Greetings EMC family!

This week is finally Pentecost, the Sunday where we come back together in person to worship the Holy One by celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit. We’ve been talking about it for weeks, and the time has finally arrived. Here are the details for the service that you need to know:

• Drive-in service – From the moment you arrive on campus, we will direct you to where to park. The service will take place in front of the FYF building and our parking attendants will get you where you need to go. When you finally get parked, just imagine your car as your seat in the Worship Center.
• FM radio broadcast – We will be broadcasting the service on your FM radio. This is the best way to get audio to people in vehicles. We will let you know what station to turn to prior to the start of the service.
• No one is required to remain in their vehicles, but we do ask that if you decide to get out of your car that you do your best to observe the social distancing guidelines we have all become accustomed to. You are more than welcome to sit in a truck bed, set out some lawn chairs, or even stand if you wish. Just be sure the people behind you can see, and keep in mind that the primary audio source will be an FM radio, not amplified speakers.
• Bulletins, song sheets, and communion elements – You will be given everything you need for the service when you park. If you are not comfortable with being handed items, you can print the bulletin prior to coming (let me know if you want to receive an electronic bulletin) and pick up Fellowship Cups in advance at the church this week.
• Start times: 10am for the livestream, 10:15 for the worship service – At 10 we will begin our livestream with a children’s lesson for families who decide to stay home and worship online. At 10:15 the worship service will begin and continue to be streamed online just like we have been doing the past couple of months. Please try to arrive no later than 10am so that we can get you in place before the service begins.
• Offering collection – Our ushers will be bringing buckets around for you to give your tithes and offerings right after our congregational prayer time.
• If you need to use the restroom, please use the side doors to the KidZone and Infused hallways.
• Families with small children – We know it can be a challenge keeping kids contained in a vehicle for and hour or so. To help you with your unique challenges Sunday, Marcy will be providing activity bags for your kiddos.
• Be sure to wear red! It is still Pentecost, even if we’re worshiping from our cars. Red is the liturgical color of Pentecost because it recalls the flames of fire accompanying the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:3.
• Come with both excitement and patience – As wonderful as it will be to be together again in person, please keep in mind that we have never done anything like this before (in my time anyway). A lot of work and preparation is going into making this type of service happen, but there will almost certainly be hiccups along the way. Please be extra patient and kind toward one another as we all do our best to adjust to unusual circumstances. This is a great opportunity to heed the Apostle’s call to clothe ourselves in love (Colossians 3:14)

If you have any questions or concerns prior to Sunday, please let me know and I will do my best to help you out.

A couple other quick things while I have your attention:

• We will be honoring our 2020 graduates on June 7th. If you know of a high school or college graduate in our fellowship, please send that name to Marcy White (just to make sure we don’t miss anybody).
• We will let you know the status of worship for June 7th and beyond sometime next week. We are taking it 1 week at a time and prayerfully seeking what is best. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

Thank you once again for taking the time to read this. I know it can be arduous having to read through something like this each week, but I trust these updates are keeping you in the loop and feeling like you have a sense of what’s coming up. I love you all and continue to be here for you if you need me. See you Sunday!

In Him. With you.
Pastor Sean

Good Thursday afternoon, beloved EMC family!

It has been a dismal rainy week weather-wise, but the joy of the Lord does not depend on the forecast. Because of all that God has done for us in Christ, and through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, we can have a gladness in our hearts that is not dependent on external circumstances. May you know the joy of the Lord this day, and may it be your strength (Nehemiah 8:10)!

I know many of you have been waiting to hear the status of worship for this Sunday. After much prayer and deliberation, the Board of Stewards and I have decided to not open up the worship service to the congregation this Sunday. I know for many this news comes as a disappointment, but we feel that the time is not yet right to resume gathering en masse. The plan at the moment is to hold an outdoor worship service next Sunday, May 31st (Pentecost), and then evaluate what to do each week moving forward. Because this whole pandemic is unprecedented for us, so much is still unknown, and the situation is not static but constantly changing, it would be unwise to try to forecast too far into the future. But here are some things I can say with certainty:

• The life and ministry of EMC will continue. Hebrews 10:25 says, “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” We will continue to “gather” around the ministry of the word online, as well as in small groups in each other’s homes (Phase 2 lifts the stay at home order!). We will continue to remember that the church is not a building, but a people who are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ. Let us continue to live out life in the Body in whatever form that takes during this temporary time of being physically distant from one another.
• We have a comprehensive plan in place for easing back into corporate worship when the time is right. But be prepared for a prolonged season of “not normal.” It’s not as if suddenly we will all come back and resume like nothing has happened. We will have to ease back into gathering en masse in a way that takes into consideration the social distancing directives and recommendations of public health officials. Remember: We all bring different perspectives and convictions to this situation, so patience, forbearance, and humility–all out of self-giving love for one another–will be of the utmost importance in the weeks and months ahead. Worship services in person may be very different for some time, and the discomfort of change is something we all must prepare ourselves for.
• There will never be a time where there is zero risk in gathering together. If not COVID-19, it will be something else. We can’t just forsake meeting in person forever because of fear of some sort of illness. During a global pandemic, there is great wisdom in taking precautions and erring on the side of caution, but at some point we will have to determine that whatever risk we face is acceptable, at which point we will face that risk with equal parts boldness and vigilance. Again, I cannot say when that exact time is or what metrics will be required, only that we will prayerfully take each week as it comes and make our best, most informed decisions at that time.

I think this goes without saying, but I have not arrived at this decision lightly. I feel the great weight of making the right call. My request is that you continue to pray for the Lord’s wisdom and direction in all of this and that he would continue producing his unity among our fellowship.

I will give the Apostle Paul the final word in this update. Please join us Sunday online for worship at 10 am. Don’t let the weariness of looking at a screen cause you to forsake participation in the praise of God and the proclamation of his word. I will see you then.

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. (Colossians 3:14-17)

Greetings, EMC family! Our weekly update comes to you a little later than usual, but I trust it finds you safe and well.

I have begun to sense this week a growing fatigue with remote meeting. I get it. We were not made for quarantine, but for a corporate, incarnational fellowship of shared life and love. But we are still in the midst of a unique season of life that none of us saw coming, and we may still be facing a long recovery. So hang in there! Don’t despair! Don’t give in to angst and frustration, but rather (as we said in the beginning) “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5:7, NIV)

The Gospel Coalition has a great article out that encourages churches to not let the coronavirus divide us. I’ll let you read it on your own, but here are a few of the key points:

1. Model love that places the interests of others above the self. Everyone will bring different opinions, perspectives, and convictions to how to conduct church life moving forward. We must all do our best to avoid casting judgment on one another and to be willing to make sacrifices for each other.
2. We could all use a bit more humility. No one of us should assume we’ve arrived at the definitive answer on how to do all of this well. Let’s just acknowledge that not everything is obvious, and we are all just trying to do the best we can.
3. We should be careful not to rush things. We should be patient with a timeline that might be slower than we’d prefer; patient with a reopening process that will doubtless be clunky; patient with leaders feeling the pressure of this complex situation; and patient with one another as we figure out the new normal.

I think those are wise words–ones I myself will be trying very hard to follow and model in the weeks and months ahead.

The good news is that Pentecost is coming (May 31)! That will be a much welcomed reunion of sorts. The plan is still to have a worship service here at the church somehow someway. Stay tuned as we continue to monitor the Governor’s direction along with the weather forecast. We will let you know what the precise plans are as soon as possible.

In other news, we are doing our very best to plan and prepare for how we must adapt to the changing times. While we don’t know the future, we are convinced that livestreaming will remain a vital part of our worship and preaching life moving forward. Whether it’s to continue to reach families uncomfortable with returning to corporate gatherings for a while, or simply to expand our reach as a church to an increasingly technological world, the plan is to continue offering services online even after restrictions on mass gatherings are eased and/or lifted. Here are just a few of the things we are doing now to prepare for the future:

• Updating our broadcast capabilities to a more permanent, professional solution than the patchwork of equipment we cobbled together when all of this started
• Expanding the A/V team by recruiting new members. If you are interested, shoot me an email and let me know.
• Re-envisioning the worship platform. Right now all the instrumentalists are clustered to one side of the platform. We are exploring several adjustments to make better use of the space and to more beautify it for worship both in-person and online. This will involve things such as repositioning instrumentalists (both regular worship team and orchestra), recalibrating the lighting system, and creatively decorating the space so it’s not just a vast sea of dark empty chairs in the background. I’m excited to see what the many wonderfully gifted individuals with an eye for aesthetics at our church can do when given the opportunity to be creative. You should be too!

Please be in prayer for all of our church’s life moving forward, that we would follow the Lord’s leading and remain unified in our pursuit of him and his vision and mission for us. At the risk of sounding like a blind optimist, I believe our best days lie ahead, so long as we remain committed to our core identity while adapting to the times in order to reach the lost. Though much is uncertain, there is also much to be excited about.

Thanks for taking the time to read everything here. If you have any questions or insights of any kind, please feel free to share them with me. I am here for you, praying for you, and eager to be reunited with you face to face very soon!

In Him. With you.
Pastor Sean

Greetings, beloved EMC family and friends!

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last published one of these church life updates. Please forgive me. Last week I traveled to Ohio to preach my grandmother’s funeral. She passed away peacefully at the age of 94 and we buried her 14 years to the day of when my grandfather (her husband) passed away. I was honored to conduct the service and proclaim the hope of the good news of Jesus Christ to my family, which includes several who are unsaved with children who heard the gospel for perhaps the first time in their lives. It was a bittersweet visit, but I am grateful to have been able to see my family and make it there and back in one piece. Thank you for your many cards and expressions of sympathy and encouragement. My family and I feel so loved by you, and I hope you know how much you are loved in return.

There are several important updates for this week that I would like to share below. Please take a few minutes to read this message in its entirety:

• All group activities on campus have been cancelled or postponed for the month of May. We continue to monitor the directives from the White House and Governor’s office regarding the phased easing of restrictions, but for now it appears that the shelter-in-place order will continue at least through the end of the month.
• It may be many months before “normal” church will resume. Even when restrictions begin to be lifted, rules will still be in place to limit mass gatherings. There will be an even longer period of time where it may be unsafe for certain folks to congregate, while many others may simply wish not to. In fact, I foresee the next 12-18 months as a season where we need to offer church in a variety of formats. We are preparing for it all. Please prepare yourself for our new “normal” with the assurance that whatever happens EMC will continue to carry out our vision and mission in faithfulness to Jesus however possible.
• Bible study and prayer will be streamed live tomorrow night at 7pm on Facebook Live. Please join us for an hour of fellowship, study, and intercession.
• If you know anyone struggling financially, please invite them to EMC’s drive-thru family night supper this coming Monday, May 11, from 5-7pm, hosted by the EMC women’s committee. The meal is free for our church family and people we know who may be struggling, but voluntary donations to offset costs would be greatly appreciated. This event will be a great no-contact, low pressure way to reach out, share the love of Christ, and provide for families in need.
• This week is the final week that the Culpepper Inn will be providing breakfasts to make ends meet. Holly shared a post on their Facebook page a couple days ago expressing the dire situation they are facing right now, which I encourage you to read. This is a family from our own congregation who has given a lot to our church and community for many years, and they need our help.

  Sheri Dennis has shared with me an initiative to try to support the Audettes during this difficult season called the Culpepper Inn Challenge:

  Let’s come together to keep this Community-oriented Inn running! Keith Dennis and I are challenging ALL friends of Culpepper Inn (YOU) to join us in making a pledge to reserve a room once a month ($94 plus tax) at the Culpepper Inn through the summer (or to make whatever large or small donation you are able to make.) 80 Rooms a month are needed to be booked through September in order for the Inn to make it. Holly Audette and Michael Audette give tirelessly and selflessly to this community. We cannot standby and not help out in their time of need. Let’s be the hands and feet of Christ. May God bless and save the Inn!

  If you need more information on how you can help, please contact the church office. Let’s all pitch in however we are able to help this family weather this storm!

• Tithes, offerings, and giving toward the Building Fund, Faith Promise, etc. can be mailed to the church office or submitted online:
  • Mail: 820 Old Okisko Rd. Elizabeth City, NC 27909
  • Online: ecityemc.org/giving.php

I know that was a lot to read through, but thank you for taking the time to stay on top of the latest happenings here at EMC. We will continue navigating our uncertain future together with our eyes fixed on Jesus. We have nothing to fear and everything to be grateful for. Keep me posted with any needs you might have. I can’t wait to see you all again!

In Him. With you.
Pastor Sean

Greetings, EMC family!

I hope this beautiful Wednesday afternoon finds you all safe and well. Below are the latest things from our church life for your awareness:

• Bible study and prayer will be streamed live tonight at 7pm on Facebook Live. Please join us for an hour of fellowship, study, and intercession.
• Culpepper Inn has been posting pictures all week of first responders treated to breakfast by EMC. Check them out and be sure to Like them and show your support!
• Pastor Jeff is hosting a Friday Night Hymn Sing on May 1 at 7pm on Facebook Live. Gather your family and join him for an encouraging time of prayer, devotion, and lots of singing.
• May 3 is communion Sunday, so be sure to stop by and pick up your Fellowship Cups. If you cannot come by, let us know and we will bring them to you.
• Tithes, offerings , and giving toward the Building Fund, Faith Promise, etc. can be mailed to the church office or submitted online:
  • Mail: 820 Old Okisko Rd. Elizabeth City, NC 27909
  • Online: ecityemc.org/giving.php

I sure miss being together in person. Things just aren’t the same these days, and it’s hard. We still have no idea what the future holds with regard to getting past this pandemic and being able to return to work and corporate worship gatherings. With all this uncertainty, the words of Proverbs 3:5-6 ring extra true:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

Jesus never fails, beloved! Trust him!

In Him. With you.
Pastor Sean