Coram Deo Church,

The past couple of months have been difficult and we know that many of you are hurting. We are all grieved by the effects that the Coronavirus has had upon our world, state, community, and our own church family. As elders, we have been wrestling through the implications that these effects have had and continue to have upon us, particularly as we ask the question that has been on everyone’s minds: “when will we decide to gather together again for worship?”

Today, as many of you likely saw, President Trump made a public statement declaring that churches and faith communities ought to be considered as essential to our individual communities and the very fabric of American society. He admonished the governors of the United States to follow suit regarding us as such, and in doing so, honor the rights of worship and assembly that are endowed upon us by God and protected by the first amendment of our constitution. We couldn’t agree more.

As your elders, we bear the primary burden before God to love and care for you. And at the end of the day, God has called us to make decisions on behalf of Coram Deo Church for how we will worship. Neither President Trump nor Governor Inslee will stand before the LORD to give an account for you. We take that responsibility very seriously. 

We have decided we will not be opening our building this Sunday, but we will continue working on our plan for doing so safely and hope to move forward with it soon. 

Until then, we invite you to continue to join us on Facebook Live for worship at 10 am this Sunday, or at one of our Drive-In Services at 8:30 or 11:30 in our parking lot. (Because our parking lot is small and we ask that you RSVP at coramdeochurch.org/drive-in if you’re planning on attending either drive-in service. The government doesn’t require this of us and the church staff are the only ones who will have access to your information.)

Additionally, we know many of you have questions about what living as faithful Christians ought to look like right now. We invite you to send us those questions and we will spend some time this Thursday evening at 6:30 pm answering them on Facebook Live. You can send your questions to us through slido.com using the event code #coramquestions.

We love you and are so thankful for each one of you. We are praying for you and we ask that you continue to lift us up in prayer for wisdom and discernment as we navigate the days ahead.

The Elders of Coram Deo Church