Update on Mask Requirements

Greetings, Siblings in Christ,

While the new CDC guidelines have said that fully-vaccinated people do not need to wear masks or social distance indoors, and while we celebrate this development as a sign of God’s continued healing, we also acknowledge that our congregation may include those who are fully vaccinated (second shot plus two weeks) and those who, for a variety of reasons, are not.  We will continue to take precautions to keep our congregation and ourselves safe and healthy as we move towards normalcy.  To this end, we are encouraging the continued voluntary wearing of masks during worship for the foreseeable future and the continued practice of social distancing in our church’s ministry.

In order to preserve the personal integrity of our congregants, we will not police these matters and will leave decisions to the discernment of individuals and families.  We all have mask fatigue at this point and hope this pandemic will miraculously come to an end. Unfortunately, this will not happen soon, so we ask for your continued patience.  It is always the responsibility of the church to go the extra mile in order to protect the most vulnerable in our midst. For this reason, your pastor will continue to practice social distancing and mask-wearing as an expression of the church’s commitment to congregational safety.  However, we are also committed to standing against the stigmatization or shaming of anyone for their personal decisions, since such a spirit is contrary to the Way of Jesus.

If you are uncomfortable with removing your mask during worship, please feel free to leave it on.  If you are uncomfortable with being in worship alongside of those who are not wearing a mask, we will continue to offer online worship on YouTube or at monacachurch.org.

Regardless of how you choose to worship, you are loved and a vital member of this community of faith.  We encourage you to pray about this matter, and make the safest decisions possible for yourself and your family. Through it all, be patient, gracious, and cautious, so that our church might bear consistent witness to the love that Jesus calls us to practice as we continue to experience God’s healing and deliverance in the days ahead.

God’s blessings in all we do,
Pastor Ross