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Salutations! My name is Russell Feldhausen, and currently it is my honor to serve as the vice president of the All Souls Board of Trustees. At our October board meeting, we approved a plan to return to in-person services starting on November 7th. We also set a goal to clearly communicate about this process to the congregation. So, in that spirit, here is some information about our current plan for in-person services. As many of you know, I work in education, so please forgive me as I slip into “teacher mode” for a bit to share all of this information.

First, we are tracking the risk level metric for the Kansas City Metro Area on Covid Act Now as our metric for determining whether it is safe to hold in-person services. That metric includes data from 14 area counties, and aggregates many data points together in a single value. If the risk level is Low, Medium, or High, we will be open for in-person services. However, if the risk value increases to Very High or Severe, we will immediately cease in-person services. If that happens, we’ll send out a notice to everyone.

As part of this plan, we are taking several precautions to protect all of our members from unnecessary exposure and risk. This plan is still constantly evolving, and we’ll be making changes from time to time. In addition, we hope that many of these precautions will be temporary, and we can continue to reduce them as the risk level improves.

Current precautions:

Masks are required for anyone 3 and up
Proof of full vaccination required for anyone 12 and up. We will follow CDC recommendations, so if they update those recommendations to include booster shots, we’ll aim to comply with that.
No food or drink. We won’t be serving coffee or snacks, and we ask you not to bring your own. Save that coffee run for after service!
Anyone who feels ill or has symptoms associated with COVID-19 should stay home
We will have separate, designated spaces for various groups during service. More about that later
We will limit entry to the building to just the doors off the parking lot that lead into the lobby and Conover.
The facilities committees has worked to improve airflow and filtration in the building to reduce risk from airborne exposure
We’ll have plenty of masks and sanitizer available for anyone who needs it

Of course, there are some reasonable exceptions to these precautions for staff and persons participating from the stage during service.

Now, for the most important part - we will be requiring reservations to attend in-person Sunday services in Bragg, as well as to attend the in-person RE classes. This will help us maintain proper social distance and make sure we can set up proper seating and spaces for everyone. Again, we hope that this is a temporary restriction that can be relaxed as the risk level improves.

Each week, we’ll send out a link to an online form for reservations on the Monday prior to an in-person service. That form will allow you to choose from four different reservation types:

Assigned seating - each person or group will have assigned seats that are separated from other groups by 6 feet. This section will also be the furthest away from RE students and unmasked singers on the stage, so it is best for anyone who wishes to be more careful. This section is open to fully vaccinated adults and youth 12 and up.
Mingle seating - in this section, persons or groups will be able to move chairs around a bit to form new groups. By choosing this option, you indicate that you are OK with sitting next to other fully vaccinated people outside your household. This section is open to fully vaccinated adults and youth 12 and up.
Parents - parents who have regular contact with children under 12 will have their own section in Bragg. Those parents will enter the building through the Conover doors with the RE students, and should proceed directly to Bragg unless their child needs their presence in Conover. This will make it easy for RE teachers to locate parents if needed, and will minimize unnecessary exposure between sections
RE Students - RE students will sign up by age group. When they arrive through what I’ve been told will be an amazingly decorated door, they will meet their RE teachers in Conover. At the start of service, they will proceed as a group to Bragg and be present for the first part of the service. After that, they will follow their RE teachers back to other designated areas in the church.

You’ll also have the option to reserve a seat to watch the Forum. We’ll have a limited number of seats in a room set aside for watching Forum, but you’ll need to bring your own device if you want to ask questions via chat during Forum discussion.

We also understand that reservations will probably fill up, so our form will also have a waitlist option that you may choose. Persons on the waitlist will be notified if space becomes available throughout the week, and anyone remaining on the waitlist will be given priority and the first opportunity to make a reservation for the following week’s service.

All of this information will be posted to our website at http://allsoulskc.org/reservations. If you prefer to make your reservation via phone, you are welcome to call the church Monday through Friday between 10 AM and 3 PM and someone there would be happy to assist you.

As part of this process, we’ll need to verify full vaccination status for anyone 12 years and older who attends an in-person service. To simplify this process, there are a few ways to do this:

Online Form - we have an online form where you can upload a picture of your vaccination card. Once you’ve done that, we’ll have a record of it and can pre-print a nametag for your reservation that includes your vaccination status, so you’ll effectively have a fast-pass to enter the building when you arrive. You can find the online form on the Reservations website, or in the Flicker for the past several weeks.
In Person - you may bring your vaccination card, or a copy or picture of it, to church on Sunday and we’ll have someone there to verify it. Once we’ve done that once, again we’ll have a record of it for future services. If you plan to bring your card with you, we ask that you arrive before 11 AM to give us enough time to get everyone verified before service begins.
Privately - if you’d like to protect your information, we’ll also have a board member or other designated person on duty each Sunday that you can show your card to privately, and they’ll get you verified.

Any visitors who wish to join us are welcome to fill out the online reservation form as well. However, we will also reserve a few spaces for visitors to join us even without reservations. We want to be an open and welcoming church for all those who wish to join us so we can continue to grow. Of course, all visitors must also be masked and show proof of vaccination to enter the building.

Finally, we are in need of several volunteers to help us implement all of these precautions. As an incentive, volunteers will be able to attend most of the in-person service each week they are volunteering. If you’d like to volunteer, there is a form on our reservations page you can fill out, or feel free to contact a board member.

We understand that this is complex, and you may have questions that we haven’t answered yet. We are compiling a list of Frequently Asked Questions to be published to our website soon. So, if you have any questions at all, I invite you to email us at board@allsoulskc.org, or contact any board member. We’ll also be watching our Facebook page and group and participating in discussions there.

On behalf of the entire All Souls Board of Trustees, we thank you for your patience and support as we take this next step. It is truly a privilege to serve this community.