H1N1 Updates from Riverlife Church

Dear all,

Our Senior Pastor has released a personal note to all riverlifers on the H1N1 situation in our church. You can read the personal note and also updates from church on the church website at http://www.riverlife.org.sg.

Please also note that there will be a pre-recorded service for this week which you can access from the church website from this Saturday. 27 June from 7pm.

I will keep you all updated of things.

Thank God that most of the those infected are doing well and recovering. Let's continue praying for everyone during this time.

James

Personal note from Senior Pastor 主任牧师的话

RiverLife Church
Note from the Senior Pastor
25 June 2009

Dear sisters and brothers in RiverLife,

As you are probably aware by now, RiverLife Church has been identified as a community cluster of local H1N1 infections. Since 19 June, ten H1N1 cases have been linked to our church (please refer to attachment). We have contacted all adults and youths who came into close contact with them, as well as their household members, to quarantine themselves at home. Thankfully, all ten of them are recovering well and no new cases have been reported since. I wish to thank the pastoral staff, cell leaders and members for extending their care and support to those hospitalised or under home quarantine.

As a precautionary measure, the church leadership decided to cancel our youth service on Saturday, 20 June, and our children's services and classes on Sunday, 21 June. This is partly because children and youths are more vulnerable to the H1N1 virus. My sincerest apologies to those who did not receive the notice and came to church with their children. I thank you for your kind understanding and cooperation with our staff and volunteers. To keep yourself posted, please check out our website at www.riverlife.org.sg for updates and announcements.

Last night, the Elders’ Board met and a decision was made to suspend all church-based meetings and programmes until and including Saturday, 4 July. These activities will resume on Sunday, 5 July.

There are a few reasons behind the implementation of these measures. Firstly, as one of the first two “community transmission clusters,” our risk level should be deemed even higher. We are concerned for the health and safety of our people and those whom we come in contact with. Secondly, this matter has received extensive media coverage on TV and in the newspapers over the past few days. It is important that we assure the public that we are doing all we can to contain this local spread.

Although we have not had any new infections since 22 June, this time frame from now until 4 July may still be a high risk period. Furthermore, we are expecting the return of many Singaporeans from overseas holidays during this time. The Elders’ Board has decided that it will be wise and socially responsible to suspend all our church-based meetings and programmes until 4 July.

In addition, I appeal to all RiverLifers not to visit other churches over the next two weekends. We wish to be considerate about the health and peace of mind of the other churches in our city. To ensure that you receive spiritual input during this time, we will post pre-recorded English and bilingual services on our website, which will be available for download from 7pm on Saturday, 27 June. You can conduct a family service or have a personal time of worship in your home. I have a message that I believe God wants me to share with you, so be sure to tune in.

This has been an unusual and challenging week for our church, to say the least. I want to salute the staff and volunteers for their herculean efforts in coping with all the last minute changes. They have served with excellence and great attitude. I also wish to thank RiverLifers for your understanding, cooperation and prayers. I am sorry we have not been able to update you sooner and faster due to our overstretched resources.

Why is this happening to us and how are we to respond to it? I will share more in the pre-recorded service, but suffice to say that whenever God wants to move powerfully in and through someone or a church, He will first allow us to be shaken, and then awaken us to pray and seek Him. I have not seen such a commitment to prayer in our church for a long time. We are even more convinced than before that God is sending an outpouring of His Holy Spirit upon us.

The devil is obviously not pleased, and will do all that he can to distract and discourage us when we are rising up as an army to impact our society and bless the nations. Yes, we must do what is socially responsible but we must not be thrown off by distractions or doubt. Let us stand firm and stay focused on what God wants to do. Let us seek purity, pray like never before and be united in our passion for God.

Let me end with the words in 1 Peter 5:8-9, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Amen.

Yours in Christ,
Rev Vincent Lun