Safe Transitioning to In-Person Worship Services

MCCY approved the resumption of worship services from Sunday 19 June.

We plan to hold our Services from Sunday 5 July, noting the responses from our recent survey how members of all ages are looking to participate in a worship service in person.

At the same time, we will take every care to implement all necessary measures for public health, in accordance to a safety management plan submitted to and approved by MCCY.

This document summarizes the plan for re-opening for the month of July and beyond, and the steps that will be taken. More details may be sought from the Pastoral team.

Key Aspects of the Plan

There will be 6 services run each Sunday, with a capacity of 50 worshippers each (not counting service personnel). The services will be staggered by time (between 8.30am and 6.30pm) and space to minimize mingling of persons from different services. No other activities will be conducted on the church premises on Sunday.

Pre-Service registration will be required to ensure the cap of 50 worshippers for each service. Members should register only for a Service that falls on a Sunday that is assigned to their Cluster.

First Sunday – Joy / Light Clusters
Second Sunday – Faith / Patience Clusters
Third Sunday – Hope / Peace Clusters
Fourth Sunday – Mercy / Grace Clusters

(Service announcements, registration links and schedule can be found at https://www.zionbishan.org.sg/category/covid-19/phase-2/)

This means that each member may only join the worship service in person once a month. Visitors who are non-members must also register.

Temperature Taking and SafeEntry registration will be conducted, and everyone is to download and activate the TraceTogether App. Anyone with a temperature above 37.5 degrees Celsius will not be admitted.

Entrance, exit and movement in the church premises will be carefully marked, to ensure no mingling of persons from different services.

All persons present are to don a face mask and maintain safe distancing of at least 2 meters.

Each Service will last for an hour only, roughly following the sequence that we have been adopting for our live-streamed services. There will be no live singing or group prayer. Offering collection will be via digital means.

Holy Communion will be administered at every Service, using pre-packaged Communion items (i.e. no sharing of items). Communion stewards will sanitize their hands and don gloves. Communion items will be kept separate so that worshippers handle only what they will consume.

After every service, the worship hall will be disinfected before the next service in the same location. As much as possible, the hall will be ventilated in between services.

There will be no fellowship tea. All worshippers will have to leave immediately after the Service.