Covid 19 Update
Clayton Christian Church
Thursday April 1, 2021
Good Day CCC Family and Friends!
I want to share an update for our next steps forward in regard to our church services.
The elders have reviewed the current mask mandate from Gov. Holcomb which ends this coming Tuesday April 6. We believe this date was chosen largely because of March Madness in Indiana and specifically in Indianapolis. We have also been watching the reports for case in Indiana and Hendricks County which have been in the “blue” since early March. With that in mind we are ready to take the next step.
Beginning this Friday, for the Good Friday service, face coverings will be optional at all times and in all places during our gatherings. We encourage those who want to wear a face mask to do so. We will support you in this practice. We ask everyone to be considerate of the choices our church family makes about wearing or not wearing a face mask.
Our seating arrangement in the worship room will continue to have more distance between rows when we meet for our worship services.
We have asked our Café Team to begin making plans to reopen the Café sometime soon. They have agreed to make a plan. For this Sunday they have made the Café area very inviting with some “grab and go” items.
Here is our schedule for the next few weeks.
Friday April 2 Good Friday Service at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday April 4 Easter Sunday – Worship services at 8:45 & 11:00; no SS.
Sunday April 11 Begin our all church study of B.L.E.S.S. – practical ways to love your neighbor.
~All
adult SS classes will study this book April 11-May 9.
~All
in an adult group will receive the book and a study guide.
~Those
not in a SS class - books have been ordered.
Sunday April 25 Building Dreams/Building Lives Campaign Celebration
I look forward to the days ahead and especially our gatherings to worship our risen Lord!
In Christ,
Gary Black
Clayton Christian Church Covid-19 Update
CCC Update – March 10, 2021
Next Steps in Moving Forward
Good day CCC Family and Friends!
It has been awhile since our last update but we really haven’t had any changes to report until now. As you probably are aware, the statistics in regard to the number of cases, sickness, and deaths due to Covide have drastically been reduced over the last month. The trend is very encouraging and a blessing to not only us here at CCC, but to our community, our country, and indeed the world. Both Hendricks and Marion counties are now in the blue which is another great indication.
What does this mean for our Sunday worship services? It means we are ready to take another step forward. There is still a wide range of opinions on how people in general should proceed in the days and months ahead. Your elders are well aware of all sides of this issue. For the last full year we all have been navigating these troubled waters to the best of our ability. And our navigating principle has been, grace. Let’s treat each other with grace recognizing there are indeed many opinions and truth can be found on all sides. Our church family has been blessed with a membership that is willing to persevere based on the principle of grace toward all.
Our next step is one step. We have chosen to be cautious and once again your elders are asking each person to comply with our guidelines with grace. Perhaps I should say, with GREAT GRACE.
Our next step is to ask everyone to continue wearing face coverings at all times when in the building until you are seated either in the worship services or in a Sunday School class.
The only change for now, is that those attending the 8:45 service may now remove their face coverings once seated.
Our chairs are positioned well within the guidelines of the CDC for social distancing which gives each person the opportunity to position themselves in a chair that gives you the most sense of safety.
This is where we are today. We don’t know what the next few weeks hold for us and we will respond accordingly when the time comes. Your elders again ask that we approach this from an “others centered” perspective rather than a “me centered” perspective. Face coverings have become our modern issue that is discussed in 1 Corinthians 8. Please read and meditate on that passage and allow the grace of God to lead you as we have attempted to allow the grace of God to lead us and our congregation through these unprecedented times.
I look forward to gathering with you in even greater numbers this Sunday and in the days ahead.
To God be the glory!
Face Coverings through February 28
For the comfort and peace of mind of everyone we are asking your cooperation by wearing face coverings at the following times.
8:45 Worship Service
Please wear a face covering during the entire service. If you are unable to wear a covering due to your health, please attend the 11:00 service.
10:00 Sunday School
Please wear a face covering when walking around the building. When in your Sunday School Class, each class will determine their own policy for face coverings.
11:00 Worship Service
Please wear a face covering walking into and around the building. When seated, you may remove your face covering.
November 12, 2020
Good Day CCC Family and Friends!
Yesterday Indiana Governor Holcomb gave his next steps for the state and more specifically for individual counties. The specific statement about requirement for churches is what I want to address with you today.
The Governor did not place any restrictions on church gatherings, only to ask churches to be wise in their practices.
With that in mind, the elders have determined that we will move forward as we have been during the months of October and November.
What does this mean?
We will continue to ask that everyone attending the 8:45 worship service would wear a face covering the entire time you are in the building and anytime you are walking around in the building.
We will continue to ask everyone to wear a face covering to your Sunday School class. Each class may determine their ability to observe social distancing. Those who will do this may remove face coverings. Each class is to determine the comfort level of its participants with wearing a face covering.
We will continue to ask everyone attending the 11:00 worship service to wear a face covering to your seat. You may remove it at that time. Anytime you move about the building we ask you to wear a face covering.
We are asking EVERYONE to pitch in on this and be more diligent about following the elder’s guidelines. We are attempting to cooperate with our government to mitigate the spread of this communal disease. We are also guided by scripture in Galatians 5:13 which says:
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Please redouble your efforts to cooperate with these guidelines. We want to keep our church open and gathering. We want to keep giving the opportunity for large group worship and small group Bible study. We want to keep serving our community, inviting those far from God, and seeing lives transformed by Christ. Please see the bigger picture than our personal opinions and inconvenience.
By cooperating with these guidelines we demonstrate to the world that we are a group that operates from wisdom, love, and a spirit of community. We are having some wonderful times together on Sunday mornings. Let’s not jeopardize it, let’s enhance it for the good of all and to the glory of God.
Will you agree with your elders on this? I pray you will. I look forward to our Sundays together so let’s all come TOGETHER for the greater good.
I look forward to seeing you Sunday!
Clayton Christian Church – Update
Wednesday September 30, 2020
Good Day CCC family and friends!
As you know Governor Holcomb has extended the current mandate for face masks through October 17. With that in mind, we will continue with our current face mask practices until his next announcement.
As a reminder, our Sunday practice is as follows. We ask everyone who attends on Sunday morning to wear a mask into the building and while walking around in the building.
8:45 Service: Those who attend the 8:45 service are asked to wear a face mask for the duration of the worship service.
11:00 Service: Those who attend the 11:00 service are asked to wear a face mask to your seat at which time you may remove your mask. We ask everyone to wear a mask when walking around in the building.
10:00 Sunday School: Everyone is asked to wear a mask to your class. Each class has the option to wear masks or not wear them based on the needs of each class.
Thrive: Children and students are asked to wear masks into the building to their seats at which time they may remove the mask.
Sunday Oct. 4: We are reopening our 11:00am Children’s Ministry. This includes Nursery, Wee Worship for ages 2-5, and Power Up for grades K-5.
We will listen for the governor’s next announcement and share any changes at that time.
We appreciate the way our church family has responded to this crisis. May we all continue to keep our vision for being a place where we are making disciples who make disciples. And may we all “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
COVID-19 Update: August 28, 2020
Clayton Christian Church
Elders Guidelines in Response to Governor Holcomb’s
Extension of the Face Mask Mandate
August 28, 2020
Governor Holcomb’s mandate for wearing face masks in public places has been extended another 30 days from August 27 through September 25. Our elders have studied this issue in light of the past 30 days and how our church family has responded to it. The Governor’s mandate allows churches the option of whether to require face masks at all times or just as persons enter and depart. With this in mind, we are instituting new guidelines for our in person gatherings on Sundays.
This announcement also applies to Sunday School classes, which will resume on September 13th from 10-11am. Please wear masks while moving throughout the building, but at the discretion of your teacher, masks may come off once seated in the classroom.
Kids Sunday School classes will also resume on September 13th | 10-11am.
Worship Services - Effective Sunday August 30, 2020
8:45 Worship Service – Face Masks will be required at all times during this worship service. We are asking everyone to please abide by this request if you attend the 8:45 service.
11:00 Worship Service – Face Masks are to be worn into the building to your seat. Those wishing to remove it may do so while in your seat. We ask that face masks be worn anytime you leave your seat for any reason.
The governor’s age requirement for wearing face masks is age 8 and up.
Sunday School reopening will be announced by Wednesday of next week.
Our plan for August 2nd - 26th
Good afternoon! Your elders have been praying and studying the issues relating to Governor Holcomb’s recent mandate for face coverings to be worn in indoor settings for the next 30 days.
Churches have been given the discretion on how they will implement this mandate.
We have decided it would be in the best interest of everyone if we follow the face covering mandate more fully than we have in the past.
Why have we taken this approach?
We have searched for the best opportunity for us to demonstrate our willingness to support those who govern us and to serve our church family and community in love. Our state government has demonstrated a good faith effort to encourage churches to meet.
Therefore it behooves us to obey Titus 3:1-2: "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone."
This is also an opportunity for us to “serve one another in love.” You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather, serve one another humbly in love.
We are still in a CRISIS. The Chinese symbol for CRISIS combines two ideas, danger and opportunity.
We appeal to you our church family to choose to view this crisis as an opportunity for us to live out our faith, to put that first and foremost in our minds and our actions. We will be blessed if we do.
Here is our plan as we continue to Move Forward:
1. Face coverings will be required inside our building at all times during this 30 day period.
2. Six foot distancing will be more intentionally observed.
3. Those whose health would be compromised by wearing a face mask are encouraged to use a face shield. In the event that is not possible, we would ask you to diligently maintain the six foot distancing. We will go on the honor system for those whose health does not permit you to wear a face covering. (Note: we will have face masks and face shields available for those who need them)
4. Sunday School start-up will be postponed until we are confident we can comply with the guidelines.
5. All group activities scheduled in our building during this 30 day period will be required to follow this plan.
6. Our worship team and speakers will not be required to wear face coverings while they are leading us. They will be asked to maintain the six foot social distancing.
GUIDE TO ATTENDING
Clayton Christian Church
August 2nd - 26th
We are so excited we have the opportunity to continue worshipping together in person.
Our goal is to continue to move forward with our ministry as a worshipping, serving, learning and loving community. We continue to be prayerful, and as careful as possible, so we can move forward in the right way, and the safe way, for all of our people and our guests.
In addition to our physical gathering, we continue to offer live stream of our services at 8:45 and 11:00. A service will be recorded and available on our YouTube channel. When you open YouTube, type in Clayton Christian Church.
We are eager for the time everyone can join in person without fear of this disease. We realize if you are an older adult or someone who has severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes, it is important for you to consider your personal safety as you consider attending in person during this season.
SAFETY
To maintain a safe environment in our building, we ask that you help with the following:
We ask everyone to maintain six feet of social distancing as you move around outside the building.
We continue to have hand sanitizer available as you enter your campus and encourage everyone to wash or sanitize hands upon arrival. We encourage everyone to bring your own hand sanitizer as well to use as needed throughout the morning and to help us maximize our supply.
According to Indiana officials, wearing a mask to help prevent the spread of coronavirus is now mandatory in the state of Indiana. Beginning Sunday, Aug 2, face coverings will be required for the entire time people are in the building. This applies to everyone age 8 and up (same requirement as the state).
There will be no bulletins passed out. Both communion and offering will continue to be self serve at the tables placed around the worship room.
Giving may be done in the offering boxes on the communion table or you can give online at claytonchristian.org.
There will be no coffee or food items available at the cafe.
SERVICE TEAMS
All volunteers and staff at CCC will wear face covering and do their best to model social distancing by not giving hugs, handshakes or fist bumps.
We will have greeters at each door so no one will have to open a door.
Our worship room seating is such that you will be able to maintain the six foot distance easily. Families may sit together. All others are asked to leave three seats between parties.
We will continue to have a team that will be helping with sanitizing each space that has had traffic after services. We will use approved sanitization chemicals in all areas.
Sunday School Ministry
CCC Kids and Student ministries will NOT be meeting until we can meet the requirements we have been given.
Our services are Family Worship style only. Currently there is not any Wee Worship or Power Up or staffed nursery. The nursery will be available for use by parents if needed.
Love in Christ,
The CCC Elders
July 15, 2020
Good day CCC Family!
It is time for another update on our plans for moving forward. Our staff and elders have been meeting and praying about what is our best course of action to help us take the next steps in returning to our church life. We have begun by seeking God’s direction and steps that include as many as possible while reflecting our love and grace for all.
Our in person worship services have continued to be a blessing. We have averaged 200 in person and 94 views of the live stream for a total average of 294 connected through our worship services. We recognize that a single view of the live stream may include more than one person but we count one view as one person. The point of all this is that we are so happy to know that a majority of our church family is staying connected throughout this Covide 19 situation.
Added to this our zoom groups have continued to meet in some fashion. However, these groups have been a bit more difficult to keep active during the summer months.
What is our next step to move forward? The staff and elders have made the decision to reopen the 10:00 Sunday School hour for all ages beginning Sunday August 2. Our plan is to continue approaching our Sunday ministries thru the lens of a phased in approach. We started with in person worship services. Now we are ready to proceed with in person Sunday School groups.
The Smiling Saints class began as our test group on Sunday July 5. They have successfully been able to set up their room to provide social distance while meeting in person. For those who still cannot meet in person, the class includes them via Zoom. That has gone well so other classes are looking into options such as this to help us move forward.
As with any of our plans, one size or one plan will not fit everyone. That is our challenge. We want to move forward with everyone but the circumstances for each person are very different. We are praying that the things we try to do are led by the Holy Spirit and wisdom during this time.
Student’s SS classes have the most space and will be no problem to hold SS with proper distancing and spacing. We will have a table at the entrance to the student center with hand sanitizer. A sign will encourage students to either wash their hands or use sanitizer before entering and when leaving.
Children’s SS will also begin August 2. Brooke Shroll will communicate details to our families. Children will return to the class they attended before March 15th. We are giving attention to the flow pattern as children enter and leave for the day. One volunteer will check in everyone and one parent will be able to escort their children to their room. Teachers and volunteers in the rooms will make every effort to provide the proper social distance during class and any movement that takes place. The recommendation from our ‘parent’s poll’ was to begin in as “normal” an environment as we can.
We will phase in other children’s and student gatherings on the following schedule.
Sunday August 16th - 10:00 a.m. Promotion Sunday for Sunday School
- 4:30 p.m. Thrive Kids and Thrive Students will resume
During the month of August we will monitor these plans and consider reopening Wee Worship and Power Up in September if all is going well.
As a reminder we have been using an outside sanitation service in addition to our own custodians for extra cleaning in the building. The chemicals we use are approved for this purpose so we will transition to having our own custodians handle all of this in the near future.
As I close this update, let’s all join in prayer for our community, especially are schools as our children return in August under the guidelines they have been given. Let us join in prayer that God would indeed “heal our land” of this Covide virus. Let us join in prayer that God’s people will be faithful at CCC, in the U.S. and all over the world. And through it all, may Jesus Christ be praised!
May 6th
We have resumed in-person services as of
Sunday, May 24 - 8:45 & 11am for Services Only
*No Adult/Children Sunday School Classes
*No childrens classes
*No ThriveKIDS/THRIVE
Click here to read the letter sent out on May 6th.
Kids Summer Programs Update:
MAY 16, NERF PARTY = CANCELLED
JUNE 1-5, THEATRE CAMP = CANCELLED IN JUNE,
*POSSIBLE RESCHEDULING FOR JULY OR FALL, TBD
JULY 1-3, ACTOR'S ART AND FAITH = TBD
JULY 10-12, VBS = TBD
JULY 19-23, HIGHLAND LAKES CAMP (ALL AGE GROUPS) = CANCELLED
COVID-19 Update - May 1st
Good day!
Gov. Holcomb announced today his 5 step plan to reopen the State of Indiana. Your elders wanted to clarify what this means for CCC.
1. Churches are asked not to meet until May 8, one week from today. Therefore, our church service will be a video service for May 3.
2. The elders will be meeting this coming Monday to discuss our plans for future church services. We will share this information via email, Facebook and our web site.
Please keep this in your prayers as we want to move forward with wisdom and care for others.
Yours in Christ,
Gary Black
COVID-19 Update: April
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we will keep you encouraged and informed with the latest information. We are diligently monitoring updates and advice from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to ensure the health and safety of all.
Current Status:
- Our PHYSICAL church services have been CANCELLED until farther notice.
- Clayton sermons will be posted one our website in the ONLINE SERVICES tab.
- Clayton sermons will also be posted on FACEBOOK
- Gary, Brooke, and Tyler will be giving updates via Email and Social Media.
Senior Resources:
Special Shopping Hours for Seniors at Walmart: Tuesdays from 6 to 7am
Hendricks County Senior Services
Best place for a Senior to call with multiple needs
Transportation, in-home services, and food pantry by appointment for those 60 and over
(317) 745-4303, M-F 8 am-4 pm
CICOA
Delivery of frozen meals for those 60 and over who are home-bound
Call (317) 803-6131
Family Resources:
Family Promise
Best place for a family to call with multiple needs
Financial Assistance and COVID-19 Survival Guide
(317)296-3742
https://familypromisehendrickscounty.org/relief/
Mill Creek Support Center
South of Clayton Cafe on State Road 39 in Clayton, IN
Tuesdays 5-7 pm
Shared Blessings Food Pantry
820 West Mill St, Danville, IN
Tuesdays 6-7:30 pm, Saturdays 10 am-12 pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
710 E Buchanan St, Plainfield, IN
(317) 839-6730 *Call for hours each week
Active Grace
10740 E County Rd 700 S, Camby, IN
(317) 830-8297
Tuesdays 5-7 pm, Thursdays 12-2 pm
Sheltering Wings
24-hour helpline for individuals and families experiencing domestic violence
(317) 745-1496
Outreach Resources:
- Donate to the All In Hendricks County Fund through Hendricks County Community Foundation.
-Funds are being distributed to local nonprofits to assist individuals and families in need. Hendricks Country Community
- Food Pantry Donations
-Mill Creek Support Center currently needs spaghetti sauce and any type of meat, like lunch meat,
hot dogs, one pound packages of ground meat, frozen meat, etc. These can be dropped off at the
Support Center on Tuesdays between 2 pm-4 pm. If alternate drop off time needs to be organized,
contact Kristin at 317-945-5829.
- Shops at Perry Crossing is taking non-perishable food items to be distributed by the Hendricks County
Food Pantry Coalition. Donation boxes are located outside Bru Burger, Hot Box Pizza, and Stone Creek
Dining during their carryout hours.
- Hendricks County YMCA Weekly Blood Drive:
-Area hospitals are reporting a shortage of blood donations due to canceled blood drives from
businesses. There is an opportunity to donate each week at the YMCA in Avon on Tuesday and Saturday.
Here is a link to sign up: Indiana - Donor Portal
- Support Hendricks County Healthcare workers:
-There are a number of opportunities to provide assistance to local health care workers. You can
donate to a fund to help healthcare workers access pre-prepared meals for their families and
opportunities to sew masks. This link provides details on how to donate and sewing patterns for masks:
https://www.supporthendricks.org/covid19/