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Coronavirus Update

How Valley Church is Responding

Update: Saturday, March 14 at 10:30 pm

In-person worship gatherings on Sunday, March 15 are suspended. Join us for online worship at 9:30 am!

INFORMATION ON MARCH 15 WORSHIP GATHERINGS

Within about the last hour, Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Department of Public Health recommended that groups larger than 250 people temporarily not meet due to community spread of the Coronavirus in Iowa.
We want to respect the governmental authorities’ recommendation. For that reason, we encourage all Valley Church attenders to join us online tomorrow at 9:30 am. Join us on Facebook or directly on our live stream link.
However, due to the lateness of the press conference notice, for this Sunday only, we will still hold all services for those who do not receive this notice in time and drive to the church campus. We do not anticipate that any of our worship gatherings will exceed the 250 limit. This approach allows us to respect both the Iowa Department of Public Health’s recommendation, but also not turn away any who may not receive this notice.
We will inform you early next week of our plans for the weekend of March 21-22 and beyond.
Thank you for your grace and patience in understanding the difficulty of managing this communication and the logistics at this late hour.
Let’s keep praying for God’s wisdom and abundant love in all things. And for his supernatural intervention and mercy in this Coronavirus outbreak. We love you guys! God is in control!

NOTE FROM PASTOR QUINTIN

Dear brothers and sisters,

Thank you for your comments and concerns about the coronavirus and for your kindness and flexibility with the ways that we are adapting temporarily at Valley Church. I want to share some thoughts and updates with you. (And make sure to watch the video above.)

We are monitoring the situation closely and prayerfully taking precautions to keep our congregation safe, but above all, we are trusting in our loving God and resting in his capable hands. The spirit among our staff is one of calm and of confidence in God’s control.

The situation is concerning, but concern is not the same as fear. We don’t want to be reactionary, nor do we want to be careless. We simply want to be alert and do all we can to create a safe place for us to gather for worship. Taking precautionary measures is an act of love for our church family and community.

I have observed two things out of this situation:

  • We all have different comfort levels about sickness: some people are very conscientious about not spreading germs and others never give it a second thought. We tend to think that our way is probably the right way. It’s a challenge as a leader to raise some people’s awareness and at the same time alleviate others’ fears.
  • We all have various levels of knowledge regarding this virus. Some of us have been following reports on it intensely for a month or more while others of us are just now becoming aware of it, and may even think there is a lot of hype. We are all at different stages.

The art of leadership is guiding thousands of people with different attitudes and different information into the same direction. My heart is that we would all aim for practical love and prayerfulness for our community and world.

Further, this is a time to lean into the word trust. Our trust has always been in Jesus, but over time our tendency can be to misplace our trust in people, government, doctors, the economy, or elsewhere. In times like these our actual trust in Jesus can look pretty puny. Let’s do our best to stay healthy and safe, but let’s rise up and put our full trust in Jesus and do what we’ve always been called to do. It’s a wonderful time to share the gospel and the hope we have in Christ.

Let your light shine,

Pastor Quintin

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

The health and safety of our congregation are a top priority and doing our part with preventative measures can lessen the impact of this virus. We are making the following adjustments to our weekend services:
OFFERING
We recommend that you give your tithes and offerings online or text to give (text the word GIVE to (515) 207-6404). We will not pass offering bags during the service but will have offering boxes at the exit doors at each worship venue.
COMMUNION
On communion weekends, we plan to provide pre-packaged, individually wrapped communion elements.
GREETING
We are avoiding handshakes and hugs and instead greeting each other with an elbow bump or simply a wave.
CLEANING
We have increased our cleaning and disinfecting measures for door handles, hard surfaces, classrooms, and drinking fountains before each service and we are adding more hand sanitizer stations.
WATCH ONLINE
If you are not feeling well, we encourage you to join us digitally for weekend services. We livestream our entire Sunday morning 9:30 worship gathering each week or watch an archived message from a past weekend you may have missed.
RECOMMENDED PRACTICES
We encourage everyone to help prevent spreading the virus by following these CDC recommended hygiene practices:
  • Please stay home when you are sick (7 days minimum is recommended).
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.