Dear Church Family,

A lot has happened in the last few days, regarding the picnic and baptism that were planned for this Sunday.

First, the baptism: due to blue-green algae (blauwalg) the water at the Delftse Hout is both hazardous and horrible and we have made a decision to do the baptism, weather permitting, in the sea instead. This will be with a minimum team comprising (sadly) only those who strictly need to be there.

Secondly, the picnic: we now realize that in order to satisfy Gemeente Delft that we are socially distancing we would have to organize and control the event to such a degree that it would be neither feasible nor desirable for us. Even 100 people is seen as a very large number. At the very least we would have to have fixed sitting places and no movement amongst us would be allowed: we would also need to satisfy the Gemeente that a credible system was in place to make sure this happens. As the Dutch would say: ‘gezellig is anders!’. Even if we really wanted that kind of picnic it is too late in the day now for us to submit such a plan to Gemeente Delft.

Where do we go from here? Realistically we must cancel this picnic and encourage each other to meet in smaller groups, on private land as RIVM guidelines allow.

Meanwhile we can continue a prayerful conversation about how meeting in larger groups could occur in these difficult times, mindful of course that where two or three or gathered, Christ is with us.

With greater foresight we may have been able to avoid this disappointment, but even so, we still may not have found an alternative way of picnicking together as a whole church.

Sterkte!

On behalf of the Leadership Team,

Pete