Updated March 11, 2020
RESPONSE LEVELS
For the sake of simplicity, we have observed churches responding in different degrees of caution. In order to put language to the responses, the following numbering system should be used to describe the seriousness of the response from no response (0) to most serious response (4)
- Level 0 = No change. There should be no church who has not acknowledged this crisis in some way.
- Level 1 = Minor modifications of operations (e.g. informing people to stay home if sick, not to shake hands, etc.) and no significant cancellations. Many majority-culture churches in unaffected areas seem to be doing this.
- Level 2 = Cancel select gatherings. Change some operations (e.g. how to do communion) & programs (e.g. short-term mission). This is increasingly becoming unavoidable as churches are compelled to respond to concerns. Asian-American churches and churches that are connected to immigrant churches are at level 2 at a minimum.
- Level 3a = Cancel all non-essential meetings but keep Sunday services. Many of the larger Korean immigrant churches are here, especially as they are more likely to have people travelling from Asia and have elderly people in their congregation.
- Level 3b = Cancel all large gatherings including Sunday service. Keep small & midsize gatherings. Some churches are compelled to do this as government recommendations have begun limiting larger gatherings.
- Level 4 = Cancel Sunday services + all midweek meetings regardless of size. Some larger immigrant churches are close to doing this but we have not heard of any that have done this yet.
Living Hope is probably at level 2 at the moment though the elders are meeting weekly to assess and adjust.
TRIGGERS
We are continuing to monitor all situations and will continue to adjust accordingly. But we believe some of the following events will trigger us in taking bigger steps:
- Governmental agency (e.g. CDC, federal/state/county/city government) declaring mandates or recommendations in regards to large gatherings.
- Public school district of a nearby area closing.
- One of our own members or attendee testing positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
COMMUNICATIONS
We will communicate to the general congregation in the following manner:
- Weekly email
- Posters on campus
- Webpage: https://www.livinghopecc.org/covid-19
- We are also communicating internally with our servant officers on a separate channel.