Happenings 18/11/2021

Very shortly, we will be sending out to our regular church attendees a survey to get feedback on issues relating to how our faith community may function going forward. The government has told us that in early December, Auckland will be moving to the new ‘Traffic Light’ protection framework for managing the covid-19 pandemic. Auckland will be moving directly into the ‘Red’ Level, which has the following requirements regardless of vaccination status of those attending.

1. Record keeping and scanning in will be required for all faith-based events.
2. Face-masks will be required

However, different rules will also apply depending on whether we choose to use vaccine certificates or not.

• If vaccine certificates are used, up to 100 people can gather, based on 1m social distancing.
• If vaccine certificates are not used, up to 10 people can gather, based on 1m social distancing.

If and when Auckland moves to the lower ‘Orange’ setting, the allowed numbers will ease as follows:

• If vaccine certificates are used, there will be no number limits but still 1m social distancing.
• If vaccine certificates are not used, up to 50 people can gather, based on 1m social distancing.

Given that daily numbers of covid infections in Auckland are presently growing, Auckland may stay in ‘Red’ for some time. While Remuera Baptist Church could under the traffic-light system legally meet again physically in our church building as early as December of this year, this would require us to adopt vaccination passports for those attending services and events where more than 10 people are present.

This new system has enormous implications for how churches can operate, and is causing real grief and heartache among pastors and church leaders as they try to discern the most Christ-honouring way forward. It is a conundrum that is setting two Biblical values against each other: the Biblical values of unity and welcome of others on the one hand, and the Biblical values of care and respect for others (by keeping them physically safe) on the other.

As a church, if we did not require vaccine passports for attendance at events, then we could only have gatherings of up to 10 people which would profoundly change the way our corporate community life would function. On the other hand, if we did require vaccine passports for attendance at events, we would be able to recommence our normal worship services and other events (although with masks, social distancing and possibly some other changes). The cost of this, however, would be the exclusion of our own unvaccinated people and also future unvaccinated visitors. There may well be some creative approaches that can seek to enhance both values of inclusion and safety, and we would welcome any suggestions!

These decisions affect us all, and so the leadership team would love to receive your thoughts on these issues. Please look out for the survey in your email inbox, and pray as we navigate some challenging times!

In Him,
Murray