Join us on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2020 for a time of singing Christ-centered Christmas songs and a message from Galatians 4:4-5 about how the Son of God came to us so that we could become children of God.
Christmas Eve Services in Longmont
Tag: boulder county
In-Person Church Services: Walk-Through and Frequently Asked Questions
This Sunday, June 7, will be our first Sunday of in-person services since the COVID-19 pandemic required churches to stop meeting in person. For the past three months we have gone online with our services (you can watch them here) and community groups, but we are excited to begin in-person services in our new building!
We will continue to provide our services online for those who cannot or should not join us in person, and we are taking precautions according to the guidelines issued by the CDC and the State of Colorado to make sure our gatherings are safe and we spread nothing but love, kindness, hope, and encouragement.
If you are local, there will be a prayer walk around the new building on Saturday, June 6 at 9:00 AM, and we would love to see you there!
Details for our in-person and online worship services:
9:00 & 11:00 AM (both services will be live-streamed on our YouTube channel and Facebook page, as well as on our website: whitefieldschurch.com)
Address: 2950 Colorful Ave. Longmont, Colorado 80504
These will be family services, which means there will be no NextGen classes for kids during service, but we will have a Wiggle Room and a Nursing Mothers Room available for those who need them.
In this video I give a walk-through of our building and share about some of the precautions we are taking:
In this video our NextGen director Michelle Pearl gives some information for family with children, including picking up NextGen lessons, what kids can do during service, and a walk through of the Wiggle Room.
We are so glad to serve the Lord and to serve you, both online and in person!
Update on Reopening: In-Person Services Begin June 7
We have been monitoring very closely the COVID-19 situation from multiple angles, and are excited to announce that our church will begin gathering for in-person worship in our new building on June 7!
This is consistent with our previously announced Reopening Plan, and is in accordance with the state and federal guidelines.
In preparation for opening on June 7, we will be:
- Rearranging our sanctuary and setting up an overflow room to accommodate social distancing
- Working out the kinks with live-streaming our services
- Setting up audio and video in the overflow room
- Having the building cleaned by a professional cleaning company
- Hanging our big sign on the outside of the building
- Coordinating with our service teams to ensure a welcoming and safe environment for worship
We look forward to seeing you on June 7! Remember that we will be having two services, at 9:00 & 11:00 AM. These are family services, which means that there will not be NextGen classes for children or youth, but there will be a “Wiggle Room” available for parents with niños who need to get out their wiggles, as well as a Nursing Mothers room, complete with a screen where you can watch the service as you take care of your babies!
The wearing of masks is recommended, and we will be disinfecting between services. Those leading from the stage will not be wearing masks while they lead worship or teach, so please plan your seating accordingly if that is a concern for you. Families are encouraged to sit together, otherwise seating will be done with 6 foot distance (2 empty chairs between you and the next person). Hand sanitizer stations will be available.
If you are experiencing symptoms, or are not yet ready for public gatherings, you will still be able to join us online on our YouTube channel, our Facebook page, and whitefieldschurch.com live at 9:00 & 11:00 AM starting June 7. On May 31 we will still be broadcasting our service at 10:00 AM.
But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face – 1 Thessalonians 2:17
We are excited for this new season for our church!
Love and blessings,
Pastor Nick
Longmont Food Pantry Opening
One of the opportunities our church has in our new facility is the ability to run a food pantry for those in the community who need it.
We’ve been hearing reports from more and more people in our church who are out of work, either temporarily or permanently, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Those who work in service industries have been hit hard, salons have been forced to close until the end of April, restaurants have had to lay off workers, and we are hearing that many of these people have not yet been able to register for unemployment benefits because the website is so overloaded with requests.
We have wanted to have a food pantry ministry for a while, and the timing of this starting now will hopefully help many who are struggling to make ends meet or struggling to find they supplies they need.
If you or anyone you know could use a little help with food or household supplies, please contact our church at 303-775-3485 to set up a time to come in, or see the hours below.
The food pantry is also accepting donations, if you would like to contribute:
- non-perishable food items
- cleaning supplies
- toiletries
- baby food, diapers, wipes
- hygiene and sanitary products
Initial Hours of Operation
Address: White Fields Community Church – 2950 Colorful Ave. Longmont, CO 80504
Donations may be dropped-off:
- Mondays: 12:30-2:30 PM
- Wednesdays: 10:00 AM -12:00 PM
Pick up will be available curbside from an inventory list:
- Fridays: 10:00 AM -3:00 PM
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Update from Pastor Nick
The following is a message I sent out to our church today regarding the current situation with COVID-19:
The situation with COVID-19 is developing quickly. I am glad that our authorities are taking this so seriously; a virus that threatens the most vulnerable in our society is something we should all care about deeply.
Confidence and Love
As Christians in these times, we are motivated by two things: confidence in the gospel, and love for our neighbors. In Jesus, we have confidence and security; we do not fear, because we know that even if our bodies are destroyed, we have a heavenly dwelling that awaits us because of what Jesus accomplished for us. Hebrews 2:14-15 tells us that because Jesus defeated death and the devil, we are free to no longer live in the fear of death.
Although we do not fear death, it is important that we love our neighbors by doing what we can to slow down the spread of this disease which is affecting vulnerable people, particularly the elderly and those whose immune systems are compromised.
Doing your part to minimize the spread of COVID-19 is not an act of fear, but of love for our neighbors.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help with shopping or errands, particularly if you/they are elderly, we want to help you with that so you don’t have to put yourself at risk. E-mail info@whitefieldschurch.com with any needs, and we will make sure it gets done in a safe manner.
Practical Matters
In this spirit of love, we ask that you respect the recommendations of the CDC and refrain from unnecessary gatherings and contact with others, until the risk goes down. If possible, please consider working from home.
Community Groups
Whereas last week, we recommended that Community Groups continue meeting, we are now leaving it up to individual groups to decide if you should meet, or consider a video chat instead. Shelby will be posting more information on possible ways to do that soon.
Sunday Church Services
For this Sunday, we will pre-record a video with worship and a Bible teaching, which we will then post on YouTube and Facebook for you and those in your household or family to watch together. On Sunday at 10:00 AM we will start a “watch party” on Facebook for those of you who use that platform. If you haven’t yet subscribed to our YouTube channel or followed us on Facebook, now is a good time to do that, and you will be alerted whenever we post a video or go live.
We are working on setting up the video system in our new building, so we can use that to film and broadcast our services, and we expect that to be ready soon. We are also working on a Church Online platform that we can use during this time.
We are waiting until it is safe and advisable for us to have physical gatherings before announcing our official Grand Opening in the new building.
Children’s Ministry
Michelle Pearl, our NextGen Director, will be posting the weekly lesson so that you can go through them with your children at home on Sundays.
Giving
As we often say, giving financially to God’s work through the local church is an act of worship. Since in-person giving will not be possible until we can gather physically again as a church, we ask that you give online. That can be done on our website here, or on Realm.
Blog Posts and Devotional Thoughts
During this time, I will be posting more frequently on my blog with devotional thoughts and Bible studies. That might be one more way for you to engage with our community and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here’s the website: Longmont Pastor – and you can subscribe in order to get email updates of new posts.
Update on Pastors Nick and Mike
I just arrived back from Ukraine, where Pastor Mike and I were visiting our missionaries and teaching at a leadership conference. When we left, there was no recommendation against travel to Hungary or Ukraine, and there were no COVID-19 cases. When I arrived back in the US today, I was screened and tested for COVID-19 and the test came back negative. However, we are more than happy to comply with the protocol and self-quarantine for 14 days out of love for others and respect to the authorities.
In one of our recent studies from the Vision series, we looked at developing God’s vision for your situation – part of which is understanding that every situation presents us with opportunities to respond to the gospel and love our neighbors. That is true in this situation as well! Here is the link to that message: A Vision for Your Situation
It is important that we stick together in this time, as a community of people who love Jesus and love our neighbors. We want to continue growing in faith and looking for ways to serve those around us in Jesus’ name.
Much love,
Pastor Nick
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update From Pastor Nick
Psalm 112:7 (NLT) “They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them.”
With the heightened awareness and deep public concerns regarding the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), I want to let you know that we are carefully monitoring the situation, CDC updates, and government response and recommendations.
We are continuing to take precautions at our services and gatherings. We have prepackaged, single use communion cups and wafers available, as well as hand sanitizer. We ask that everyone please wash your hands thoroughly, even more than usual, as this is this most effective way of preventing transmission. We are committed to being as proactive as possible to create safe and clean environments for us to worship in. We’ve always been very intentional in this commitment and are now, more than ever.
Currently we are not planning on canceling any of our church services or Bible studies.
We have made the decision to cancel our Easter Outreach at the recommendation of Boulder County, which is asking that large public gatherings and festivals be cancelled. We want to be good neighbors and honor the authorities God has put in place.
Some of you have asked about whether Pastor Mike and I will be affected by the travel ban. We will not be affected by it, as we are US citizens. We will be home soon. Thank you for your concern.
Let us be ready and looking for opportunities to love our neighbors in this time. Let’s be respectful of people’s concerns and ready to reach out in love, faith, and compassion – being full of the confidence and courage that comes from the hope of the gospel.
Much love,
Pastor Nick
We’re Moving!
White Fields Community Church is moving! From our church’s beginning, we have met in the St. Vrain Memorial Building in downtown Longmont. It’s a large building, and has been a great place to start a church, but as we have grown, we have gotten to the point where it has been hindering more than helping us in fulfilling God’s mission for our church. For example, our Middle School class meets in a hallway, since we have maxed out all of the available spaces for NextGen classrooms.
We have pursued several properties over the past few years, and God has been faithful to lead us by shutting doors, which is exactly what we prayed He would do if those were not the right places for us.
Recently we heard that another church in Longmont was considering closing a second campus they had opened 2 years ago. After reaching out, we felt that God’s hand was in this for several reasons. One is that the day we reached out to them is the same day that they had their official vote to close the campus. One of their prayers that day was that God would bring another church to use the space, and they received a call from us on the way home, within an hour! The other reason is because we were able to work out a deal in which we acquire all of their furnishings – something we would have needed to purchase wherever we moved to, and we will be able to take them with us when we move in the future.
We don’t view this as our final destination as a church; we would still like to own our own building rather than lease, but this will be a good place to facilitate ministry for the next several years. The church is a family, and a building is like the family car: it’s a tool that we use for our family, and it helps to have one that is good and reliable, and in which we all fit!
This new space is going to be a big upgrade for our kids and our youth; there’s a large youth area. It is a place that our church will be able to use for ministry throughout the week, including being home to our Bible Learning Center. It will give us the chance to have special services, such as on Good Friday; something our church has never been able to do. We look forward to filling the space with Bible study, discipleship and worship all week long, as well as having a home for our media outreaches. Our offices will move here, as we have also outgrown our rented office space on Nelson Road.
Please be praying for this new season at White Fields!
Address
2950 Colorful Ave. Longmont, CO 80504
Timeline
Our last service at the Memorial Building will be on March 22, 2020 at 10:00 AM. After service we will move all our equipment over to the new location.
Our first service in the new location will be on March 29, 2020 at 10:00 AM.
We’re excited for what God has planned. If you’re in the Longmont area, come grow with us at White Fields in our new location!
New Website and New Series
Website Update
We recently updated our website at White Fields Community Church. The bulk of the work was done by our Administrative Assistant: Ocean – and our friends over at CryBaby Design: a great company based here in Boulder County; check them out if you have any design needs.
Browse the site and let me know if you find any broken links or things that are out of order: whitefieldschurch.com
Advent Series
Also, this Sunday we are starting a new series for Advent called God With Us.
In our first message, we will be looking at one of the most over-looked episodes in Christmas story: the killing of the innocent children by King Herod, and why this story illuminates important aspects of who Jesus was and why He came as the promised Savior to defeat evil and reconcile us to God.
If you’re in Longmont, or nearby on Colorado’s Front Range, we’d love to have you join us on a Sunday this Advent. More information here.
Thoughts on Prayer: “God is Most Glorified in Our Dependence On Him”
Recently I sat down with Matthew Spencer of #LongmontPrays, a local initiative to encourage prayer in Longmont.
In this interview, I share some thoughts on prayer, such as that intimacy is created through shared experience, and we get to share experience with God through prayer, thus building intimacy.
We go on to talk about Jesus and how he was the embodiment of God’s glory, and that he showed us by example what it means to be dependent on the Father.
Check out the interview; I hope it encourages and blesses you!
Original Music by Michael Payne: My Times
Michael Payne, who serves as worship pastor at White Fields Community Church in Longmont, just released an original song called “My Times”. Check it out on YouTube here:
Here’s what Mike wrote about the song:
The story of this song starts back in 1996 when I arrived in Debrecen, Hungary with my backpack and guitar. It comes from Psalms 73 and 31 and encapsulated the start of my journey as a missionary. This song would become a mainstay for our Monday night English language Bible study with the medical students. But then I left the song behind in Debrecen as we moved to Budapest where I felt God call me to invest in Hungarian songwriters and song-writing. Since our move to the States 21 years later, this song has taken on new meaning as my family declares this same endless truth to God again – “My times are in Your hands”, stepping out into a new chapter in life.
Music is not only about the song itself, but who you play it with and it was a great joy to record this with great friends.
I hope the story and the words of this song resonate with you wherever you are in your walk with God.
Mike is going to be featured in the Longmont Times-Call’s 100 People of the St. Vrain Valley feature, in which they highlight notable people from the area.
You can also listen to Mike’s music on Spotify: Michael Payne on Spotify
