Friends,

We are pray­ing for you, our church­es and our com­mu­ni­ties as togeth­er we face these unprece­dent­ed times and the chal­lenge to stop the spread of the Coro­n­avirus. We are con­fi­dent that God can cause all things to work togeth­er to move for­ward His eter­nal pur­pose, as the scrip­ture teach­es (Rom. 8:28–29).

It is the DBA’s rec­om­men­da­tion that church­es think sober­ly and cre­ative­ly about how to min­is­ter effec­tive­ly and love their neigh­bors dur­ing this time when our world is fight­ing the spread of this disease. 

We have called and spo­ken to many of our pas­tors and spir­i­tu­al leaders.

Two words of encouragement:

  1. Please do not imply to your peo­ple that gath­er­ing togeth­er in large groups dur­ing this pan­dem­ic is a demon­stra­tion that you trust in God or are spir­i­tu­al­ly mature. 
    1. The Scrip­tures encour­age us to obey our gov­ern­ment leadership.
      1. This is not a time of reli­gious per­se­cu­tion and does not war­rant ideas of nec­es­sary civ­il disobedience.
    2. Our eder­ly are most at risk.
    3. This is a time of wis­dom and love for our neighbor. 
      1. We love our neigh­bors by not acquir­ing, car­ry­ing or trans­mit­ting diseases.
  2. Con­sid­er this as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to grow and think out­side to box about how to min­is­ter to your con­gre­ga­tion and the com­mu­ni­ty. You can come out of this stronger, bet­ter equipped and more effective.

The DBA’s rec­om­men­da­tions regard­ing COVID-19 are in align­ment with the our South­ern Bap­tist Con­ven­tion and Geor­gia Bap­tist Mis­sion Board lead­er­ship as well as our nation­al and state government. 

We encour­age the church­es to con­sid­er the fol­low­ing opportunities:

Sun­day Morn­ing Ser­vices Online

If you decide to have large pub­lic gatherings

  • Prac­tice social dis­tanc­ing — Be sure to let your con­gre­ga­tion know this is because you love each oth­er and do not want to hin­der the spread of the Coro­n­avirus. Let them know that it is not dis­re­spect­ful to avoid shak­ing hands dur­ing these days.
    • Con­sid­er:
      • Hav­ing only 1 Sun­day morn­ing ser­vice and not meet­ing on Sun­day evening or Wednesday.
      • Encour­age ver­bal greet­ings with no touching.
      • Keep a bot­tle of hand san­i­tiz­er at each entry/exit.
      • Instead of using an offer­ing plate, put a bas­ket by the doors or rows for tithes & offer­ings to be dropped in. 
      • Either use sin­gle serve indi­vid­u­al­ly wrapped com­mu­nion or wait till a lat­er date.
      • Do not have any chil­dren, youth, and/or senior meet­ings or events. 

Con­sid­er Hav­ing Vir­tu­al or Tele­con­fer­ence Meet­ings
This is a time for prayer and meet­ing togeth­er with fel­low believ­ers, con­sid­er meet­ing via:

 

Here are some oth­er infor­ma­tion­al links that you may find nec­es­sary to review:

CDC: Faith-Based Orga­ni­za­tions COVID-19
Free Train­ing, Doc­u­ments, and Check­lists to Lead Your Church through the Coronavirus
Tips for Kids Min­istry while Social Distancing
Online Giv­ing when You Can’t Pass the Plate

Please note that the Daniell Bap­tist Asso­ci­a­tion has can­celled all events until fur­ther notice.
We are here to help and sup­port our church­es dur­ing this time. Please do not hes­i­tate to con­tact us. Billy’s num­ber is (912) 347‑0053.
We are pray­ing with you and are eager to see the great work of our God and Sav­ior, Jesus Christ. May the Lamb receive the reward of His suf­fer­ings (Is. 53:11).

COVID-19 Update