North Guilford News

Oak Ridge Presbyterian Church recently issued the following announcement.

Deciding how to proceed with worship and church activities is difficult. The decisions made by the session and staff with guidance from the COVID Taskforce are made out of love considering the health and safety of the entire church and not just a few. We seek to balance the benefits of meeting in-person with all the realities of Covid-19 transmission.

Thank you to everyone who took our survey several weeks ago. Your responses have informed our planning, even as we follow the regulations put out by Governor Roy Cooper with the extension of "Safer at Home Phase 2 through September 11. 

Below you will find results from the survey.

Survey Respondents: 84

Rate Your Comfort Level with Technology

Weighted Average: 5.49 

Note: The higher the weighted average, the more comfortable they are with technology.

Are you or is anyone in your family at a higher risk for COVID-19 due to age or underlying health conditions?

When public health conditions allow a safe return, what activities at ORPC are most important for you to attend in person?

Note: The lower the weighted average, the higher the importance of an item.

Choose the option that best describes your feelings of safety related to returning to in-person church event:

Please rate these operational changes for their importance to your sense of safety at an in-person church event:

Note: The lower the weighted average, the higher the importance of an item.

SURVEY COMMENTS

I think you have done an excellent job. In some ways, it has been a great way for me to get back involved with ORPC after a long absence due to life changes. . thank you. 

I have enjoyed the Facebook live offering. It’s been good to stay connected as best we can. I also appreciated supporting local musicians during the process. ORPC did a lot with a very little additional spend.

ORPC did an incredible job pivoting. I’ve really enjoyed the services and meetings I’ve attended online. The possibilities are endless and I’d like to see virtual services continued. We have loved them and are grateful to have them available. Thanks for stretching us to do something new. I would like to see them continue in some form; it may be helpful for those who can’t attend in person for various reasons.

I’m over watching church online. I think the staff has done a remarkable job, but it’s time to get our lives back and get back to worship together in community.

Nope...I just want to feel safe when we do re-open the church building...The Facebook streaming services are really good and make me feel as if I’m actually in the building. Those services are keeping me connected...

It’s time. Let’s get back together. Enough is known at this time to allow individuals to re-enter according to their own risk category. We should take steps to re-open the doors as safely as we can and resume worship as an essential service. I go to grocery stores, Home Depot, Costco, restaurants, etc. I’m certainly willing to go back to church. 

I miss everyone, but want all of us to be safe. I love our church. I am 70 years old. While I would like to see things return to normal, but have accepted that it could easily be a year before I am able to physically return.

Can keep clusters of chairs for families to stay within 6 ft of each other, then have clusters set 6 ft apart. I think masks would be more valuable than hand sanitation. I also think I would feel safe if the numbers start declining (even without a vaccine). But, it’s trending in the wrong direction. It’s a delicate balance between the flippant and the fearful.

Don’t be in a rush to open. Would rather have everyone safe instead of anyone getting vivid. We may want to think about doing same precautions every winter during flu season.

It might be good to continue holding the virtual service but open up the church as well and let members choose which one they are comfortable attending.

I see no rush to resume in-person worship with the significant rise in cases we are seeing in NC and my family will not attend until we feel it is safe to do so.

Original source can be found here.