Coronavirus Update

River of Life Church Family,

We hope and pray that you are actively engaging in celebrating our Savior's birth and all that it means to us and our world! No matter what we go through in this life, His purposes and plans will prevail. The truth of the Gospel grounds us on His firm foundation when we experience trials. We can actually rejoice in our trials knowing that God is working them together for good in our lives. Our God is amazing!

With the recent spike in Covid cases in Mason, we are taking additional precautions for the sake of the most vulnerable in our community. We are essentially cancelling all church related functions through December except for our Sunday morning worship services and our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. The gym allows us to spread out in a way that facilitates meeting without having to be in close quarters with those who may be vulnerable.

So once again, we are continuing our Sunday morning services each week and will also still hold our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. River Kids Sunday School will continue to meet on Sunday mornings, and David Davidson’s Sunday School class will continue to meet as well. But most other church related activities will be cancelled through the end of December.

We will continue to livestream our Sunday morning services via Facebook and will livestream the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service as well. Please utilize the livestream from home if you have any symptoms or concerns for your health.

In general, Ministry leaders will communicate details to the participants in those ministries with respect to their schedules going forward. The following ministries will not meet through the end of December: Kingdom Kids (mothers’ day out), True Connection Student Ministry, and Men's Breakfast and Bible Study.

Our office is closed this week (12/7-12/11) to ensure that the office staff remain free of Covid. If you need anything from the office, please call Catherine at 325-805-1062.

Life groups will continue to meet and serve as they feel led to do so.

As a church family, our overall response to Covid has been an attempt to guide the congregation to trust in God's sovereignty and utilize wisdom in our plans. As with many situations in the Christian life, there are varied perspectives on what is the best path forward at any given time. As we have discussed previously on Sunday mornings, in quoting Rupertus Meldenius (c. 1627), we strive to have unity in the essentials, liberty in the non-essentials, and charity (love) in all things. Even in this, there are varying opinions on what is considered essential or non-essential in various situations. The one part of that statement that we must agree on aligns squarely with 1 Corinthians 13 - that we are to show love in all things.

We encourage everyone to be vigilant in considering others as we exercise our freedom in Christ. (Key passages on this are Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10). We encourage wearing masks and distancing socially when entering and leaving the church buildings or when engaging in conversation with one another during our worship services in the gym. Please utilize the hand sanitizer placed throughout our buildings.

We also remind everyone to resist the temptation to judge (condemn) one another for how they approach their application of these principles (Matthew 7). We may never agree on every detail in the Christian life; but we are called to walk in unity regardless of these potential differences (John 17). The enemy will use anything he can to divide Christ's family. Unity profoundly and uniquely glorifies the Lord!

God's grace is bigger than all of this. Let's be full of faith, wisdom, and grace as we move forward. We will update you further on these matters as we get closer to the turn of the year. Please continue to utilize our website, weekly email updates and Facebook for further information and encouragement. Our hope is in the Lord!

Blessings in Christ,

Dave Benefield

We want to strongly encourage everyone coming to our Sunday morning worship service to consider wearing a mask and to be careful to follow social distancing guidelines in an effort to mitigate risk for our congregation.

We know this is an inconvenience, but we believe it is a small price to pay in an effort to protect each person's and our community's well-being.

We encourage you to bring your own mask, but if you do not have one, we will have masks available. 

Let's keep trusting the Lord and rejoicing through each of these difficulties. He is faithful, and we want to be faithful in our responses in each season. Let's not let inconveniences get in the way of our worship!

One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much… Luke 16:10 Pastor Dave

River of Life's Children's Ministry is in action each Sunday as of June 28th in the main building. Please enter through the back door of the main building and sign in your children at their classrooms. We will be adding several precautions to each classroom. If you have any questions or concerns contact Natalie Hudson 347 7044.

Church worship services will be held in the ROL Gymnasium until further notice. The gym provides ample space for social distancing, and chairs will be spaced in respect of CDC guidelines.  

• Worship Service in the Gym Sundays @ 10:30am & Facebook Live-stream
• We will continue to live-stream the service on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/River-of-Life-Church-210903672277864

Entrance

• Enter through the double doors in the gym.
• For those with health concerns that would like to attend, there will be separate seating at the back of the gym. Enter through the doors by the playground.

Health & Social Distancing

• If you are sick in any way, please stay and worship from home.
• Hand sanitizer will be readily available; please use some when entering and when leaving the building.
• Masks and gloves will be available for those who would like to wear them. Masks are not required but encouraged.
• Respect distance with people and be considerate of their needs and preferences.
• Hugs and Handshakes only with people you know are OK with closer contact.
• The gym and chairs have been sanitized according to CDC guidelines.

Seating & Dismissal

• Ushers will seat people, placing families together and dismissing by rows following the service.

               Communion

• We will have prepackaged communion on your seat along with a hand sanitizer packet.

               Fellowship

• We will not be serving any refreshments but hope to resume as soon as possible.

Bulletin & Announcements

• Paper bulletins and Connection Cards will be available at the Connection Centers at each entry to the gym.
• Download the Faithlife Bible Study app to follow the announcements during the service: https://faithlife.com/apps

River of Life Family and Friends,

With the continuous news around coronavirus (COVID-19), we want to share a few key comments for our church family and guests.

We are implementing guidance given by President Trump, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), of our Governor and our Mason County officials to create the safest and wisest plan for our worship services and meetings. As of May 15th, we have still cancelled all public meetings except for virtual meetings or meetings of 10 or less persons. (See information on livestreaming of worship services below.) We will be looking at this week by week and keep you informed. (See White House Coronavirus Guidance and guidance from Governor Abbott.)

Mason has encountered its first cases of COVID-19, and like the rest of the world, we are concerned for the health and safety of the entire community. Please pray for those who are sick and for those at risk in our community, prayer is our #1 weapon in any situation. Pray also for our first responders, as they put their lives on the line daily for us all.

We are planning on re-opening partially on Sunday June 7th.  We will all meet in the gym where there can be adequate space between people according to each person's needs and desires. We will post further guidance here this week.

Online Giving is now available on our home page and at this link:  Give Online

River of Life Church
P.O. Box 1477
Mason, TX 76856

For information on donations to local relief efforts related to COVID-19, see our Disaster Relief page.

I also encourage you to consider what the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian church from prison in chapter 1: 

“12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.”

Every situation is under the sovereign care of our Heavenly Father. As we work with diligence to faithfully apply wisdom to every situation, we must remember that God is seeking the glory of His Son so that all people might come to know Him. Every situation is an opportunity to tell others about the good news about Jesus. And as Paul said, we will see that “what has happened to me has actually served to advance the Gospel...” so that we might “... dare all the more to proclaim the Gospel without fear.”

With that in mind, look for creative opportunities to serve others in wise, practical ways during this season. Ask the Lord for who and how you might be a blessing to someone even by phone, text or Facetime. As you are able, meet in small groups for encouragement and prayer. And especially, spend time with your families! Reclaim time that has been lost to busyness and overly hectic schedules. Have dinner together - long dinners! Talk about what you are reading in the scriptures with your families. Memorize our Fighter Verse Scriptures together (including the age appropriate ones for younger children.) 

Go over the children's ministry curriculum that is distributed via email. (If you would like to be added to that list, please call the church at 325-347-9497).

Finally, we encourage everyone to approach the situation as any other serious issue, with prayer, wisdom and faith. Jesus is still Lord, and the Holy Spirit is here to comfort us and guide us. Let's serve those hurting in our church and community. Rely on your church family for encouragement. Enjoy your freedom in Christ to not be anxious but to give thanks and rejoice. Only Jesus provides a reality that good! Use this as an opportunity to communicate the good news about Jesus all the more.

Blessings in Christ,

Dave Benefield and the ROL Elders