We are now 5 months into our experience with the COVID-19 pandemic as we held our last in person worship service on March 8. And thanks to the Lord’s grace and protection, our church and school families we have been able to avoid much in the way of COVID cases for quite some time.
And although we have not had a full-blown outbreak, we have definitely had reports from both church and school families of their exposure/diagnosis of COVID -19. Most recently we were informed that a parent of two students who participated in the senior high CIY youth event on campus last week tested positive for COVID 19. Then we received an update that the students themselves had experienced some COVID-like symptoms over this last weekend as well, but now seem to be doing better. Due to the nature of “third-hand” exposure, the likelihood of a potential COVID case from the CIY event is relatively low, but not impossible. We can report that as of today, we have had no confirmed cases of the virus that were a direct result of this event.
We have also heard that some of our school staff and/or their immediate family members have been exposed to the virus as well. Since it’s the summer, most of these folks have not been on campus. And again, none of these exposures are related to interactions on our campus.
In each of these situations, we have taken steps to protect our campus by informing those who have had interactions with these people, requesting people self-quarantine, and ensuring our facilities were being properly cleaned and disinfected. And God has graciously allowed us to avoid any type of spread and we are so grateful for it.
In addition to God’s protection, we also believe we have not experienced a huge number of cases because of the gathering and cleaning precautions we are taking on the DCC campus. We understand that some may feel our guidelines are too extreme, and still others may feel like we don’t do enough. No matter where you land on that spectrum, please know that whatever we do is done out of love and care for the families of our church and school. We want to thank you for your flexibility and cooperation in adhering to our health and safety guidelines.
We recognize that even if we took every conceivable precaution, some variables will always be out of our control. So as we continue to move through this COVID journey, please partner with us by doing the following:
- Pray for God’s protection for our campus and the families of our church and school.
- Pray for wisdom for our leaders. There is no playbook for this, and the guidelines are constantly changing, so we ask for your understanding and your support as we seek to honor God in how best to care for one another.
- Make the choice to model the DCC vision of “living out love” on this campus and in the community. We understand that on so many levels (spiritually, philosophically, politically, etc.), we all have differing opinions about COVID-19. But our prayer is that we can all agree that we don’t want anyone to get sick if we can avoid it. So please remember to follow the guidelines we have put in place. If you think you or a family member may have symptoms, stay home. Help us care for one another, by properly caring for yourself.
We love you and care about you and we want each of you to be safe and stay healthy. And as much as we are excited to be able to welcome people back to our campus for our outdoor services starting this weekend, we also want to temper that excitement with a bit of caution.
And so, as your family makes plans to join us, please take any symptoms you may have very seriously (Current List of COVID Symptoms) and carefully consider any decision to interact with others outside your home including returning to our campus. We pray that by sharing this information, our families will be better informed in order to make the best decision possible for the health and safety of each other, those in our church and school, and the community.