General Worship Information- revised 4.8.2021
What are the worship times and location?
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- NAPC holds two worship services. Traditional Worship at 8:45AM and Acoustic Worship at 11:00AM. Both are held in the New Albany Middle School cafeteria building.
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What should I consider when planning on attending worship?
With continued cases in and around New Albany and our need to consistently protect the health, safety, and welfare of our community. Before you join us for worship on Sunday, please be sure to:
- 1. Take personal temperature. Your temperature cannot exceed 100 degrees without medication for 24 hours.
- 2. Verify that you are not displaying other COVID-19 symptoms:
- – Persistent new cough
- – New loss of taste or smell
- – Sore throat
- – Runny nose
- 3. Verify that they have not been in close contact or exposed to anyone with or symptomatic of COVID-19.
- 4. Verify that they have not been in contact with a person confirmed with Influenza A or B or exhibiting flu-like symptoms.
If you are experiencing any symptoms listed above, kindly join us via Live Stream at either worship service.
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- Where do I enter and exit the Worship Center?
- The Worship Center has one designated entrance and multiple designated exits in an effort to reduce cross-traffic and hallway congestion. You will enter the cafeteria building at the front, nearest the main parking lot. This will be well marked. You may instead elect to park in the back tennis court lot, which includes designated handicapped parking. If you do, please come through the gate and along the side of the cafeteria building adjacent to the playground, which will take you to the entrance. Multiple exits are available after the worship service, taking you out that same side of the building toward the playground.
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Are there ushers to greet and assist me?
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- Upon entering the Welcome Center, you will be greeted by an usher. Nearby you will find a table with hand sanitizer and masks. From there, the usher will direct you toward the Worship Center. When choosing seats in worship, we ask that you please leave two empty chairs between you and any persons from another household who are seated in that same row.
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How do I get a copy of the bulletin and a hymnal?
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- Yes! Each Saturday, a “Prepare for Worship” email will be sent to the congregation. It contains news and notes for worship the following day as well as directions to our website where you can download a PDF of the weekly bulletin and the Traditional worship hymn sheet. Hardcopy bulletins will be distributed by ushers in the Welcome Center, and the rolling cart will be nearby from which you may take a hymnal for Traditional Worship.
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- What sanitization procedures are in place to ensure everything is clean for Sunday morning?
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- NAPC is blessed by our relationship with the school custodial staff. As part of our rental fee for each week, school custodians sanitize all hard surfaces prior to arrival. Hand sanitizer pumps are also available throughout each building for your use.
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How is seating arranged in the Worship Center?
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- The custodial staff has left ample spacing between each row. The chairs are next to one another, so we ask that you please leave two empty chairs between you and any persons from another household who are seated in that same row.
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Can I move the chairs around to suit our family?
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- Please do not do this. If you have too many people in your household to fit in the remaining seats in a row, please move to another row. If you need a chair moved for handicapped access, please just ask an usher for assistance.
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What if we run out of seats in the Worship Center?
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- With two worship services, our hope is that all who wish to attend worship each Sunday may have space to do so. To help with that, we will have an overflow seating section in the other cafeteria on the other side of the Worship Center. Each worship service will be live-streamed to this additional seating area.
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Are masks required during worship?
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- You knew these questions and answers were coming. 🙂 The current Ohio Department of Health Order requires the wearing of face coverings (masks) in all indoor public spaces throughout the state, subject to certain stated exceptions. NAPC expects and requires that everyone wear a mask when entering, exiting and walking around inside either of the buildings, and masks will be available for those who need one. For those participating in the worship service, however, NAPC encourages but will not require the wearing of masks. NAPC will not function as an enforcement arm of the government, respecting matters of Christian conscience that may lead someone to remove their mask as freely they worship the Lord. For more information on the theological reasons behind this policy, check out the NAPC Pastor’s Blog here.
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What if I want those around me to wear a mask during worship?
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- NAPC requires all persons in the overflow seating area in the other cafeteria to wear a mask for the entire duration of the worship service. Our hope is that this will provide a comfortable environment to worship for those who only want to be near others who are also wearing masks. For this reason, anyone may choose to worship in that space even if the main worship area has not yet reached capacity.
- Is the offering taken and Communion celebrated?For the offering, we do not pass plates, but instead have offering boxes near the front of the Worship Center where you can leave your tithes and offerings. We also encourage you to give electronically, which you can do by visiting the “Give” page on our website here. For Communion, we celebrate this sacrament on the first Sunday of every month, but we have replaced served elements with individually pre-packaged elements that you will receive when you arrive at the Worship Center.
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Volunteer Information
Will I have to wear a mask as a volunteer?
Yes. As part of agreeing to volunteer at NAPC, you have agreed to wear a mask while carrying out your volunteer duties. This applies to all volunteers of all kinds, whether for setup and tear down, greeters/ushers, children’s ministry or otherwise. There are only two exceptions to this requirement:
–If your volunteer duties take place outside and you are able to maintain social distance, or
–If you are a teacher in children’s ministry, you may remove your mask to address the entire class but must maintain social distance while doing so.
Apart from my volunteer duties, what rules must I follow?
When not carrying out your volunteer duties, you are the same as any other worship participant. Please see the above information for everything you need to know.
Have questions about Children’s Ministry changes? You can click here!
