To maintain a relatively safe environment for public worship, the following protocols will be voluntarily followed by our guests and members of St. Paul's Ev. Lutheran Church:

Prior to attending public services:
1. If you are in a high-risk category because of underlying health conditions or advanced age (65+), do not feel compelled to attend public worship services until you feel comfortable with the potential health risk. Guard your health.  Recorded services will continue to be available on our congregational website (www.stpaulsfulda.org) and our congregation’s Facebook page.  Family services of Holy Communion will continue to be offered by appointment.  If you are in any of the risk categories and still wish to attend services, you are certainly welcome to do so, being aware of the potential risks which may be involved.
2.  You are urged to stay home if you are ill in other ways or showing symptoms of COVID-19. Likewise, if someone in your household is ill or has COVID-19, please worship alternatively than in person at the public worship service for the time being.
3.  Wash your hands often. Frequent and thorough hand-washing is one of the best ways to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and other diseases.

 
Arriving for Service:
1. Hand sanitizer is located in the narthex.
3. Rather than taking an offering during the service, an offering plate will be available at the door for your gift to the Lord upon entry or exit.
 
During the Service:
1. Sanctuary seating will be by family groups who compose a household .
4. The theology of the Lord’s Supper will continue to be the same, but the practice will be altered for the present. 
  1. Those wishing to receive the Lord’s Supper will be invited to socially-distance by family group (six feet apart) in a continual line from the outside aisle to the front of the chancel. 
  2. The consecrated bread may be orally given and the consecrated wine will be available in both the individual cups and the common cup.  The Centers for Disease Control and other clinical studies concluded that the risk of spreading disease is extremely low. (https://www.ntnl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Common-Cup-CDC.pdf)
  3. Those not confirmed in the LCMS but wishing to receive a blessing may come forward with arms crossed. 
 
In addition to offering public worship services:
1.  We will continue to offer recorded services.
2.  We will continue to offer family communion services by appointment.
3.  You are encouraged to continue to develop and strengthen your personal devotional and prayer life and that of your immediate household using online, TV, and print resources.
4.  Please continue to pray for one another, for our congregation, and for your pastor.
5.  Please also pray for our governor, our medical personnel, and for our community.
 
We encourage each person to respect the Christian liberty of others: please refrain from forming opinions about others in terms of whether or not they attend in-person services or whether or not they wear a face mask.  The above are precautions that have been provided as best practices at this time.
Let us rejoice, for we once again have the joy that comes from gathering together with one another to receive the forgiveness of sins personally and directly through the Word and Sacrament ministry of Christ’s Church!