COVID19 Resources

COLUMBUS MENNONITE CHURCH: COVID-19 RESPONSE

CMC is providing hybrid worship

  • Zoom for those at home. Contact the church office for the Zoom link.
  • In-person at 50% capacity. Contact the church office for sign up information.

What are we doing to keep each other safe?

Zoom worship

  • Begins at 9:30.   There may be a prelude starting at 9:20, but due to copyright restrictions it isn’t always possible to provide a prelude.
  • Order of worship is sent out by email on Thursdays and provided on Sunday morning via a link in the chat.
  • Hymns are from Voices Together! If you don’t already have a copy, you can order from Menno Media.
  • Participants will be muted except for sharing of joys and concerns, passing of the peace and announcements following the service. When you unmute yourself for these please remember to re-mute when done. The worship leader will provide directions.
  • Visitors are welcome on Zoom services. A link will be provided in the chat during the offering so that we can get to know you a bit.
  • Offering   A link will be provided in the chat.

In-person

  • Visitors are welcome at in-person services. Please be assured of our vaccination rate. We have surveyed our members and believe our vaccination rate is over 97% percent for adults. Of course, our children under twelve are not vaccinated and are also welcome to attend. For everyone’s safety we will be masked in the church.
  • Self-screening We ask that everyone, member or visitor, self-screen for signs of illness. Before you come to church screen your household: any fever? any loss of  smell or taste? any close exposure to active Covid? any illness? If anyone in your household is ill, we ask that you stay home that Sunday. Remember, Zoom is available.
  • Singing One of our most valued expressions in worship is singing. In fact, in April of 2021, the consensus was that if we couldn’t sing together, we would just stay on Zoom for the time being. Now that we began gathering again in August of 2021, we are singing together. This is another reason why masking is so important; singing is regarded by some authorities as an unsafe practice. We have decided together to take this risk when we gather and for those who believe it is not safe for them to provide access to worship through Zoom.
  • Social distancing Because we are singing and because we are not screening for vaccination, we are social distancing. Each household or social pod is encouraged    to sit together and place themselves six feet away from the next pod. Every other row is closed so that a six foot circle of open space can be maintained around each pod. You may notice that the usher might seat people in a closed row if the usher can determine that a 6-foot perimeter can be maintained around that pod.
  • Contact tracing The city of Columbus has asked us to assist them to do contact tracing if we find that we have a case a Covid after meeting together. We have contact information for regular attenders of CMC, so we will be asking all visitors to give us reliable contact information so that we could reach them if we suspect that they have been exposed.

Use of building

If you want to host an event at the church, you need to call the office to schedule it. The office will use guidelines established by the Pandemic Response Team to determine if your request can be accommodated. These guidelines change as the infection rate and public restrictions change.

Resources for Covid in Homes 

Since the Delta variant is causing widespread infections, we are providing some resources to keep on hand if it comes to your household. Of course, your first call should be to your primary care physician but having these resources in print may help you follow the directions that you get from your physician’s office.

Covid tests

More of us will likely need to be tested. If you can’t find Covid testing, this link may be helpful.

Testing and Community Health Centers | COVID-19 (ohio.gov)

Contact Tracing

If you come down with Covid shortly after attending a service or activity at the church, please contact the church office so that we can do contact tracing. We will ask you about your privacy and if you want the information we share with others to be anonymous. We will also want to know if there are any ways that the congregation can support your household during your days of confinement.