Congregation Update January 2021

Dear Congregation,

I hope your new year is going well.

I would like to provide an update regarding our church. Since my last update, Governor Newsom announced stay at home orders for our region through January 4th. And anticipating more surges in hospitalization, he extended the stay at home orders indefinitely.

Given this anticipation and the current surge, our collective leaders of the Board of Directors, Elders, and Pastors, have decided to continue the closing of the church for in person worship, meetings, and fellowship gatherings for the month of January. We will also cease optional in person gatherings for fellowships as well.

We realize that this might create isolation and discouragement, so please contact us for support, prayer, or encouragement. In the meantime, I continue to cheer on our fellowship leaders and Sunday school teachers who have been ministering through less than ideal circumstances.

May God’s Spirit rest on our hearts. May our smiles and prayers through internet gatherings resonate with your soul. May we find solace in prayer with each other and with our Heavenly Father.

Blessings,

Rev. Kevin Wong

Senior Pastor

Congregation Update December 2020

Dear Congregation,

Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate and whose arrival we anticipate in this season of Advent. I hope your Thanksgiving holiday took place in good health and good spirits.

With the arrival of December, COVID-19 numbers have risen and our local leaders have pulled back on venues previously reopened with restrictions. Our region, along with most of the state of California, has entered purple tier. Both local leaders and Governor Newsom ponder more restrictions, per various news sources. In light of these, we will not meet for in-person worship services in December. Further, I have instructed our AK Coordinators to postpone all in-person gatherings to 2021. I have based this decision on these:

• San Francisco has entered the purple tier, and therefore, has suspended indoor worship services.

• The numbers suggest that the pandemic’s reach is growing worse, not better.

• According to experts, our current data suggests that the full impact from Thanksgiving gatherings have not accounted for, and they expect a rise.

• With the holiday season arising, more social gatherings are expected, though many leaders are trying to advise against them

With these being said, I want to appreciate publicly our tech crew, those who assisted with in-person worship, and our collective leadership team of Elders, Directors, and Pastoral staff. Your support has been vital.

I continue in prayer for you and for your households. As we enter December, may Advent encourage you and may God continue to draw us in unity as we long for one another. God bless you, and if you have any concerns, please contact us.

Rev. Kevin Wong

Senior Pastor

Congregational Update November 2020

Dear Congregation,

Greetings in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.

With the ongoing response to COVID-19, our city and region has seen many changes in protocols and directives regarding re-openings. In August, the state of California released its color tier system, with each county making its own decisions as to its pace and timing of reopening. As of September 30, San Francisco entered into the orange tier, and as of October 21, it entered into the less restrictive yellow tier, but just paused into allowing the 50% capacity of indoor worship. It still open for 25% capacity at the present moment.

As promised, our Elders and Directors followed the developments and have been meeting to examine where CTBC stands in the allowances and directives. Further, our staff has also attended calls with the San Francisco Department of Public Health to understand its response to COVID-19 and its interpretation of the data. We have also surveyed the congregation to gain feedback.

In light of these developments our leaders have decided to open four dates for in-person worship services. The dates are: November 8th, November 22nd, December 13th, and December 27th.

• We will be holding a town hall meeting over Zoom on Friday, November 6th at 7:30 pm to discuss our protocols and to answer any questions. For zoom link, email us at info@cornerstonetrinity.org.

• Since we all manage the risks differently, we will be continuing the livestream of all of our worship services. In person worship attendance will not affect membership requirements, and our intent is not for the full restoration of a full schedule. We want to relieve a need for those desiring in-person worship, especially those feeling the effects of isolation and are not in high risk categories for COVID-19 (those with high risk medical conditions, age 50 or over with chronic medical conditions, those with respiratory conditions, etc.).

• We will create a Google Form to gauge the number of attendees in advance. We have chosen to limit the capacity between 58- 75 people for proper social distancing. Numbers will fluctuate due to how many households will attend the worship service on a given day.

• We have adjusted our protocols and practices to comply with San Francisco’s directives for indoor worship services. These include social distancing, requiring masks for all, maximizing ventilation, prohibiting in person singing, administering a health screening, and proper entrance and exiting procedures.

As for other ministry meetings and fellowships, we will still prohibit in person meetings, except for the optional outdoor gatherings for fellowship groups that follow county guidelines for outdoor gatherings.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support, and if you have any questions, please contact us at info@cornerstonetrinity.org.

Rev. Kevin Wong

Senior Pastor

Congregational Update October 2020

Dear Congregation,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

As we head into Fall, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to loom in our nation and local Bay Area.  Since I last emailed you,  the numbers in our state have fallen or flattened, counties have followed a color-tier system, and San Francisco has begun to open more indoor venues.

Our Directors, Pastors, and Elders have continued to meet to monitor and discuss these movements.  In short, we have decided to continue our policy of not meeting in person for worship, fellowship, and ministries through October 25th.

However, with San Francisco county moving into the orange tier, we have initiated a review of our protocols and are revisiting the conversation of reopening for indoor services.  Today, the city released guidelines approving larger indoor religious gatherings.  However, we will wait before reopening so that we can:

• Review the city’s and our protocols

• Secure the proper personnel and volunteers to follow the protocol

• Survey the congregation again

• Communicate properly with ministries, volunteers, and congregants

• Update our equipment to follow the protocols

Please fill out our new survey here: https://forms.gle/SbKsX5C5kCzy1Ezg6.  While you may have filled our survey before, we realize that information regarding the virus has changed, and accordingly, our perceptions may have changed.  This new survey will help us to gauge actual interest in attending in-person worship in light of new information.

I appreciate your patience, support, and mindfulness as we tackle a complex issue with changing requirements and dates.  And as we approach a potential reopening, we will communicate with you if we establish a target date and will present our protocols.  As I have stated before, there is no expectation that in-person attendance is required for membership or any other purpose, as we all have various risk factors to consider for in-person gatherings.  We will continue the livestream worship service for the long term.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us.

Grace be with you!

Rev. Kevin Wong

Congregational Update September 2020

Dear Congregation and Friends,

May God’s grace be with you.

As we enter September, I realize that we have not met in person for quite a long time, so I appreciate your patience and understanding .  While our local governments and scientists know more about the COVID-19, there is still much that is unknown.

Bottom line:   Our leadership has decided we will not meet for in person worships, Sunday Schools, ministries, and ministry meetings through September 27th.

Background:

• Since my last email, our leadership has been meeting regarding the changing standards.  At the beginning of summer, we saw various counties open various businesses and at different rates.  Afterwards, the state created a watch/monitor list, and since last week, the Governor released a color coded tier system.  Schools have generally not opened and many counties still face differing times for opening indoor and outdoor operations.

• Our team has been following these changes and discussing these changes.

• In the past, the Governor has implemented his lists and tiers and left discretion to the counties for slowing down re-openings even when they meet the requirements for their various tiers.

• San Francisco County has taken the state mandates and has generally applied stricter and slower timelines for re-openings.

• We anticipate slower timelines, as Mayor London Breed has outlined in her press conference on September 1st with a goal of allowing places of worship to open with very limited capacity at the end of September.  We will progress as we have the last few months with an eye toward San Francisco’s timelines when they release them.  We have and will continue to comply with the local health guidelines.

• We will continue to monitor the situation and communicate any changes.  We also want to take the opportunity to let you know that staff is planning Thanksgiving and Christmas, anticipating the present restrictions in place.  This gives the staff more freedom in planning, though we will communicate changes as they arise.

If you have any questions, concerns, or prayer requests, please communicate with our staff as we would like to care for our congregation through a difficult and unique situation.

Rev. Kevin Wong

Senior Pastor

Congregational Update August 2020

Dear CTBC Congregation and Friends,

Greetings in Jesus’ name.  As we progress through this historical time, we continue to wait with the patience that comes from waiting on God.  I realize that these times can produce stress, grief, and anxiety as we long to be together with others and share our common faith in person.

Given the circumstances and the rising numbers of infections and hospitalizations from COVID-19, our state has created a watch list for its counties that lists eligible openings and gatherings.  As of July 17, San Francisco is on the watch list and must stay off for 14 consecutive days before entering a new phase of reopening.  And religious gatherings are a full phase away.

With this in mind, the leadership Boards and Pastors have elected to maintain a closure of our doors to in- person gatherings for worship, ministries, and meetings through August 30th.  While we had a projected opening date, the state’s and city’s orders change regularly.  Because of this, it is prudent to maintain our closure.

Reminders:

1)  Our fellowship groups will offer optional outdoor gatherings for smaller groups of not more than 12 and not more than 6, if gathering for a meal.  The meeting shall not exceed 2 hours and participants shall remain masked unless eating.

2)  If you would like art supplies for your children, please email info@cornerstonetrinity.org for availability.  Similarly, if you would like to borrow any board games, please let us know.

3)  If you would like prayer or to talk to a church leader, please email info@cornerstonetrinity.org.  You can also leave requests that we can pray over in our daily prayer meeting at 7am or join us to pray. Email us for the link.

4)  We have sunday school for all age groups even adults at various times during the week. If you are interested, email us for the link.

5) Faith In Action is hosting a Backpack Drive in partnership with City Teams for low income families. See event page for more info.

May our Father of glory give you the Spirit of Wisdom and of revelation of knowledge of Him.

Blessings,

Rev. Kevin Wong

Congregational Update July 2020

Dear CTBC Congregation,

This summer has arrived, and while many typically seek refuge or vacation at this time, our region is facing the ongoing prospect of shelter in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  While we long to be together as the apostle Paul did for his churches, we too face down the possibility of not gathering together for the near future.

As we mentioned in our Zoom on June 19th, our intention was to re-open as the city approached phase 3 of the state’s plan issued by the governor.  However, San Francisco drastically slowed down its progress, charting the rate of infection and following research models.  Religious leaders were also told that their timeline for gatherings would follow the same timeline as other large indoor facilities and businesses.

Based on these factors and along with the congregation’s response to our survey, we have made the decision to extend our current practice of remaining closed to in person meetings for worship, ministries, and meetings through July 26th.

I do want to inform you, however, that San Francisco and San Mateo counties have opened up for social and religious gatherings outdoors.  Beginning in July, in coordination with the AK Leaders, College Sponsors and youth fellowship leaders, our small groups will be eligible to meet for optional once a month outdoor gatherings in groups of up to 12 (or 6 for a meal).  Our guidelines will follow each respective counties, but please consider these optional and follow proper social distancing practices, such as not meeting for longer than two hours, wearing face coverings, properly washing hands, and maintaining six feet distance.  We will also pay attention to the county guidelines as they are subject to change, especially San Francisco.

Here are some tips from the counties:

San Francisco: https://www.sfdph.org/dph/alerts/covid-guidance/Gatherings-Tips.pdfSan Mateo:https://www.smchealth.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/ho_order_c19-11_20200617.pdf?1592431253 (see section 13f regarding social bubbles and meeting outdoors)

As before, we will continue our online worship services and small group gatherings.  Sunday school classes will also continue over Zoom.  For links for your respective age groups, please email info@cornerstonetrinity.org.  Thank you again for your prayers and support, and please persevere in being a neighbor to your neighbors wherever you come across them.

Blessings,

Rev. Kevin Wong

A conversation on Race, Injustice & God

Join us tonight! Email info@cornerstonetrinity.org for a Link.

Reopening the Church Survey & Other Information

Dear Congregation,

As we are discussing about reopening the church, our leadership team is working on logistics to best serve you and provide safety as we come back to small groups and worship service in the future.  The survey will take apprx. 15 minutes to fill out. https://forms.gle/tmL67feuhH642QFD6. Please complete the survey by Wednesday, May 27th to help us continuing our planning process. Your opinion is important to us!

Secondly, Koinonia Conference Grounds, the camp site we have been using for over 30 years for our Adult Retreats and Youth & College Camps is in financial hardship. They have reached out to us to ask us to share with our congregation that if Koinonia has made an impact in their lives and if they have the means to help them during this time, there is a donation button on their website. www.gotocamp.org. Please prayerfully consider to giving to them if you can. They had to cancel some of their outdoor education camps and possibly their summer camps this summer, which would be a huge financial impact on them. Koinonia has been in ministry for 60+ years.  Our church has donated $2000 to them.

Lastly, Jenny Fu, a church members who works for Mercy Housing. is need of volunteers to assist with their food Pantry, packing and delivering to the residents at 2 of their locations from 9:30am-12:30pm on Mondays starting June 8th on. Mercy Housing is a national organization that provides affordable housing. There primary groups of service are: families, seniors and people with special needs. Our model for our buildings is to provide housing with services to empower, enrich lives, help residents build tools, and age in place with dignity. If you are interested in volunteering, contact us at info@cornerstonetrinity.org.

Have a Blessed Week! Stay Safe and Healthy!

Pastors & Church Leadership Team

Good Friday & Easter Sunday Message

Dear Congregation,

I hope you’re blessed.  These weeks have seen a lot of changes and decrees.  Our lives seem subjected to factors beyond our control.  And yet, with Easter coming up, we remind one another that Christ is king, and he is on his throne.

To celebrate Good Friday and Easter, we will be trying something different.  We will be launching a CTX/CTBC Live Stream Worship Services with singing, teaching, and go into a sharing time on friday and prayer time on sunday. Pastor Kevin will be teaching Friday and Pastor Clifton will teach on Sunday.

If you would like a link to join us for worship on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, please email us at info@cornerstonetrinity.org. Thank you.