PPAC COVID-19 Advisory

January 7, 2022

In light of the current orders from the Provincial Health Officer and the rapid spread of Omicron, we have made the decision to move the majority of PPAC’s mid-week ministries online with a reassessment taking place in early February.  This continues to be a fairly ‘fluid’ situation and we will seek to keep you informed of any changes as they arise.  Please feel free to connect with your ministry leader to get more information about each specific ministry and their plans moving forward into the new year.  Sunday Services will continue to be in-person and online at 9am & 11am. We are currently planning to begin Kidshine classes during Sunday services on January 23rd.

October 4, 2021

Starting Sunday, October 10th, we will be requiring that masks be worn by everyone 5 years of age and older while in the church facility. This includes Sunday services and ministry events taking place throughout the week.

The Board of Elders has made this change for a few reasons:

First, the continuing high case count reminds us that COVID-19 is not going away, and it is not just 'out there' - several people from our congregation have confirmed that they have recently tested positive as well. Recognizing this reality, and the fact that double-vaccinated people can still be infected and spread the disease, we believe it is prudent to ask all people to mask up while attending ministry programs.

Second, we believe it is the appropriate Christian thing to do - to lay down our 'rights' or preferences so that more people in our faith community would feel safe to attend a church event because all of us are participating in this somewhat simple preventative measure.

Third, we also believe this is a good witness to our community - that we choose to NOT use our 'religious exemption' to do whatever we want. Rather, we will use that freedom to serve others in love, including our city, and we are prepared to shoulder the burden of transmission reduction through the wearing of masks while our church meets together, as the rest of our city is doing in the vast majority of public spaces. And if, God forbid, we experience an outbreak here at Peace Portal, we believe our witness to our city will be strengthened if we can point to some responsible action that we took - like mask wearing, to mitigate that risk rather than gathering together without precautions.

Throughout the pandemic we have been careful to follow the Provincial Health Officer’s guidelines, however, in her last declaration, Dr. Bonnie Henry essentially passed on the responsibility of determining appropriate health guidelines to the leaders of each faith community. Since that time the Board has been discussing what appropriate steps we should take, observing case counts as we move into the Fall and back to school, and investigating how other churches in the province are responding. All of this had led us to the conclusion.

We know there’s all sorts of opinions about this disease and these issues. For some of you, this new requirement will be a frustrating ask. We understand that, none of us like to put masks on, but we do believe that it is a relatively simple ask for the time being. We’ll continue to assess things and make adjustments along the way.

If this simple act of mask wearing contributes to keeping us open for in-person services throughout the Fall for those of us who want to attend in-person…then we think masks are worth it for the time being.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email the Elders elders@peaceportalalliance.com and in all things, let’s continue to journey together in faith, hope, and love.

August 26, 2021

July 1, 2021

• The nursery will be open for parents to be with their children during the service
• Kids ages 2-9 will be supervised in room 201 and the KidShine wing.  They can be dropped off as you arrive, prior to the service starting (there will be no dismissal of kids during the service throughout July)
• Please note: All volunteers and staff working with kids will be wearing masks throughout the class.

5. Communion:  Please pick up a cup & wafer (packaged as one) as you enter the sanctuary as we will not be handing out communion elements during the service.

6. Offering:  Please leave your offering in the offering boxes located upstairs and downstairs as we will not be passing the offering bags during the service.

7. Online:  If you are feeling unwell or have any sort of sickness, please stay at home and join us online. If you are feeling fine, but you are not ready to join us back in person (or you are waiting for your second vaccination shot), please join us online.

June 11, 2021

We are excited to join together for Sunday services in person again! Beginning June 20th you will have the option to either worship online or in person. In person services will be limited attendance and participation as per the Provincial Health regulations. Registration for Sunday, June 20th will be available on Monday, June 14th here.

May 28, 2021

We are thankful for and excited about the recently articulated Reopening plan that will (hopefully) see us move into a degree of ‘normal’ church ministry this September. Until then, we anticipate some degree of uncertainty as regulations shift and change over the next three months. This week the Provincial Health authority made it possible for churches to meet for in-person services to a maximum of 50 people, but specified that those present were unable to sing in the service or meet socially afterwards.

Over the last year many of you have expressed the desire to meet in-person so that we can corporately worship together and connect relationally. In light of the fact that neither of these two values are able to be experienced with the current guidelines, we plan to continue with our current ‘church at home’ model until we see the current guidelines expanded further in the upcoming weeks. We will do our best to communicate any changes along the way via email and social media.

We’re getting close folks… may you know the peaceful and persevering presence of God’s Spirit with you in these days. Pastor Scott

January 8, 2021

In response to the most recent Public Health Guidelines for British Columbia on January 7th, we will continue to gather together in our various ministries online.

December 8, 2020

Today, Dr. Bonnie Henry extended the restrictions limiting gatherings until January 8, 2021. It is our intention to honour this request and continue with online Sunday services and online ministry groups until at least January 8, 2021.

November 19, 2020