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COVID-19 UPDATE

Hello Wellspring Church,

We are so glad to still be meeting in person! For the time being, we ask that all attendees wear masks during Sunday service. Our leadership team is continuing to monitor COVID protocols for our area and will be re-evaluating our procedures regularly. You no longer need to pre-register for Sunday service, but we do ask that you check-in via the Church Center app when you arrive.

We're excited for our students to be back, safely gathering, worshipping together!

Please join us on Facebook or YouTube.

Hello Wellspring Church,

Starting January 17 we will resume in-person services with one service at 4PM! Moving forward we ask that everyone would pre-register before every service. REGISTER HERE.

We're excited to be back, safely gathering, worshipping together!

Please join us on Facebook or YouTube.

QUESTIONS FORM

Hello Wellspring Church,

The leadership team met this morning and we have decided to move to ONLINE ONLY at least through Sunday, January 3rd.

Covid cases continue to rise in Centre County, the hospital is getting full, and holiday travel will continue. We think it is wisest to go online only for a time and are hopeful to meet in person again soon.

So, in perfect step with 2020, things are changing. But what remains unchanged is our need to experience more of the heart of Christ together. I hope to see you all online this Sunday as we continue on this journey together.

Our Sunday service time will remain at 4:00p.

Please join us on Facebook or YouTube.

Your brother,

Pastor Joel

On Sunday, August 16th we will begin to offer an in- person option for worship at Wellspring Church. We know some of you are eager to gather again physically and some of you would like to wait awhile longer. Both responses are understandable and it is our desire to love one another with grace and charity wherever we may land on that spectrum.

As we move forward, we want to communicate three different ways to gather and worship with us on Sundays.

Join us online - via Facebook Live at 4 or 6:15pm.
Gather as a small group - if you are comfortable with small groups, invite a few friends from your Connection Group or invite your neighbors to gather in your home to enjoy the service together.
Attend a live service - We are currently meeting at State College Evangelical Free Church (1243 Blue Course Dr.) and have services at 4pm & 6:15

We will be implementing several precautions to ensure safety as we gather together.

Touch Free Environments : We eliminating all contact points between individuals and will also try to eliminate high-touch surfaces. We also ask that handshakes and hugs be replaced by waves and smiles.
Required Masking : We ask that you wear a mask to our gathering to increase safety for those who want to attend but may feel nervous to do so. We will have masks available for those who forget one.
No Kids Ministry : We love being a multi-generational church, and would love for children to be part of our gathering. Please make sure to check out our Kids Resource Page for printable sermon notes for your kids during the service.
Hand Sanitizer Available : There will be several stations with hand sanitizer available.
Stay Home If You're Sick : We continue to urge anyone who is more vulnerable to the dangers of COVID-19 (including those with pre-existing medical conditions) to participate from home.
Practice Social Distancing : Please do your best to remain at least 6 feet apart from those attending the gathering that are not part of your family group.
Download the Church Center App : This will help us know who was at our service for contact tracing purposes. If you are unable to download Church Center, we'll have staff available to help check you in.

We are excited to worship together, even though it looks a little different, as a family once again! In our excitement, thank you for partnering with us as we strive to live responsibly and with wisdom in this unique time.

To access the video of our full announcement from Aug. 9th, and see more videos on what to expect as well as how to Check-In using Church Center - please refer to our In-Person Worship page on our website.

On Sunday July 19th, we announced some new updates and the next phase of Wellspring’s gathering plan. Here are some of the details:

Location:

We received word from the State College Area School District that they would not be renting any of their facilities to outside groups until all COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. This meant that we would need to find a new location to meet until we were able to return to Easterly Elementary.

Thankfully, Pastor Chris Gruella and State College Evangelical Free Church (State College E-Free) have been incredibly generous and helpful, as they have offered and we have entered into an agreement with them to rent their space for our services. So our new location for gathering will be at State College Evangelical Free Church (1243 Blue Course Dr)

Time:

Because State College E-Free services are at 10 am, Wellspring will also be changing our service times. Beginning July 26th, we will be moving our service time to 4pm and when we eventually meet in person we will offer 2 service times of 4pm and 6:15pm.

Timeline/Important Dates:

We are planning with State College E-Free and continuing to monitor the latest developments in regards to COVID-19, especially in Centre County and State College. We are planning and preparing to eventually offer an in-person option for gathering, and we will provide you with exact dates and details once we are able to, but we appreciate your patience and grace as we want to plan and communicate with wisdom and discretion. Every Sunday, you can count on us updating our church with the latest developments and details.

Here is our plan for the next 3 weeks:

July 26th - In-Person Backyard Service (Streamed Online) - 4pm - Wellspring Offices (1107 William St)
August 2nd - Online Service only - 4pm - Streaming from E-Free
August 9th - Online Service only - 4pm - Streaming from E-Free

We want to ensure that as we move towards offering the option for in-person worship, that we are able to offer a meaningful live experience as well as an online gathering. Taking 2 weeks to remain online while at E-Free allows us to plan and prepare for both.

Mitigation and Safety

While we acknowledge there is no such thing as a “no-risk gathering”, we are committed to taking steps to reduce the risks involved in regathering. So, when we do open up the option of gathering in person here’s what you can expect in terms of our mitigation practices:

Required Masking and Social Distancing - in the building and while seated
Sanitation and Cleaning in accordance with CDC guidelines
Service Check-In for tracing if necessary
Hand sanitizer and a touch-free environment
Wellspring Kids Classrooms will not be open
If you are feeling unwell or not ready to join us in person we would ask that you gather with us online instead
If Centre County were to enter the Yellow Phase, we would also phase back our options for gathering.

State College E-Free Church has been meeting in person for a while, and we have been impressed and encouraged by their safety and sanitation plan while gathering in person and will continue to adopt the same measures and work with their Health team, which includes local health professionals, to ensure we are adopting best practices as we meet.

Encouragement and Questions

We are incredibly grateful for God’s provision in a partnership with State College E-Free Church and the opportunity to move forward in planning towards the next phase of gathering. Thank you Wellspring family for continuing to be the church as you have navigated daily life walking with Jesus. We love you, we’re for you, and we can’t wait to see what God continues to do in you and through you.

If you have any questions about our plans please follow the link below and we will be happy to follow up with you - and keep an eye out for continued updates on Sunday and via our Social Media!

Posted on June 21, 2020

On Sunday, June 28th we will begin our phased approach of returning to in- person gatherings at Wellspring Church. We know some of you are eager to gather again physically and some of you would like to wait awhile longer. Both responses are understandable and it is our desire to love one another with grace and charity wherever we may land on that spectrum.

As we move forward, we want to communicate three different ways to gather and worship with us on Sundays.

Join us online - via Facebook Live at 10a.
Gather as a small group - if you are comfortable with small groups, invite a few friends from your Connection Group or invite your neighbors to gather in your home to enjoy the service together.
Attend a live service - On June 28th, you can join us for an in-person gathering at 10a on the lawn behind our Wellspring Office (1107 William Street, State College). If you are planning to attend this service, please be sure to register beforehand.

We will be implementing several precautions to ensure safety as we gather together.

Touch Free Environments : We will be holding this service outside to limit contact points with one another. We also ask that handshakes and hugs be replaced by waves and smiles. Be sure to check out our virtual program for announcements, lyrics, and other resources from the service.
Required Masking : We ask that you wear a mask to our gathering to increase safety for those who want to attend but may feel nervous to do so. We will have masks available for those who forget one.
No Kids Ministry : We love being a multi-generational church, and would love for children to be part of our gathering. Please make sure to check out our Kids Resource Page for printable sermon notes for your kids during the service.
Hand Sanitizer Available : For those who would feel more comfortable, we will be offering hand sanitizer for increased safety. We'll have the bathrooms to our office open for those that might need them, and we'll be cleaning them before and after the service.
Stay Home If You're Sick : We continue to urge anyone who is more vulnerable to the dangers of COVID-19 (including those with pre-existing medical conditions) to participate from home.
Practice Social Distancing : Please do your best to remain at least 6 feet apart from those attending the gathering that are not part of your family group.
Bring Your Own Seat : This will help us limit contact and cross-contamination.
Download the Church Center App : This will help us know who was at our service for contact tracing purposes. If you are unable to download Church Center, we'll have staff available to help check you in.

We are excited to worship together, even in a limited capacity, as a family once again! In our excitement, thank you for partnering with us as we strive to live responsibly and with wisdom in this unique time.

Thank you to those of you who were able to attend our Town Hall meeting updating you on our guiding principles as we consider and begin to make plans to regather as a church and talk about some events in the month of June. Please check out this document outlining the highlights as well as the video replay of the meeting below if you were unable to attend.

In the meeting we talked about the option of inviting someone to watch online church with you in a smaller group in your home. Here is a guide of some possible safety suggestions you may want to implement, but this is obviously up to each host/guest to communicate individually and is meant to simply be a resource you can utilize however you'd like.

Please refer to this attachment for details on downloading and using the Church Center app we talked about during the meeting or you can watch this instructional video.

Thank you, Wellspring, for continuing to journey with us as we navigate how to enter into this new phase of church life. We so appreciate your questions, involvement, patience, and charity along the way.

If you have any follow up questions, please don't hesitate to contact us directly.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the everyday life of every Pennsylvanian, and Wellspring's regular rhythms have momentarily changed as well. Nonetheless, we are actively seeking to maintain a sense of community and dependence on God. Wellspring Church is still meeting, and God is still working.

We'll be gathering online via live stream every Sunday morning at 10a. Please join us on Facebook live, which doesn't require an account to watch, for teaching from the Bible and listen to our Spotify playlist to worship with us during the week.

Connection groups are vital to the life of Wellspring Church and are ultimately what give us our truest sense that we are a church family. All of our connection groups have moved online and will meet via Zoom, Google Hangouts, or another digital meeting platform. If you're not yet in a connection group, we'd encourage you to s sign up for one!

At Wellspring, we are a family on mission, which means we care for each other and those around us. We are also God's stewards seeking to take what He has given us and use it to see others flourish. Our existing community engagement budget line and the normal rent amount we'd been paying to gather at Easterly Elementary School have been combined and re-allocated to meet needs in our congregation and community. Click here if you have a specific financial, spiritual, emotional, or physical need. Click here if you would like to meet financial needs in our congregation and community.

We're honored to call this church family ours, and we hope God will use this time to draw you closer to Him and one another. For any other questions, please contact us directly.