of 56 people are allowed in the sanctuary seating areas at one time (38 people in the first floor sanctuary and 18 people in the balcony seating areas.).
A family group is made up of: a family that lives together; individuals sharing one residence; or individuals agreed to be quarantine partners during the pandemic thereby accepting the responsibility of reduced social distancing and so qualifying as a family group. People can only sit together with others from their family group.
There are 14 seating areas available. The downstairs seating areas fit a family group of 1-4 people each. The balcony seating areas can each fit a family group of up to 6 people each.
There are 2 ways to register for your family group:
- Online Registration: electronically by filling out the FPC Dunellen Registration on Google Forms. The link will be emailed to you and available on our website.
- Telephone Registration: Call the church office and leave a message with the church office.
Registration for the next Sunday’s worship services closes on Wednesday at midnight.
In order for your registration to be accepted you must tell us:
- the number of people in your group;
- the worship service time and date you would like to attend;
- the first and last name of everyone in your group;
- the phone number and email of each adult in your group.
Please tell us if you prefer not to use stairs. Also please indicate if you need wheelchair accessible seating and a space will be provided in last row of chairs in the first floor sanctuary.
Family groups will be registered on a first call, first serve basis. No one can attend a second time until everyone who desires to has registered a first time or if their are unregistered openings.
Once you complete the registration you will be contacted by email (or phone if you have no email) at the next available opportunity. You are NOT registered automatically. Please wait to hear from us before attending.
Please be patient as we take all registrations. When we contact you we will tell you which Sunday you are registered for, the time you should arrive for screening, and the screening questions you will have to answer.
You will be registered for the next available spot in the service you requested. If the Sunday you registered for is full, you will be put on the standby list and tentatively registered for the next available Sunday. If a spot becomes available the next person on the standby list will be registered for that spot and contacted immediately.
If you are registered for church but become unable to come due too illness, work, or any other reason please contact the church office immediately so your spot can be given to the next person/group on the standby list.
Attending In-Person Services
- Arrival Time: Please arrive at church 30 minutes prior to the service start time to allow time for health screening. Doors will close when the service starts, after which no one will be allowed into the building.
- Mask Up: Please put your mask on prior to getting in line and keep it on until you leave the church grounds.
- Screening Area: When you arrive you will wait to be screened in designated areas on the Dunellen Ave sidewalk.
- Screening Process: Volunteer Screeners will ask you screening questions and will take your temperature with a thermo-scan thermometer (it will not touch your skin but is placed about 1 inch from your forehead). If you answer yes to any of the screening questions or if you show an elevation in temperature you need to return home and cannot attend today. If anyone in your group answered yes to any of these questions or has an elevated temperature, everyone in the group has to return home and cannot attend today.
- Waiting Area: Once you have been screened, please wait in the designated waiting area in front of the church.
- Wait in the Narthex: The outside usher will invite your family group to enter by the front double-door and have you stand in the designated waiting area in the narthex and wait for the inside usher to direct you to your seat.
- One Way Only: Sanctuary aisles are one-way only. The middle aisle moves back to front. The outside aisles move front to back. The narthex is also one way traffic. Please follow the directional arrows taped on the floor to help you.
- Usher Seating: An usher in the front of the sanctuary will direct you to your seat. Please sit in your designated seating area only. Please do not sit in taped-off areas. These restricted zones provide the 6 foot distancing required.
- Seating Process: Everyone will be seated front to back in order of arrival. Personal seat selection & request is not possible.Family groups of 4-6 people will be seated in the larger balcony seating areas and those will physical needs indicated on the registration will be seated in accessible areas.
- Balcony & Stairwells: The balcony stairwells & side aisles are still two-way traffic areas. Please be aware of others coming at you and maintain 6 feet distance please.
- Stay Seated During Seating: Please stay seated until after the doors are closed & worship begins. At that point you can use the restroom if needed. (Please note that once you leave the building you cannot come back in.)
Every Sunday we will be worshipping our Lord in the building together with all those watching online.
- Offering: Offering boxes will be available, as you enter and leave, into which you can place your Gifts to God.
- Singing: We will be singing together with masks on. Please stand as you are able in your designated seating area.
- Keep Masks On at All Times: Please be aware that if you take your mask off you will be asked to put it back on by an announcement on the screen, by an usher or from the pulpit. Thanks for masking up! Be assured, nobody likes wearing the masks but this is how we love one another and keep each other safe from disease. Thanks again.
- Worship Staff: The Pastor will remain on the platform by the pulpit for the entire service. The musicians will remain in their designated area by their instrument.
- Volunteers: We need over 30 volunteers every Sunday to reopen the church. Its not to late for YOU to sign up. Contact the church office if you would like to serve as a cleaner, screener, usher or audiovisual volunteer. WE need YOU to keep us open!
- Dismissal Process: After the service is over please be seated. You will be dismissed by an usher by row from back to front, first floor to balcony. Please exit using the narthex side door on your side of the sanctuary. Individuals seated on the Park side exit through the Park side aisle and door. Those seated on the Ramp side exit through the Ramp side aisle and door.
- Exit Church Grounds: Unfortunately, no one can remain inside or outside the building after the service to talk. Please promptly exit church grounds so our cleaning & screening crews can get us ready for the next service.
Thank you!
We appreciate your understanding, cooperation, and careful observation of all of these necessary safety measures as we travel this journey together. Please remember, it is your decision when you want to return to in-person worship in the sanctuary based upon what is safe for you, your family and all those with whom you will come in contact on a particular Sunday. If you are unable to attend in-person worship in the sanctuary, please remember to join us either on Facebook Live or by phone using Zoom. Our Lord will still hear us worshipping together. It is for His glory, not ours. Please call the Church office if you have any questions.