CORONAVIRUS UPDATES

Check back on this page for updates in the coming days regarding location or time changes for our services.

April 10, 2020, 9:30 AM

Check out our latest Veritas Weekly! Highlights include the below, and you can find details at veritasdayton.org/events.

April 10 - Good Friday Online @ 6:30PM
April 12 - Easter Livestream @ 10AM; Scripture text will be Psalm 23
April 15 - Prayer Meeting Online @ 8PM (Recurring on Wednesdays)
April 19 - Care Packages Due!

April 3, 2020, 11:00 AM

Check out our latest Veritas Weekly! Highlights include a prayer meeting and scripture reading this weekend, and a new care package initiative! If you’d like to sign up for our newsletter, enter your email at the bottom of this page under “Subscribe to Our Newsletter.”

March 27, 2020 - 12:30PM

Our service this Sunday (3/29) will continue to be an online livestream only. Please join us at 10AM at veritasdayton.org/live.

We’ve also started a weekly Friday newsletter with updates from the different areas of our church: https://mailchi.mp/2a1fda7f333f/veritas-weekly-march-27-2020. If you’d like to subscribe, scroll down to the bottom of this webpage and enter your email under “Subscribe to our Newsletter.” Thanks!

March 20, 2020 - 2:00 PM

Our service this Sunday is moving to an online livestream only. Please join us at 10AM at veritasdayton.org/live.

As of right now, our plan is to use this for at least the next three weeks, but we will continue to monitor new information and make decisions on a week-to-week basis. We encourage you to stay connected and share your prayer requests and needs with us in the many ways we outlined in our post below (March 18).

March 18, 2020 - 3:30PM

Veritas Family,

Below is the current plan for this Sunday, 3/22/20. We will continue to monitor new information, and we will make decisions about Sundays on a week to week basis for now.

THIS SUNDAY:

  • We plan on live-streaming some portion of our service on Youtube at 10am on Sunday morning. We will send out more information about how to access the stream later in the week.

  • We are not encouraging groups to come together and watch this Sunday, but to simply participate from home.

WHAT WE CAN BE DOING:

  • PRAY: As a church, we consecrated (set-apart) ourselves and the month leading up to Easter (3/12-4/12) for united prayer and fasting. We did not know at the time that this was preparing us to stay devoted together during a season of not meeting in person. But we should continue to embrace and seek to grow in morning and evening prayer, and weekly united prayer and fasting for certain topics. This is a time where prayer is necessary, for our leaders, for our peace, and for the good of our neighbors. The prayer booklet guides us through many helpful topics to pray for, and you should have received one at service the past couple of weeks.  If you do not have a prayer booklet, contact info@veritasdayton.org, and reference veritasdayton.org/prayer for weekly prayer topics.

  • STAY CONNECTED: Reach out to people in your City Group to know how the changes are affecting one another. Talk to one another on the phone to hear voices. Use video chatting to maintain connection with our brothers and sisters. We are a family, and this time should not lead us to isolate completely, but to seek creative ways to stay connected where possible to continue to bear one another’s burdens and encourage one another. If you are not in a City Group, contact info@veritasdayton.org and we will help you get connected.

  • REACH OUT: While we all have many things changing in our lives right now, we need to realize that so do many others. We should stay invested in the needs of our fellow church members, as well as our neighbors. We are continuing to stay in touch with community organizations that need help. Please contact info@veritasdayton.org if you hear of other needs in the community.

  • SHARE: If you have a particular need, situation, or prayer request that comes up during this time, please let us know. As Mike Squire, our Deacon of Mercy encouraged us, we do not need to be ashamed to share our needs. We are creating a protected prayer page on the website for members to access and pray for those shared needs. Not all needs must be shared with the congregation, but this will be a way for us to do that. Please contact info@veritasdayton.org if you have something you’d like shared or updated with the whole congregation. 

  • PRACTICE PATIENCE: It is hard not knowing what the future will bring. It is hard not knowing what we will know an hour from now. But as limited creatures, not knowing everything is simply a part of being human. May we be humbled into reliance upon the God who knows all, and never changes. There will probably be several aspects of our life that we previously counted on and thought we could not live without, that will now prove to be unreliable. Jesus will not be one of these things. Our rock and our redeemer, He will prove trustworthy in times of trouble. May we be open to our idols being revealed and our affections for Christ being renewed during this time.

Our citizenship is in heaven, 
and from it we await a Savior, 
the Lord Jesus Christ, 
who will transform our lowly body 
to be like his glorious body, 
by the power that enables him 
even to subject all things to himself. 
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, 
whom I love and long for, 
stand firm thus in the Lord. 

- Philippians 3:20-4:1

March 14, 12:45PM

Brothers and sisters, thank you for your grace and patience as we continue to seek to honor Christ and make wise decisions day by day. The good news is that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we as His church will continue to worship in spirit and in truth, even though that may look different than normal as we journey through this unique time together.

We are making a few additional changes for our service this Sunday:

  • No Veritas Kids Classrooms will be available in order to continue to minimize physical contact, and work with the availability of teachers. All children are welcome to sit in the sanctuary with their families. 

  • The entire service audio will be recorded and posted online by 1pm. If you are unable to attend, please still devote 90 minutes later in the day to join us in our corporate reading, preaching, praying, and singing on Sunday.

Remember that in following weeks, we will be livestreaming the service and encourage those who are able to still gather together in smaller groups in homes, and will post more details next week.

March 13, 2020, 5:00 PM 

Brothers and sisters, below is another update from the elders:

We will still be holding a service this Sunday (3/15) at 10AM at Emerson Academy. We would love for those who are able to join us in worship and in hearing from God’s word. 

ADDITIONAL CHANGES FOR SUNDAY INCLUDE:

  • No communion

  • No Pre-K class (Veritas Kids for ages 0-3 only)

  • Expanding our seating area to allow us to spread out

For the following three Sundays (March 22nd, 29th, and April 5th), we will not be holding a service in person, but will livestream our liturgy and preaching. We encourage those who are well to still gather in smaller groups in homes with other members, and will provide additional guidance on that in the coming weeks. For those whose health is more vulnerable and need to stay home, we encourage you to worship with us via livestream. 

We encourage everyone to continue to use the Lord’s Day for worship, to continue to give online, and to remember that this is not permanent. Gathering to be in the presence of God’s people and receive the Supper is ideal. This is temporary. We pray that these measures taken around our city and state will shorten the length of time and impact of this virus. As stated in our previous post, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you are sick so that we can pray for you and provide food, supplies, or whatever help you may need. 


March 12, 2020, 3:00PM

Brothers and sisters,

As you know, Ohio is under a state of emergency to slow the spread of COVID-19 (the Coronavirus). As those in Christ, we do not respond with a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). However, since we are a community that gathers together regularly, we need to act wisely in order to respect governing authorities and protect our neighbors—especially those who might be more vulnerable. 

We will continue meeting at our normal time at 10AM Sunday mornings at Emerson Academy, but are working on a contingency plan should the school close or further instruction be given by our government. For now, we will be taking extra precautions and asking you to as well, not only for your own sake but also for the sake of others. 

SUNDAY MORNINGS:

  • Hospitality: We will not be serving open food or drinks, to avoid accidental transmission of germs. We will also be wiping down our chairs and other surfaces before service as a precaution.

  • Communion: We will continue to practice the Lord's supper, but will transition to sealed communion cups/wafers either this Sunday or next. 

  • Greeting/Passing of the Peace: Instead of physical contact greetings like shaking hands or hugging, please opt for smiling, waving, and encouraging words.

  • Veritas Kids: We give each child hand sanitizer and also disinfect toys weekly. As always, if your children have a cough and a fever, please keep them home. 

  • General: If you have a cough and a fever, please stay home. If you know you are more vulnerable to infection, please consider taking extra precautions when coming to church, or, depending on your particular situation, consider staying home altogether. We provide an online worship guide (veritasdayton.org/worshipguide) and sermons (veritasdayton.org/sermons) for you to follow along with, and you can also call upon the elders to pray for you and bring communion.

DURING THE WEEK:

  • Follow the CDC's recommendations, like washing your hands for at least 20 seconds (sing the Doxology while you do it!)

  • Meditate upon the Lord's sovereignty, and cast your cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7).

  • PRAY - Let's be the church and intercede on behalf of our community and world. Pray for those with the virus, for medical workers, for our governing authorities, for the vulnerable. Pray that God would help us to respond as the church, and that we would trust Him and be a non-anxious, peaceful presence in our city.

  • Reach out to any neighbors who might be vulnerable to make sure they have what they need.

IF YOU ARE SICK OR QUARANTINED:

FURTHER READING:

*RESOURCES:

*Please consider the reliability of the resources you consult. Not everything you read on the internet is true, and reading from unreliable sources can cause panic.