Dear Virginia Annual Conference:
I am pleased to inform you that this past Sunday, June 21, we had a successful launch to Stage 2 of our in-person worship program.
Thank you to the many dedicated Healthy Church Teams that made this possible and the ongoing work of other teams as you assess when and how to best return to in-person worship. For some churches in the Commonwealth, the most faithful step is to wait before moving to in-person worship and to provide other ways to worship.
This past Sunday there were 235 churches in the Conference that had one or more in-person worship services, an increase of nearly 100 from the preceding week. At each church, committed Christian brothers and sisters worked with one another to enable in-person worship. And our hard-working District Superintendents are also working closely with pastors to implement these services.
We must continue to emphasize safety when deciding when and how to return to in-person worship and related activities. Thank you for your attention to these matters and for continuing to do the work to build God’s kingdom and make Disciples for Jesus Christ.
Peace and Blessings,
Bishop Sharma D. Lewis