Church Reopening Plan
The Ottawa East SDA Church reopening plan outlines how the church will facilitate a return to in-person worship services that is safe, accessible, and mitigates risk.
Resumption of in-person Divine worship in the sanctuary. For their safety, only persons between the ages of 7 - 65 years will be allowed to enter the building.
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A maximum building capacity of 48 persons will be instituted. This includes volunteers for the AV team, ushers & greeters, deacons & deaconesses, and worship patrons.
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There will be no Deacon Collection of the offering. Persons will be encouraged to give their offerings into the offering box located at the entrance of the sanctuary. Offering reading and prayer will still occur.
PHASE
1
PHASE
1
This phase will be enhanced with the addition of the following policies...
The maximum building occupancy will be increased to 55 persons through the use of the fellowship hall to seat additional persons. The age restriction will be dropped, meaning persons of any age can register for church.
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The church will start to reserve an additional 5 spots for visitors who may show up to the church but haven’t previously registered. Church members who do not register cannot take these visitor spots, should they ever be unused. A visitor is defined as someone who not a member of our church congregation.
ENCHANCED
PHASE
2
Everything outlined in Phase One, plus...​
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The maximum building occupancy will only be increased again if provincial regulations or Ontario Conference directives.
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The adult and children's Sabbath Schools will start conducting in-person & hybrid classes on a rotating basis.
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Departments will be allowed to use the church for ministry events. Board approval & a COVID-19 Safety Plan are required for events.
PHASE
3
Everything outlined in Phases One & Two, plus...​
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The maximum building occupancy will only be increased again if provincial regulations or Ontario Conference directives. The age restrictions will be suspended
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AY Programs will be reintroduced & hosted monthly. Program frequency will increase as the AY department builds capacity. Persons attending Bible Class will be required to register for the class.
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In-person Prayer Meetings will be reintroduced and will occur on a weekly schedule. Pre-registration will be required. Services will be live-streamed and also have Zoom connections for parishioners who wish to share testimony, but are not in the building.
PHASE
4
A full return to pre-pandemic church ministry. This phase will be activated once provincial guidelines or Ontario Conference directives inform and/or direct that churches may resume unrestricted full building capacity worship. This means that COVID-19 Safety Plans, registration, screening, temperature checks, age restrictions, non-fire code seating capacities, COVID-19 specific cleaning & sanitization protocols, physical distancing & mask mandates will come to a conclusion and be faded out of the church’s operational practices and policies.