Karis Church Events Canceled Through Spring Break

Brothers and Sisters,

We recently finished up an elders’ meeting where we made the difficult but necessary decision to NOT gather tomorrow as we had originally planned. We believe it is most honoring to God and most loving to others to suspend all Karis worship gatherings, Missional Community events, and other activities through Sunday, March 29th, as we face what has become a crisis in our country with the spread of COVID-19. 

Our plan is not to come together in person as Karis until, Lord willing, after Spring Break concludes. This means we will not gather in person for corporate worship the following three Sundays: March 15, March 22, and March 29th. This again includes MC gatherings, as well as any other Karis Church activities or events between March 15th and March 29th. We will reconvene as pastors on the 29th to pray and discern the best path for the future. 

Again, we are doing this because we think it is the most loving and wise thing to do. Dr. Seth Freeman, a physician with MU Health Care, who was slated to be installed as an elder tomorrow, provides these words of wisdom:

From a public health perspective, taking measures now to reduce the possibility of spreading the virus among ourselves is one of the best ways we can love our neighbors well. In general, we are a younger body of believers. However, many of us have jobs and participate in other activities that bring us into contact with the elderly and frail, those at high-risk of becoming very ill from COVID-19. If we look to our brothers and sisters in China and Europe as an example (Italy, Spain, and France), it has become clear that the time to act is now. If we wait to postpone events at Karis until a known case exists in Columbia, it will ultimately likely create a larger burden on our local healthcare resources. Many of you may have read about “flattening the curve.” If not, here’s a link to a helpful post about what that means. Let’s continue to strive to love our city and pray together that God would use these tools to reduce the transmission of this disease.

Seth will provide more thoughts in the coming days. We’ll also be providing some thoughts on how to pursue meaningful community in a time when social distancing is encouraged.  

The good news is that we will provide a livestream via YouTube tomorrow at 10 a.m. and in the coming weeks. Our other elder candidate, Jeff Carson, will be teaching from Esther 5:9-6:14. We hope you’ll tune in and hear from God’s word in what has been a confusing, turbulent time. You can follow this link to get to the livestream. You can also find it on our webpage, KarisChurch.org. If you have a YouTube app on your TV or tablet, search KarisChurch, and you’ll easily find the stream.

I’ll share some encouragements to us during this time as we begin tomorrow. Let’s trust our Father during this season. Let’s love those around us well.

In His Grace,

Kevin Larson

Lead Pastor 

Karis Church