Lemon Cove Community Church

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September 17, 2020

Hello everyone, as you know the Coronavirus pandemic has created challenges for all of us, but perhaps the greatest challenges are to our school kids and teachers. Our Mission statement as a church reads as the following:

Our local K-8 school, Sequoia Union, is full of people who are our neighbors, from teachers to students to staff and local families. Given the unprecedented challenges schoolkids and teachers are facing this year, we have an opportunity to live out our mission by supporting them, and hopefully building a permanent relationship with them. Right now, we can support Sequoia Union School, and our local kids by purchasing/donating supplies that the students are in need of and to help them be effective during this difficult time of distance learning. There are 17 teachers and 30-40 children currently attending school in person at the moment, as well as many more students who are learning from home. Some of the supplies our local teachers have requested are:

          *  Here are some of the supplies needed                 

-Crayola Crayons

-Crayola Markers

-Disinfecting wipes.

-file folders – any colors

-Large Storage containers

-Glue Sticks

-Pencils

-Tissues

-Pencil Sharpeners

-Notebooks

-Children’s Masks

       *      Ideas for Teachers gifts

-Disposable Mask 

-Hand sanitizer

There are additional resources that the teachers have requested to help them lesson plan and teach through distance learning – the church has teamed up with an anonymous donor to help the teachers purchase resources that are not covered by the funds already available to the teachers.

We hope that this is the beginning of a long-term relationship of support to the teachers, students, and staff at Sequoia Union, and we hope that our entire church will catch the vision and be involved on an ongoing basis, including brainstorming new ideas to reach out to school staff, students, and the families that are part of Sequoia Union and the Lemon Cove community. Please be in prayer that God will open more and more doors for us to love and serve our neighbors, and that God would build our own church through service.

Please call Jessica Garcia, our church secretary, with any questions. Let’s see what kind of impact we can have on our community in obedience to and reliance upon our God!

We are God’s servants by His grace,

We had another wonderful Sunday worshiping together outside! Yes, it was a bit hotter (okay, a LOT hotter!) but we sang, we prayed, we took the Lord’s Supper together… it was great!

We will be meeting again this Sunday outside on the volleyball court – this week we have a guest preacher in pastor Rich Latta, who is a good friend of mine (pastor Ian) who most recently served the ECO church in Dinuba. Don’t forget to come out at 9am, bring your own chair (or we will provide you with one), bring your Bible, bring your mask (we also have those available) and say hello to your long-lost friends from a distance of at least 6 feet!

And by the way – mark your calendars, because we’re going to be worshiping outside every Sunday at 9am!

Lemon Cove Community Church

Hi folks, just a clarification: we will absolutely be singing and dancing together this Sunday at the volleyball court, but we will continue providing an online option for folks who, for any reason, do not attend in-person. The online option will be a recording of our outdoor service, so it will not be available until a bit later in the day. If you can’t make it, or aren’t quite ready to make it yet, you are still part of the family and we want you to join online!

Hello church!

I wanted to let you know that we are working on getting the back together – in weekly outdoor worship services!

The Session and I (pastor Ian) have been discussing and researching this possibility, and with the help of a number of volunteers from the church we have made enough progress that I want to let you all know that we are planning on holding our first outdoor worship service a week from Sunday. That means Sunday, August 9 at 9am is a date you should mark on your calendar as a day to gather again outdoors (likely on the church volleyball court, which will be nice and shady at that time!) with your socially-distanced church family to pray, preach, and sing! The plan will be to continue outdoor worship every week for the foreseeable future!

I also want to assure you that we are still prioritizing the safety of our church and community and taking seriously our duty to slow the spread of Covid. That means we will be social distancing and that you should wear a mask. It also means that if (as a Tulare county official suggested was possible) a lockdown were to be put in place again in our county, we may have to give up even outdoor worship for a time.

With that said, we believe that it isn’t enough to care only for the physical well-being of our people and community, but we must also thoughtfully care for the emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being of the same. We, as the leadership of your church, will always care for you. You, as part of the church, must always care for your brothers and sisters in Christ and in your community!

Hello church!
This morning the Session met to determine how to comply with Governor Newsom’s order that churches in certain counties (including Tulare county) cease in-person, indoor meetings for the time being. As a matter of conscience, and after much discussion, the Session voted to abide by the governor’s order this Sunday. This means that our worship service will be online only this Sunday. We will send out a notification email as soon as the service is uploaded and available.
We believe that in-person worship is a vital part of our life together as God’s people, and it is our intention to return to it as soon as possible. Further, we feel quite confident that the measures we have taken to prevent the spread of Covid at our in-person meetings, and your thoughtful compliance with them, make our church gatherings a very low risk environment. For these reasons I am writing a letter to Governor Newsom explaining what we have done, and why we believe a return to in-person worship with appropriate precautions is both justified and beneficial.
We will continue to keep you updated regarding any other changes. Continue praying for each other, calling each other, encouraging each other, and sharing your needs with each other. I can’t wait to see you all again, hopefully someday soon!

In Christ,
Pastor Ian Hodge

Hello church!
Yesterday the Governor directed churches in certain counties with rising Covid-19 case numbers once again cease in-person gatherings for a period of time. This order affects Tulare county and our church as well. Your Session will be meeting this week (probably Thursday) to determine what action the church needs to take in light of the governor’s order.
I think it’s safe to say that we are all frustrated by this turn of events, especially because we have done our utmost to comply with previous directives as a matter of conscience (in obedience to the Great commandments and Romans 13 in particular) and also out of an abundance of caution. I ask for your patience, and especially for your prayers as we do our best to care for our church and our community.
I will communicate more to you as soon as I know more. I am grateful for you, and grateful for God’s good help and presence with us no matter where we are.
The Lord Jesus said to the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3:11-13:
I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
In an hour of trial, do not let Satan steal your good witness and good faith through anger or anything else. Stand firm; love God, love your neighbor, and care for each other. Amen.

In Christ,
Pastor Ian Hodge