Updated March 23
All activities at the Northlake building are cancelled through at least April 6, as Governor Kemp has announced that all gatherings of over 10 people are prohibited until then. We will continue to update the congregation as new information becomes available.
Original March 13 Statement
After consultation with many of Northlake’s health care professionals, the elders decided to cancel all services at the Northlake building this Sunday and Wednesday. This is a difficult decision and will be reconsidered week-by-week.
We turn to the Lord and to our church family in times like these especially. We all share a great desire to gather together. Our worship orients us to the source of life and purpose. Our gatherings give us encouragement and strength.
We also know we each have an obligation to care for the spiritual and the physical well being of each person in our church family, and our neighbors as well. We want to act responsibly, and not out of fear.
Look for updates via email and social media on the status of our activities, including worship. Hopefully this will not last long. Please let us know if you get sick. Let us know if you can’t get out to get items you need, or if you have neighbors in need.
We are exploring opportunities to share messages, sermons, prayers, music through either digital media, or through livestreaming (watching worship through a computer in real time)… something we intend to continue when we gather again.
There are things to be concerned about in this health crisis. We want to be prepared, but there is no need to panic. There are also signs of hope, and opportunity.
Northlake is blessed with a large number of health care professionals. Let’s be praying for them, let’s pray for our country and our world.
Let’s pray for those who get sick, let’s pray for those experiencing financial and emotional strain from which it may take years to recover. There will be even greater physical, financial and spiritual needs all around us … in our neighbors and co-workers, in our communities. How can we help? The Church in seeking to love God with all its heart is filled with the Spirit to love and serve our neighbors. How can we be God’s hands, God’s feet – maybe God’s grocery delivery person! … to those in need?
We know the Church is not a place, and the Church is not a program. We are a people. What are the people of God to do in these times? Perhaps we will find, as Christians through the centuries have found, that in the most difficult times we learned to follow Christ more completely.
In Christ,
Ike
