This weekend our church is opening up here in California for the first time in almost 4 months. There are lots of things happening to make that happen and I am excited/anxious to see how the vibe will be as we navigate this all (if you want to see the churches plan you can click HERE).

With that, we are going to begin the process of slowly opening up our youth. We are doing a slow roll out with just opening up our campuses midweek to groups to meet and begin to work up.

The following is what our team is working off of and it includes:

  • The plan and strategy for the month of July and August
  • What each youth pastor needs to do for each phase
  • Communication Plan
  • Sample emails to send out to leaders and parents

 

Sandals Church Youth – Re-Entry Plan

 

The following is the Sandals Church Youth reopening plan to allow our youth to meet both in-person and on campuses and still use digital means for small groups to continue to grow in their faith and to be real with ourselves, God and others. 

 

Phase 1: July 1st – 29th

Wednesday Night:

  • Meeting on campus for the same “online service” set up just in person. 
    • We would focus on small groups and slow roll the re-entry. 
  • Slow roll out will give us time to plan to strategically come back without shocking the system and giving our leaders enough time and space to get back into the swing of things as leaders might not be ready to meet in person as well. 
  • “Service” would be video announcements and message then break into groups
    • Groups would be inside and outside spread out throughout each campus.
    • Outside would be the preferred choice if we can make that happen. 
  • We want to make groups a physical place for students to meet as an option and let that, not the service, be the focus for the first few weeks. 
  • Groups will still need to have the online option available for those who can’t/are not allowed to come on campus yet. So they will be hybrid: in-person and online via Zoom
    • Leaders can utilize their own devices or campuses can work on having ipads available for leaders to use to video in any students.
  • Late Night Hangouts: Easy/fun socially distanced event outside.
    • Movies
    • Bon fires
    • Food
    • Hangs
    • ETC. 
    • Something to where it’s outside and distancing is easily followed. 
    • I don’t think we need to do something every night, but 2-3 weeks out of the 5 weeks. 
  • We will still have services online to Premiere on the SCY Youtube channel for those who won’t be there in person but still can watch the message.
  • iPad check in for all students on campus so we know who is here meeting just in case a breakout does happen, we know who was here on campus, what group and who was in contact. 
    • Will need to work with guest services about using available iPads

Leads:

    • From now until July 1st, leads will need to get an inventory of how many leaders are going to be on campus and how many will be moving to online. 
    • Smaller campuses should not have any problems distancing with less students.  (Banning, Menifee, MoVal, SB, Fresno, Arrowhead)
    • Bigger campuses will need to think through the best way to still make sure we socially distance as best as possible. (HP, Palm, Woodcest, EV)
    • Each youth leads to work with their campus pastor to find out the best option for them and their campus. 

 

  • 3 Options:

 

    • Meet and spread out in the main auditorium for the message and break outside for groups. 
    • Outside projector on the screen or side of the building to play messages and then break to groups
    • Each group watches the service on their phones or computer individually already in their groups. 
  • Leads will need to work with parking crew and security teams to make sure we are good to go and safe for outside meetings. 
  • Communication about coming back will be done internally through leader/email and leaders reaching out to their students personally. 
    • No public announcement or social media posts. 
    • After the CP has already communicated that weekends are coming back. 
  • Please see potential email below for PPE and Social distancing guidelines. 
    • Mike Huntsman will give each Youth Lead a bucket full of PPE materials and sanitizing materials on hand for each area group would be meeting inside. 
    • Masks are required inside and up to discretion of parents if groups are outside. 
    • We should promote it, talk to our leaders about it and do our best while on campus to manage it all. 
    • There is a fine balance between wanting to stick to protocol but also not feel like we are policing and not being welcoming. We know and realize we are dealing with students who will be excited. 
  • Leads will set up Zoom calls with all leaders prior to July 1st to go through the details on this sheet to make sure all are all on the same page moving forward. 
  • Leads will map out and plan and share where groups will meet on campus. 

 

Phase 2: August 5th (Depending On Where CA Is As We Get Closer) 

Re-evaluate the July plan to see if we need to continue on that track or not. If so…

 

Wednesday Nights:

 

  • We begin to have “normal” youth midweek services with normal programming. 

 

    • 1st Wednesday Celebration – WHO IS YOUR ONE emphasis. 
  • Do the services in the main auditorium (for those who don’t have it already) to try and promote distancing (if needed). 
  • Small groups are still encouraged to meet outside if possible. 
    • If needed to be inside all the PPE and social distancing is still in full effect. 
  • Small groups would still have the online option for students/leaders who cannot join physically or for those who don’t feel comfortable. 

 

Leads: 

  • This is when we can have the new 6th/7th graders move up with Sandals Kids. 
    • We can begin to communicate the move up a few weeks out and work with Jeremy O’Neill to make that happen. 
  • We would ask the leaders to come on board and meet on campus during this time. 
    • If not, we can begin to think through how they can serve in leading a small group online for students who still are not coming to meet in person. 

 

Communication Plan:

  • June 15th week
    • Leads start to take inventory of which leaders will come on campus and which ones will still be online. 
    • Parent email goes out after campus pastor email – Explaining that we are having on campus small groups as an option and explaining the above slow roll out and that the online option is still available for those who do not feel comfortable yet. 
    • That online services are still available as an option. 

 

  • June 22nd Week
    • Re-connect and communicate with leaders with who will be here and who will not be in person. 
    • Communicating with parents again that this is an option and that online groups will still be available. 
    • This is just small groups. “Normal” services are not back yet but want to have that option. 

 

Leader Email Re: Re-Entry

Hello Leaders! 

Over the last few months as we have changed from in person to online gatherings, you have all been so amazingly flexible and continued to lead your group through this unplanned adventure.  

 

As part of our plan to reopen Sandals Church Youth, we believe now is the time to be flexible again and offer your group the option to meet in person on our campus starting on July 1st!  We want to provide the in person option at our campus but also realizing that parents/students might not want to meet in person yet, we ask as a leader, please be sensitive to the fact that group members may have different opinions or comfort levels with meeting in person. We know and have loved our online groups and it was perfect for what we needed, but there is something special about meeting in person as well so we want to provide that option. If some or all would prefer not to meet in person (including you), video is always available for all or some of your group members. 

 

If some in your group do choose to meet in person, here are some guidelines we recommend you follow.

  • You let me know if you are wanting to meet on campus and in person. We would love to track all of our groups of who are meeting on and off campus on Wednesdays. 
  • We are going to have iPad check in for all students on campus so we can keep track of all those stepping on campus. Leaders will check in students on devices so that students are not touching the devices.
  • Wear a mask while together and practice social distancing of at least 6 feet between one other (except for immediate family members that came together). 
  • We strongly suggest that your group meet outside if possible with enough space to accommodate social distancing and we will help you with that on our campus. 
  • If you are not comfortable meeting on campus, please contact me and would love to chat though options with you and how we would want to move forward. 
  • We will be setting up an all leader meeting to go over all the details and answer any questions you have regarding reopening. 
  • Before Leading the Group…
    • Please clean the meeting area before and after (using FDA approved cleaners) and refrain from serving any food or sharing any drinks together. 
    • We will have hand sanitizer and soap in all the bathrooms and make sure they are stocked for you and your students. 
  • Before Attending the Group…
    • Anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 should stay home. 
    • If you are in a vulnerable category please carefully consider whether attending a group in person is wise at this point.
    • Encourage everyone to take their temperature at home and if it is above 99.9, encourage them to stay home and call their doctor.
  • If you, or anyone in your group have tested positive for Covid 19…
    • Please request that everyone in your group self quarantine and contact your doctor to get tested. 
    • Please let me know as soon as possible through email at [email protected] so we can help everyone involved. 

Thank you again for your flexibility in this season and for your leadership of your Group as we begin our re-entry processes.  We cannot wait to begin meeting together in person! 

 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Email To Parents:

Hello Parents!

We have some exciting news to share with you! As we hope you have heard from our weekend services and an email from our campus pastor, Sandals Church is beginning it’s reopening process on the weekends.We are really excited to  start slowly rolling out there-opening process for our students. This is a decision we have been working on with our leadership l[lplpand we believe that we can now begin to open up our midweek small groups on campus as an option for our students. 

 

Our first Wednesday back on campus will be July 1st at 630pm!

 

We want to make sure that you know that this is ONE OPTION for your student on Wednesday nights. We will still continue to offer our youth services online through our Youtube Channel (youtube.com/sandalschurchyouth) so all students can access and watch, get small group questions, and have the option to still connect digitally with their groups like we have been doing for the last 12 weeks. 

 

We now want to begin offering in person, on campus groups AND digital groups as an option as we want to continue to help your students grow in their faith and begin the process of reopening Sandals Church.  With this in mind, our goal is to get back to  our normal programming for our youth in the next few months. 

 

Below is a quick run down and plan of action we are planning to take on as we slowly begin meeting with our students. 

  • We are not going to have our “normal” services but we want to focus on small groups (mostly meeting outside) for the month of July. 
  • On Wednesday nights will be watching the messages we have recorded and then breaking into small groups. 
    • We will let you know the medium of how we are going to be meeting together for the teaching time in the next week or so, as we are working with our campus pastor to make sure everything is meeting the standards that Sandals Church safety team has set up for weekend services. 
  • Groups will still have an online option available for those who would like to continue meeting online instead of coming to the campus. 
  • After groups we will be putting on Late Night Hangouts: Easy/fun socially distanced events outside.
    • We will communicate with you in advance to make sure you know what we will be doing. 
  • We will still have services online on the Sandals Church Youth Youtube channel for those who won’t be there in person but still can watch the message.
  • We will be having all students check in on campus on iPads check in for all students on campus so we know who is here meeting just in case anything happens so we can know who is all on campus. We will equip leaders with devices to check in every students that comes on campus. Students will not be touching the devices so that we can keep it sanitary.
  • We will communicate with you concerning your student’s leaders group, and if they will be meeting on campus or not, as well as, what the options for your specific group are for meeting. 
  • For safety measures, each campus will have a bucket full of PPE materials and sanitizing materials on hand for each area their group will be meeting inside, and for those students who don’t have materials needed/required for weekend/midweek meetings set by Safety Team. 
    • Masks are required inside and up to discretion of parents if groups are outside.

If a group chooses to meet in person, here are some guidelines we recommend they follow.

  • Wear a mask while together and practice social distancing of at least 6 feet between one other (except for immediate family members that came together). 
  • We are going to meet outside as much as possible (it’s summer, the weather is mostly nice) 
  • If you are planning on coming to a campus…
    • Anyone with symptoms of Covid-19 should stay home. 
    • If you are in a vulnerable category please carefully consider whether attending a group in person is wise at this point.
    • Please take your temperature at home and if it is above 99.9, stay home and contact your doctor.

 

I know this is a ton of info, but we wanted to give you a full rundown of what we have planned  in order to let you know that as much as we are excited to begin to reopen a place for our youth to be real and be in community, we are taking every precaution necessary to make sure our environments are safe for anyone meeting on campus. Our desire is for you not to feel any pressure concerning whether or not your student comes to the campus, and for you to know we are here to partner with you in any way possible. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. 

__________________________

So that’s what we got. Hopefully it’s helpful as you process and prep your churches.

 

@justinknowles3