11th Street Baptist Church Family,
Although we are not able to meet for the foreseeable future due to the spread of the Coronavirus, we are still called to be the church. It is the goal of the leaders at 11th Street Baptist Church to equip you with the resources you need to enjoy God and to enrich his reputation during this difficult season. We will be recording our sermon and posting it to our website – 11thstreetbaptist.org. Several other helpful resources will continue to be shared with you via email, social media, and on our website. During this time, we want to continue to encourage interaction between church leaders and church members, church members to other church members, and church members to the community around us while upholding the state’s requirements for social distancing and stay at home measures.
While this will require change in how we do things, our mission has not changed, our God has not changed, and our need for one another has not changed. Here is what we want to see happen:
Church Leader to Church Member Interaction
Connection: Your church leadership has already developed a plan to keep in contact with you through strategic calling, texting, emailing, and however else we can get ahold of you! Our goal is to connect with you once a week.
Services: We will be posting our weekly service every Friday on our Watch & Join Weekly Service page so you can access it at your convenience. We know that the worldwide web can be difficult to access for many. Therefore, we will be snail mailing some of our members the sermon manuscript each week. If you prefer to receive the sermon manuscript, please contact Pastor Anthony. You will also receive a study question or group of questions that correspond with the sermon so that you can discuss with others (see below information about having community while apart).
Wednesday Prayer and Sunday Night Bible Study: We have already had our very first virtual prayer night on Wednesday, and it was amazing! We plan to continue meeting via Zoom (a simple, video conferencing software) every Wednesday and Sunday night for those purposes. Learn more on our service times page.
Church Member to Church Member Interaction
The community we enjoy in the church includes interaction with church leaders, but it also includes interaction with other members. Therefore, we want to encourage you strongly to get a “church buddy” or a group of “church buddies.” These buddies should be people that you call a few times a week for encouragement and discussion. The discussion question or questions that we will include with the weekly service is meant to be discussed with your “buddy.” Whether you have this discussion on Sunday or on a different day, it is up to you. However, please do not neglect the church member to church member interaction that is so vital to our walk with the Lord. We all need one another, and we want to enrich our conversation together with gospel-centered content. Be vigilant to connect with one another regularly and in meaningful ways.
Church Member to Community Interaction
Our government is restricting gathering and this is good for us and our community. We want to protect those most vulnerable among us. However, Coronavirus does not stop the mission of God. The church still gets the privilege of spreading God’s fame among the nations. Here’s how you can do this now:
- Prayer – Pray for your lost friends, neighbors, and family members. Pray for your church and the global church. Pray that the church would be strong during this difficult season.
- Share the Gospel – Now is the time for you to share that Jesus died for our sins, and we have stability in our relationship with him and can trust him. People are more willing to listen than ever before. Share the gospel!!
- Write Letters – Your church leaders can only do so much. Writing letters to your church family and to the lost you know would be a great way to care for our church and community.
- Phone Calls – The lost are experiencing realities that they typically do not experience now. They are realizing more deeply that they do not know the future and that their life is fragile. Please take advantage of this time by calling your lost friends and sharing the gospel with them.
- Creative Ideas – Your church family is thinking creatively about how to care for the community. Please be open to help us with these efforts.
- Give – Although this is an uncertain time economically, we serve the God who owns all money and controls coronavirus. Generosity to the lost and to the mission of the church will equip us to reach more people with the gospel during a time when people need to hear the good news. While the finance committee finalizes remote giving plans, a good way to give is by mailing a check to the church office.
11th Street Baptist Church
Attn: Marisa Dillon
990 W. 11th Street
Upland, CA. 91786
This is a difficult season, but we will come out of it stronger because God is going to shape us through this season to love him more deeply and enjoy him more fully.
Blessings,
Pastor Anthony