Liberti Carrara,
I am truly in awe of how well we as a church have cared for one another and navigated these past eight weeks of Covid-19 gathering restrictions. Thank you for showing beauty in your love for one another. Thank you for treating one another as family. Thank you for caring well, giving sacrificially, and living generously. I count it one of the greatest privileges of my life to be one of your pastors and, feel the words of the Apostle Paul deeply when he writes, “For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:8). Below are several important updates for this coming week.
1. All-In Training Night. This week in the place of gathering as Gospel Communities, we are instead doing a training night around ‘Navigating Isolation-Fatigue’…something I know that many of us are feeling. We’ll be giving a church update, seeing each other’s faces, and covering topics like spiritual disciplines, rest, and endurance. During the training, we will break into Zoom rooms with our GC’s for discussion and prayer. I’m really looking forward to this time with you all! Here’s the details for Tuesday evening:
- Day: Tuesday, May 12th
- Time: 7:30pm – 8:30pm (ish)
- Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81071360487 (Meeting #: 81071360487)
2. New Series & Service Times. Beginning this Sunday, we will be starting a new sermon series in one of my favourite books of the Bible, Philippians. Over the next 11 weeks, we’re going to work through this little book one chunk of Scripture at a time, learning how we can live with joy in the face of every season of life we walk through.
We’ll also be taking a step toward normalizing our worship rhythms by having localized video streams for each of our Liberti churches. You can continue to access the video stream from our website by going to liberti.church/online and clicking “Carrara” (to be updated over the next few days), or by going directly to the same link we’ve all been gathering on at liberti.online.church/. Rather than three service times, we will combining our two morning services into one, with online service times of 9:30am and 5pm beginning this Sunday, May 17th.
3. Steps to Being Back Together. In light of the government rolling out their recent plan to ease back restrictions over the coming months, one of the more immediate gifts accessible to us will be the ability for Gospel Communities to begin gathering again in person, as people are comfortable in so doing. While practicing appropriate social distancing, as of this week we will be able to gather in small groups of 5 inside a home or 10 people outdoors. If all goes well over the next month, this will increase on June 12th to allowing groups of 20. During this time, we are planning to start several new GC’s so we can have a greater spread of smaller GC gatherings across our city. If you are currently not a part of a Gospel Community, please message or email us (carrara@liberti.church) so we can help you get connected with others in our church!
Another way we can take a step back toward a biblical rhythm of worship, is starting to gather with other Christians from our church each Sunday during the 9:30am or 5pm service times, rather than just you with a screen. So long as you’re not unwell or at high risk, why don’t you consider inviting another family or a handful of people over this Sunday to worship together? Yes, it may mean having to worship once again without your pyjamas on or putting on pants, but we want take little steps toward gathering as Christians are called to: with one another.
Or, just turn up at your friends place in your pyjamas, because you’re totally secure and free in Christ. 😉
Love you all and can’t wait to see you Tuesday evening for some training, discussion, Q&A, and prayer.
With the love of Christ,
Pastor Adam Ramsey, on behalf of the Liberti Carrara team.
