Because we believe in the priority of assembling together for worship and ministry, with appropriate precautions CBC will have in-person services starting this Sunday, May 31st. We will have three services. Two morning services which will be the same service (same songs and sermon): one at 8:45 am and another at 11:00 am. We will have an evening service at 6:00 pm. We will use one room in each of the buildings. Building A will be in-person and Building B will have a live video stream.

Because the State of California has limited our assembling to no more than 100 attendees per building, we will do all we can to adhere to that requirement. As you will read below, we will also implement an even more rigorous cleaning protocol and ask our church family to lovingly and respectfully observe social distancing practices.

What we are going to try and do is have online sign-ups for our church services. We will notify the church family via text, email and social media of how to sign-up and when that process begins. We will also try and make as many phone calls to people that might have not have easy access to technology.

We will have to limit the number of sign-ups for each service and each building. We will then give first preference the next week to those that were unable to attend the week before.

As Phil shared in this Weekly Word video, this is something totally new for us so we appreciate your prayers and your patient understanding.
What happens if someone shows up to church that did not sign up?

So there are no surprises, we will ask you if you come and are not signed up: did you know that you needed to sign up? If you did know, we will graciously ask you to please watch the service on-line and we can help you sign-up for a future in-person service.

If the person did not know, our goal is to save a few spaces so we don’t have to turn anyone away that honestly did not know, especially if they are non-believers God is drawing to CBC to hear the gospel.

Anyone that wants to come, we welcome. We do ask that those who are in a greater health risk category seriously consider waiting to return to the in-person service.

If you are not able to come but would appreciate an elder reaching out to you so we can more personally minister to you, we hope you will give us this opportunity to do this by calling one of us or calling the church office as noted at the end of this document.

Just as Jesus did, we welcome children. But parents, please, please keep your children with you. They may be more challenged to maintain social distancing practices and potentially less likely to remember good hygiene practices. We want to lovingly come back together knowing that some may be more sensitive to these issues.

As we adjust to being back together again, we will wait to start any of the Children’s ministries, including the nursery. More information to come in regards to when we might resume.

Diaper changing areas. In Building A: the family bathroom and the nursing mom’s room. In Building B: the woman’s restroom.

If you need more assistance, please feel free to ask one of the elders or ushers who will be serving that Sunday.

The ushers will assist you in finding a place to sit in either Building A or Building B (depending on which one you signed-up for). Please remember they are serving as best they can, under the elders direction.

• We will have families sit together.
• We will leave space between family units.

We will inevitably need to pass by one another, but we will try to create a flow of traffic that facilitates people moving in, around and out of the church.
Please remember that we want to maintain 6 feet of distancing as you catch up and fellowship with one another.

Please do not hug or even shake hands at this time. We hope that we can soon return to those appropriate ways of expressing our love in Christ for another but now is now is not the time.

Also remember that we depend on you to leave in a timely manner so we can get the building and parking lot ready for those that come after you.

Yes, absolutely. We will live-stream the 11:00 AM service and the 6:00 PM services.

We understand that different churches will make different decisions. Just like any family might. We are praying that the Lord has led us to these specific decisions but we continue to ask for your prayers as we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and seek to do what He wants with CBC. The elders know that we will give an account to Christ, and we desire greatly to be found faithful.

We will also evaluate things each week to see what we can do differently the next week. Just as you experienced with the live-stream, we’ll continue to do what we can for your edification, maturity and growth in Him.

We read through various material and in particular, the position of the State and the County Health Department. We believe that they have been delegated authority over how we meet. The County has typically followed the guidelines recommended by the State. Until we are told otherwise, we plan on honoring these authorities so long as they do not ask us to violate the Word of God.

Additionally, we recognize that we are in the city of Vallejo. The City Council voted on Tuesday, May 26th to require face coverings inside buildings and included churches in this requirement. They acknowledged there could be mitigating health factors related to this requirement. Our goal is to submit Biblically to this, even as we work through this issue more thoroughly.

We also have the blessing of having a number of healthcare professionals in our church family, and although even here there are varying opinions, we have sought to wisely make decisions for our church family as best we can.

• We have been and will continue to clean and disinfect our property. This is nothing new and we hope you have already been blessed by the many who regularly serve in this area of ministry.
• We will be cleaning before every service, with particular emphasis on high traffic and high touch areas like the door handles, restrooms and counters.
• CBC will be doing all we can to adhere to the social distancing guidelines. We are considering how you come onto the property, how you fellowship before and after the service, where you sit during service, etc. Things are being rearranged if needed. We will wait to continue certain ministries so we can be as prepared as possible.

• As stated above, we understand the City of Vallejo has voted to require face coverings within public buildings in the city. Although there are some issues the elders need to more thoroughly pray about and work through, we are willing to submit to this requirement as unto the Lord and as a hopeful witness to our community.
• We ask that you seriously consider adhering to this newly ratified requirement. We understand that there are certain situations that prevent a person from wearing a face covering, and our goal is to be as lovingly flexible as possible.
• We will not be policing this issue, and look to this church body to exercise the various Biblical principles that we have been teaching, including not violating your own conscience before God and considering the needs of others.

Pray and be in the Word.

• Ask the Lord to give you wisdom about the individual decisions you have to make for yourself or your family. Be at peace with what you decide.
• Ask God to give you an undivided heart that wants to see Christ exalted. May we all be willing to decrease, so Christ might increase.
• Pray for your church family, especially those who are different than you and for your leaders.
• Prepare to show grace as we are learning ourselves. None of us has gone through this before. Remember many will be serving for the first time in this new environment. They do it unto the Lord and need your prayers

Thank you for your heart to think of others above yourself and prefer them in love (Philippians 2 and the Romans 15 passage above). Do all to exalt Christ.

• Come and worship Jesus. Enjoy the blessing of being back together, even in this more limited way.
• Pray for those serving including the preacher.
• Try to cover things in love if possible, knowing that there are a lot of different views and perspectives.
• Remember that an outward act does not necessarily mean an inward position of the heart.
  • For example, if someone is wearing a face covering, it does not necessarily mean they are fearful and not trusting God.
  • If someone is not wearing a face covering, it does not necessarily mean they are unloving and don’t care about you.
• Be attentive to the new signage and new directions for social distancing.
• Please honor the people serving you by following their direction.
  • Unless they are asking you to do something that violates Scripture or your personal conscience before God, please try to prefer others in how you respond.

• As before, apply what you have learned. Be an encouragement to others. All the things you would seek to do before this COVID 19 situation.
• Perhaps all the more, seek to cover all things in love and think the best of one another (1 Peter 4:8 and 1 Corinthians 13)
• But don’t let that stop you from talking to the right people.
  If you have a concern, please talk to one of your elders. We are here to serve you and faithfully shepherd this dear church family knowing that we will give an account one day to the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5).
• Help guard the unity of the church family that Jesus has purchased with His own blood. May we guard against anything that might cause division and do all we can to preserve the unity of Christ’s beloved bride.