In light of the rapidly changing situation surrounding the Corona Virus we have cancelled the Wednesday March 18th services. At this time we are looking at our options that will enable us to start streaming services should conditions warrant such a change. At this time we will attempt to have services on Sunday March 22 — check back for updates later this week.
Here are some of the reasons our pastor made the decision to cancel the Wednesday services:
- All K-12 schools have closed in Wisconsin starting Monday March 16. As part of the the press release on Monday March 16th Gov. Evers stated that public gatherings in excess of 50 people should be avoided, including churches. Then today, Gov. Evers reduced that number to 10 people, in line with the recommendations that President Trump released Monday evening. In Romans 13 the bible instructs us to obey the secular authorities. Cancelling a few services does not raise this to a level that would suggest that we disobey the secular authorities.
- On Sunday March 15th many larger churches cancelled services or switched to streaming services. In the last 48 there is a growing number of smaller churches are also cancelling services in light of the developments in the last 48 hours. In the last 48 hours the number of cases has more than doubled with a third of those new cases being in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties. This is especially important for Milwaukee Baptist where such a large number of the people in our church on Wednesday night are in the high risk populations that have been identified.
- Before we can resume having services at the church we need to develop and implement a cleaning process where the surfaces that are commonly touched are wiped down with disinfectant spray or disinfectant wipes. This includes door handles, pews, and counter tops. This process needs to be completed between every service.
Based on the above reasons, after an evaluation of the number of new active case, any mandates from local government, and a cleaning process that can be implemented we will resume having in person services. As a shepherd our pastor takes seriously the health of the flock and at this time that means cancelling few services.