An Update Regarding the Coronavirus

 

Hey everyone, thanks for visiting! As we continue to monitor the developments around coronavirus, we'll continue to update this page with important announcements. Here are the latest:

 

First, along with Door of Hope Southeast, we will be canceling *all* in-person Door of Hope Northeast gatherings until further notice. This includes Sunday worship services, community groups, morning prayer, etc. We don't know exactly how long this will be required of us, but we know it won't be forever. 

Second, I want to encourage everyone to continue to comply with the latest guidance issued by the local and federal governments as they develop. The trend is toward limiting gatherings to smaller and smaller group sizes and generally avoiding all non-necessary social interaction--we want our community to be helpful contributors to this ongoing effort to contain the virus's spread. There are many factors motivating the responses to COVID-19, but we want our chief motivator to be neighbor-love. Biblically, love of neighbor and love of God are inseparable (see Matthew 22:36-40; 1 John 2:7-11). Regardless of your own individual feelings about the danger of the virus to yourselves and your immediate families, by following the developing guidelines around social distancing we play a very real part in slowing the spread and allowing our healthcare system to keep up. As odd as it is to say, keeping physical distance from one another is, at the moment, a way to tangibly love our neighbors.

Third, though foregoing in-person community is so unnatural for churches, we want to recognize the blessing we have in modern technology to stay connected. We will continue to send out a weekly message published through the various podcast platforms (see below). This newsletter will be sent out as-needed to communicate important updates, as well as for sharing any significant prayer requests from our body (see below). We will brainstorm other ways to communicate practical needs as they begin to arise around the community. Additionally, we encourage everyone to go the extra mile in reaching out to friends, CG members, and acquaintances at DoH Northeast via email, phone calls, and FaceTime. Even as we see less of one another in-person, we can be more relationally intentional than ever before! 

And finally, while God alone knows what the next immediate season is going to look like for our church, our city, and our world, we can be certain that the words of Psalm 46:1-3 are true:

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     God is our refuge and strength, 

     a very present help in trouble. 

     Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, 

     though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 

     though its waters roar and foam, 

     though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah.

     God is our refuge and strength, 
     a very present help in trouble. 
     Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, 
     though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 
     though its waters roar and foam, 
     though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah.