Published: April 15, 2021

Survey Results and Re-opening Announcement this Sunday

Thank you to all who filled out the Return to In-Person Worship Survey! We received 442 responses, which provided crucial data for our COVID-19 Re-Opening Task Force. We plan to make an announcement this Sunday about our plan for re-opening for in-person worship. Please plan to tune in to our service on Sunday for more details. In the meantime, here are some of the key takeaways from the survey:

1. Most people are not yet ready to come back.
   • A strong minority (39%) said that they are ready to come back now.
2. Most people will be ready soon.
   • Nearly 2/3 (64%) of our congregation are either ready to return now (39%) or believe that they will be ready by late spring/early summer (25%).
   • More than 1/3 (34%) are either unsure or do not think they will be ready until late summer/early fall.
3. At this time, people prefer an outdoor worship service to an indoor service.
   • Just over half of respondents (54%) are likely to return for indoor services, whereas two thirds (66%) are likely to return for an outdoor service.
4. People are anxious about the safety of the community.
   • Rise of COVID variants (27%), unknown vaccination status of others (26%), and difficulty of social distancing (23%) were the three largest areas of concern.
5. Virtual church is here to stay.
   • 58% of people reported that they plan to worship through the livestream either exclusively (18%) or alternating with in-person worship (40%).
   • Fortunately, we plan to continue the livestream even after we re-open fully!