GRACE CHAPEL

From Our Leadership Team

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and earth.” – Psalm 121:1-2

Dear Grace Chapel family,

God is still on His throne in Heaven, and we are still in His faithful hands. He is who we cling to in times like these. This has been a stress-saturating, faith-testing year for all of us with a global pandemic, protests, racial injustice, economic disruption, political vitriol, and governmental intervention fueling so much fear and uncertainty.

Yet, even in all of the trials we have faced, we are thankful for God’s goodness, kindness, and patience. Our church is not just surviving, we are thriving! We have seen Him do more than we could have asked and far above what we would have imagined.

Over the past several months, our leadership team of elders and pastoral staff have prayerfully considered the best path for navigating this global pandemic of COVID-19. We recognize differences in opinion and questions inside our community of believers at Grace Chapel around how to proceed as a church in this season. After seeking wisdom from God, we’re eager to share the direction God is leading us.

Our first commitment is to continue worshipping as a body of believers, no matter the circumstances (Matthew 18:20; Hebrews 10:24-25). We commit to pursuing and protecting our church family of believers through a healthy community and unity in heart and purpose. We have not stopped meeting together for even one Sunday since the pandemic started, and we don’t plan to now. We have gathered for three months of live services on our campus, while investing in our online community as well.

Other churches around the world, even in our city, have reopened with little to no regard for physical distancing and local government guidelines and enforcement. While there’s no mention of fire codes, venue sizes, social distancing, or masks in Scripture, what we do see is a biblical admonishment to honor our authorities as those appointed by God (Romans 13). We have chosen to maintain a worship environment where we can freely and obediently worship without dishonoring our Savior Jesus Christ.

As we have begun the process of reopening our campus, we have introduced a set of community boundaries to comply with the guidelines of local health authorities. Those guidelines include wearing masks, practicing physical distancing, and other measures. As an elder and pastoral leadership team, we have prayerfully considered each of these and are choosing to comply so long as it does not compromise our convictions on how we are to worship God or preach the truth of His Word.

While some in our Grace Chapel community see these boundaries as an annoyance or disagree with them altogether, we believe going against the wishes of our local authorities will likely be outside the bounds of Scripture. The restrictions placed upon us are not singling out churches but are being applied to all public places of assembly. We do not believe current health orders in Colorado are asking us to sin—they’re simply asking us to do what we can to help keep others healthy.

As we continue to face the restrictions of this pandemic, we ask you to consider different ways on how you can continue being involved with Grace Chapel:

• If you are in a high-risk category, please stay home and worship online. However, please also tell our leadership team if you’re making that decision so we can actively connect with you throughout the coming weeks and months.
• When you’re ready, we invite you to experience a live service on our campus. We have safety procedures in place and will adjust accordingly as new information comes our way from the Tri-County Health Department.
• For our leaders overseeing groups, classes, and in any discipleship roles, please engage with those under your care.
• For all of our Grace Chapel family, we encourage you to stay connected. We have several opportunities available to you, virtually, in homes, and on our campus, with more opportunities coming available soon.
• As a church, we don’t want you to be socially distant. As Christians, we are called to love others and live in community. While we respect the Health Department’s request for physical distancing, we believe it is not good for us to be socially distant, and we ask that you strive to be a part of a group of believers regularly. If you do not know how to do this, please contact us so we can help you.

We also ask for your prayer, support, and encouragement at this time. Whether you choose to join us on campus, online, or in community through prayer and reading Scripture together, we ask all to seek unity together (Ephesians 4:2-3). The Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior, is shining bright across South Denver.

Pray for our church and for us, as leaders, to embody unity, wisdom, and discernment. Pray for us to boldly shine the light of the Gospel, like a city on a hill, to those around us in Denver. We see this moment as a tremendous witnessing and ministry opportunity, if we can keep our focus on the message of Jesus. We are His Church, and it is our honor to serve Him by serving you.

You are greatly loved,

The Grace Chapel Elder Council
Josh Weidmann, Alex Zakroff, Dick Chiappini, Neil Holsteen, Mark Voss, Tom Scavuzzo, Bruce VerSteeg, Brian Moe, Todd Witty, Erik Burklin