Our Response to COVID-19
Our Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Amidst concerns surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19), we want to let you know how the Truth Church is responding. Our leadership team is carefully and continually monitoring this situation. As information evolves, this page is the primary and most up-to-date place for you to receive answers to commonly asked questions. We are committed to doing everything we can to provide a safe environment for our church family and the surrounding community.
Update: May 22, 2020 - Guidance for Reopening for Physical Services
These guidelines will apply for all church functions until further notice. These guidelines adhere to the Ad Astra Plan as well as the Opening Up American Again Plan – including CDC guidelines. These guidelines also comply with Kansas Executive Order No. 20-31, and Kansas Executive Order No. 20-34
Conditions of Attendance: If you or someone in your home is showing signs of sickness or fever, please stay home.
Age and Health Recommendations: Per CDC guidelines, members 65 and older are recommended to stay at home and join the worship online. (For those 65 and older that are healthy and want to attend church, we will honor their faith and take extra precaution with them.)
Members/visitors that do not fall within the CDC guidelines for high risk are welcome to join the church family to worship in the sanctuary based upon the current crowd size limitations in place.
Congregation Sanitation Requirements: Upon arriving to church, please wash your hands with soap – this is preferable to using hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer may be used as an alternate. Please sanitize childcare and nursery areas after each use. All microphones and musical instruments must be sanitized at the completion of each service or before transition to another user. The assigned cleaning team will sanitize and wipe down common touched areas
Social distancing – interaction, shaking hands, hugging, etc: Families must follow strict social distancing guidelines of six feet of separation between non-family members. Example – Entering and exiting the church building, fellowship, serving in worship.
Physical contact is not permitted at this time: i.e. handshakes and hugs.
Seating: Group with families, An empty pew must be in between non-family members. Children are to be kept near their family and away from other children.
Compliance: Use sound judgment in your actions and respect the wishes of others as we come together in worship.
Pastor Riggen or his designee has the right to dismiss any non-compliant attendees.
Group Meetings – study, youth, music practice, etc: Any group meetings that are conducted outside of scheduled services must abide by the same rules set forth for church services.
FAQS & COMMON QUESTIONS
In conjunction with the Kansas reopening guidance we have resumed adjusted services. Please see the 5/22/20 update above for more information about how we’re reopening for service.
UPDATE: 5/22/2020 in accordance with the Kansas reopening guidance we have resumed adjusted services. Please see the 5/22 update above for more information about how we’re reopening for service.
If you are feeling sick or running a fever, we strongly encourage you to stay home (and away from group gatherings), get plenty of rest, and seek medical attention if necessary. When staying home, however, please let someone in the church know that you are not feeling well. We want to pray for you and would like to have the opportunity to minister to you and care for your wellbeing in every way we can without unnecessarily exposing others to potential sickness. If you are elderly or otherwise more physically at risk of contracting this virus, we advise you to minimize social interactions while staying connected to your church family through other means. All of our services are streamed live, and when home sick, you should listen if at all possible. Even in the midst of a physical illness, you should do your best to maintain spiritual strength as much as possible.
We encourage everyone to take certain steps to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus, flu, and other illnesses, including:
- Staying home if you are sick
- Optionally wearing a face mask
- Washing your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds;
- Using hand sanitizer when soap and water is not available;
- Not touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands;
- Avoiding close contact with people who are sick;
- Covering your cough or sneeze;
What is The Truth Church doing to make services as safe as possible?
Among other things, the Truth Church is taking extra cleaning precautions. This includes:
- Wiping down all common area touchpoints (e.g., doors, light switches, countertops, etc.) throughout the day or before services with an EPA certified disinfectant.
- Placing hand sanitizers in common areas throughout the buildings.
- Performing added in-depth cleaning of our facilities on a regular basis.
These deep cleans will likely involve closing the Truth Church on certain weekdays, and we will include all information about scheduled closures on this webpage (see above under, “Is the Truth Church open on weekdays?”).
In all of our children’s areas, after each service, our volunteers sterilize various surfaces used by our children. We will continue to follow our standard health protocols, not admitting any child with elevated temperature (above 99.6 F). A child must also be fever free for 24 hours before coming to Sunday school or the nursery. You can help us by closely monitoring your children for any symptoms and being understanding if we feel we cannot accept your kids into our programs due to health concerns.
We will also continue to baptize people in our baptismal tank filled with sanitized water. In addition, we encourage everyone to take commonsense precautions and consider creative interactions (like elbow bumping instead of handshaking).
How can I better understand COVID-19?
Coronavirus is a type of virus that causes respiratory illness — an infection of the airways and lungs. COVID-19 is a new strain of coronavirus. It is part of the same family of coronaviruses that includes the common cold. The coronavirus outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Since then, the virus has spread to other countries.
The most common early symptoms appear between 2 and 14 days after infection. Symptoms can be mild to severe. They include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness. People with fever, cough and difficulty breathing should seek medical attention. Most people recover from the disease without needing special treatment.
Like many other viruses, the coronavirus (COVID-19) seems to spread from person-to-person through a cough, sneeze, or kiss. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that the risk in the U.S. is still low. They will update this status regularly on their website at cdc.gov/coronavirus. You can also find more information from the World Health Organization.
How should I respond spiritually to COVID-19?
The coronavirus (COVID-19) is yet one more reminder that we live in a fallen world of sickness, sin, suffering, and death. Ultimately, none of us are immune to any of these things. But that’s why the gospel is such good news. God has not left us alone in this world of sickness, sin, suffering, and death. He has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The greatest news in all the world is that Jesus lived a life with no sin, died on a cross to pay the price for our sin, and rose from the grave in victory over sin and death.
Now anyone anywhere who turns from their sin, repents, is baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Ghost will be forgiven of all their sin and restored to relationship with God. This means that through Jesus, we never have to fear sickness or death because we know we have eternal life.
If you do not know that you have eternal life, we urge you to put your faith in Jesus and follow the plan of salvation outlined in Acts 2:38 by repenting of your sins, being baptized in Jesus’ name and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Times like these remind us all of the fragile nature of life and the inevitability of death. So, let’s spread the good news that death has been defeated and eternal life is available to all who trust in Jesus.
In addition to trusting in Jesus and sharing Jesus with others, here are some other ways you can respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19):
- Trust in God as the good and sovereign Creator and Sustainer of life upon whom we all depend.
- Pray for mercy for the sick, strength for doctors, insight for researchers, and wisdom for officials.
- Look for opportunities to love and care for others, whether they are sick, isolated, marginalized, poor, or oppressed.
- Avoid every semblance of prejudice or racism. In light of the origination of this virus in Asia, it has been grievous to see a rise in racist incidents against the Asian community. We want every Asian-American (as well as Asians around the world) to feel and know the love of Christ. So just as we do in any circumstance, guard against all prejudice or racism in your thoughts, your words, and your actions.
- Even if we are unable to gather at certain times, stay closely connected to the church family. Gather with smaller groups as appropriate and participate in worship services online if that’s the only option.
- Continue to faithfully support the church financially through online contributions or through the mail.
- Reflect often on the brevity of life, the urgency of eternity, and the beauty of the gospel.