To The church that meets in Ottawa. The COVID-19 (aka novel coronavirus) has become a dominant topic in our news over the past few weeks and has now become an issue even in Canada.  I would like to share with you my thoughts and some ideas so we can be more informed over the immediate future.

We trust in a glorious God and Saviour and our hope is in Him. However, this viral disease is  a fact of life; its existence is here and we are beginning to see the effects of it. Even though  this is a new virus and little is known of it and the near future presents some challenges, we will not respond with fear and panic but with a deep trust in Our God who is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear. (Psalms 46:1-2)

We are the light of the world.  What a great opportunity to be a witness of Christ as we can be a source of strength and place of comfort for so many. We should  pray for those who have been affected and for the governing bodies to have wisdom through this worldwide pandemic. We can have a tremendous impact even in this challenging time.

Here are some practicals that may be helpful as we continue to have a worship that is awe inspiring while we are wise and aware of the threat that is around us:

1.  If you are sick, we ask that you stay at home and recover so you can be back with us as soon as possible. Of course we would rather see you in person but there may be some who have health challenges and we put them at risk by a sick attendee. Obviously this pertains to your children as well. When at home you will have the opportunity to livestream our services.
2. Please follow the guidelines at Canada.ca/coronavirus. Especially pertaining to physical greetings. Eg. instead of a handshake or hug a suggestion is to elbow bump.
3. Over the next few weeks we will be using the individual communion cups instead of passing the trays around.
4. Because of the uncertainty we will move the vision services in the 4 locations from April to May.

We will continue to stay informed as more info becomes available.  Please stay informed also. Along with the website above the WHO website(who.int/emergencies) is a good source of trusted information.

We will continue to keep you updated.

In His service,

Tony Singh