Dear FPCNC Family,
As a community, a nation, and as a world, we continue to be mightily challenged by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
After moving to virtual worship in the spring, FPCNC began planning a return to in-person outdoor worship in September and resumed in-sanctuary worship in October.
Unfortunately, in that same time frame, weekly new COVID cases in New Canaan have increased 1,000% since September and 500% since October, spiking most recently at 53 in the week ending November 14. As of last week, there were 400 plus High School students put on quarantine in New Canaan.
Add to that the fact that we are just entering the holiday season. When students return home from school, and families and friends gather in indoor celebration against a backdrop of unevenly executed masking, social distancing, and handwashing, we find ourselves in an environment of significant COVID transmission risk.
Accordingly, as your FPCNC worship leader, with the agreement of the Session and staff, and with the advisement of the Presbytery of Southern New England, I do not feel comfortable that we can provide a sufficiently safe in-person worship environment for our congregation. For that reason, we returned to LocalLive stream “virtual-only” worship format on Sunday, November 22.
We have come to this decision regretfully, only after a tremendous amount of reflection, discussion, collaboration, and prayer. We are acting out of an abundance of caution in the best interests of all of our members.
We will continue to monitor the situation and will look forward to welcoming you back to in-person worship and other activities as soon as safety permits. Thank you for your understanding. Grace and peace to you.
In Christ,
The Rev. Dr. Scott Herr
Pastor, FPCNC
