Dear Friends,
We want to thank all of you who took time to take the survey a couple weeks ago about your thoughts and feelings about our worship life at this point in the pandemic.
In order to reach as many active members as possible, we sent invitations via the church email list and also made phone calls to those who prefer that form of communication. The survey was open from July 17th through July 26th. During those nine days, 109 individuals responded, which represents about 60 percent of our active membership. This is a strong turnout, especially during a limited time window! Thank you so much!
We were delighted to see that our Sunday Worship at Home video is meeting needs. 58.7% of respondents indicated that they watch every week (compared to 66.1% who had attended every week in-person), and 88% of respondents indicated that they appreciate the convenience of being able to worship from home. Music and preaching also received top marks in meeting needs. We are so glad that the Sunday Worship at Home seems to be providing a welcome sense of familiarity and hope.
The survey also revealed some positive interest in attending in-person worship services. 62.4% of respondents are very comfortable or mostly comfortable attending brief, outdoor, limited-capacity worship with many safety measures in place; 37.6% say they would attend, and 36.7% are not sure.
To explore the possibilities, these past two weeks we hosted four pilot outdoor liturgies: simplified morning prayer on Tuesdays and evening prayer on Wednesdays. Tuesday attendance has ranged from 7 to 10, and Wednesday attendance has ranged from 13 to 20.
Along the way, our team implemented and improved safety protocols and communications, including required registration and wellness screening. Registration is required to 1) maintain a safely-distanced capacity, 2) facilitate contact tracing, should any positive cases arise in anyone who has been present on the property, and 3) notify registrants of weather cancellations.
This information leads us to the following conclusions:
- The survey affirms that the Sunday Worship at Home videos should continue as the principal service for the foreseeable future.
- The survey and pilot data suggest that Tuesday morning prayer and Wednesday evening prayer continue outdoors throughout August or until conditions change.
We are excited to continue facilitating these outdoor services. In order to include viewers at home, we also will begin video-streaming the outdoor services on Facebook. (No Facebook account is necessary–just navigate to the Christ Church Detroit Facebook page.) During inclement weather, the outdoor gatherings will be canceled since there is no “rain location”, and the leader will offer the service from home on Facebook. The team hosting the service will notify registrants of the cancellation.
Please continue to provide your feedback at any time to our rector Emily Williams Guffey or senior warden Lisa C. Jones. Thank you for your continued support and prayers, and for helping Christ Church Detroit to remain a beacon of hope, even in the hardest of times.
Faithfully,
The Property Use in Pandemic (PUP) Committee:
The Rev. Anthony Estes
The Rev. Emily Williams Guffey
Lisa C. Jones
Lauren Leney
Howard Matthew
Liza Parkinson
Jim Treece
Sarah Tribelhorn
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