Following are updates issued Monday, March 16, by various Abilene churches.

PIONEER DRIVE BAPTIST CHURCH

In light of what the U.S. Center for Disease and Prevention Control (CDC) is recommending, Pioneer Drive is moving to Stage 2 of our health plan. We believe this decision is the responsible one to make for the health of our members and community. We want you to know that our ministries will continue to go on, but they will look different for the foreseeable future. We will keep you posted daily on any updates or changes. We continue to monitor the situation and discern how God is at work during this time. Know that we are praying for you and your family.

We are setting up a hotline for the most vulnerable church members to call if they need something. The hotline’s number is 325-695-8336. We will have deacons and staff members, who are healthy enough, deliver goods like groceries and prescriptions as needed. If we do not answer, please leave a voicemail. We will be checking the messages a few times a day.

We will have church via radio and online this Sunday, March 22. The Celebration Worship service will be on radio (AM1560) and Livestream at 9AM. For the gathering worship service, we will Livestream at 1030AM. At the appropriate times, you can find both Livestreams here: http://pioneerdrive.org/worship-online. You can also listen and watch previous sermons if desired.

We are staying in touch via phone and online with our Sunday schools and small groups on a regular basis. We encourage you to call one another and pray often. In addition, we are working on ways to still have Bible study lessons for you and your family. We will still send out a weekly email on Wednesdays with an updated Prayer List. Here’s where you can submit your prayer requests: http://pioneerdrive.org/resources/request-prayer.

As far as following our plan of Stage 2 goes, all non-essential ministry activities are cancelled for the foreseeable future, including small group meetings and any activities during the week. If you have questions, please contact your team leader or minister.

• Child Development Center will follow health authorities. As of today, they are open, but they are day-to-day while taking precautions.
• High School Choir Garage Sale is being postponed, including work hours.
• Pioneer Possibility and Celebration Sunday is being postponed. We will have more information on the capital campaign in the near future.
• The Eggstravaganza event is being cancelled. Therefore, we do not need to collect any more eggs and candy at this time.

We encourage all of our church members to adhere to the CDC’s guidelines. If you are in a high-risk category, we encourage you to use the hotline. With God’s guidance, we will continue to be the church that God has called us to be in Abilene and throughout the Big Country. We look forward to the creative ways that the Spirit will use us.

SOUTHERN HILLS CHURCH OF CHRIST

Statement from Elders and Staff, Posted 3-16-2020

Southern Hills Family –

As you may have heard by now, the CDC is currently prohibiting social gatherings of more than 50 people, and further recommending that people avoid all social gatherings if they can for the next 8 weeks. As we previously mentioned, out of love for our neighbors, the Southern Hills leadership is committed to following national CDC guidelines that are intended to help “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus in our nation.

While we obviously do not yet know the additional recommendations our local government might add in the coming days, we feel that the safest and wisest course of action is to adhere to what the CDC is telling us now.

This means that, in addition to the other programs we have already suspended, we will also be temporarily suspending our Sunday morning worship gatherings.

As you might imagine, this is a massive organizational undertaking that is going to take us days to successfully implement. The ministry staff is hard at work in the wake of the CDC decision to shift the majority of our church ministries online, as well as to provide care to our members and neighbors who may need our help.

There will be many more details to follow regarding how we plan to “be the church” when it is impossible for us to “go to church.”

The Southern Hills Elders and Staff