COVID19 Update

March 1, 2022: Updates

We're Open!

We thank the Lord for His grace during the last two years and continue to pray that He will pour out His Spirit and revive our hearts and the hearts of people across Canada and around the world. "Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your mercy, Lord, and grant us Your salvation." Psalm 86:6-7

Our sanctuary is open for in-person worship every Sunday and 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. We invite you to join us for both services. There is a junior church class for children and nursery for infants and toddlers during the morning service. Services will continue to be live-streamed on YouTube. To watch, click here or on the banner on the jsbc homepage.

Wednesday, June 9, 2021: Updates

We're opening this Sunday!

Cherished members and adherents of Jarvis Street Baptist Church,

The time has come to reopen our doors to the public and resume in-person worship! As of Friday, June 11 at 12:01 AM, the Province of Ontario enters Step 1 of their Roadmap to Reopen, which now allows us to hold services at 15% capacity. We would like to welcome you to join us in worship and thanksgiving as we begin afresh our regular morning services.

In Christ,
The Elders

Services will continue to be live streamed on YouTube. To watch, click here or on the banner on the jsbc homepage.

GENERAL GUIDELINES
If you or anyone you have close contact with has any signs or symptoms associated with COVID-19, or are not feeling 100%, you should stay home and join our livestream service instead. All others are welcome, but none should feel obligated to attend in-person if for any reason you do not feel it is safe or wise.

Symptoms associated with COVID-19 include cold/flu symptoms:

- fever/chills/body aches
- shortness of breath
- runny nose/congestion
- sore throat
- change in sense of smell or taste
- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea

SOCIAL-DISTANCING AND SERVICE ETIQUETTE
1. 11 a.m.Service: We will have one service at 11:00 am. Children's Sunday School will continue online at 3 p.m. every Sunday.
2. Entrances: We will use only the parking lot (North) and main Jarvis Street (West) entrances.
3. Ushers will be wearing personal protective equipment, and will direct you to your seating. Green tape on the pews indicates where you should sit. Each mark is over 2 metres apart, to account for couples and families. Please use discretion, a big family may take up two sections.
4. Nursery will be open if you have nursery-aged children (2 and under); parent(s) must stay with your own children in the nursery during the service.
5. Toddlers and small children will need to stay with you during the service, abide by the social distancing rules, and respect the worship and preaching.
6. Washrooms: The north and south stairwell washrooms, as well as the handicapped washroom, will be open. All distancing rules in effect. Disinfectant materials will be provided for you to clean all surfaces used (toilets, handles, taps) before and after your visit.
7. Masks are available for all who need them and are able to wear masks.
8. After the service: When the service is over, you may mingle in the main auditorium so long as social/physical distancing guidelines are maintained. We encourage you to exit the building and mingle outside. Please respect others wishes and the social distancing guidelines.

OFFERING
For your and our convenience, we encourage you to continue giving online here. If you are unable to give online, there will also be offering boxes inside the main auditorium for you to place your offering upon arrival or exit.

GOING FORWARD
As we progress towards fewer restrictions, we will keep you updated with our plans to move towards more normalcy on Sundays. We ask that you be patient with us, patient with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and respectful of the directives enumerated above.

Saturday, April 17, 2021: Updates

Returning to Online Services

We would like to take a moment and inform you that the elders have made the regrettable decision that we will be returning to online services until it is safe and prudent to resume our in-person services. With the numbers of COVID-19 on the dramatic rise again, the Premier has announced that effective Monday, religious services will be limited to ten people. Given this information, we have thought it prudent to pre-empt this move by one day and meet online.

We realize the difficulties and frustrations this action will cause, and for our part, lament it. But in the providence of the Lord, this is our situation. We have deemed it wise to follow.

We also would like to encourage you that we as elders continue to pray about this pandemic, and for the many people who are suffering because of it. If there is anything we can do for you, please do not hesitate to contact the church office. Please continue praying that the Lord would both give us wisdom and remove this plague from us.

Your in Christ,
The Elders at Jarvis Street Baptist Church

Thursday, April 8, 2021: Updates

We're open for Sunday services!

On Wednesday, 7 April 2021, the Government of Ontario instituted a Stay-At-Home Order for the entire province. By doing so, they are signalling that the recent rise in cases of COVID-19 is serious, and requires a response from the public. The eldership of Jarvis Street Baptist Church also agrees that this pandemic is a pressing concern.

What is different with this iteration of the Stay-At-Home Order (as opposed to that of 14 January 2021) is an allowance for church services to continue, albeit at 15% room capacity. We are not taking these matters lightly, especially given that there have already been a number of cases in our extended church family.

So, while we will still be worshipping in person on Sunday morning, we do ask you to take the mandated precautions. We know you have heard this innumerable times in the last year, but please, if you are experiencing fever, cough, difficulty breathing, sore throat, runny nose, loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty swallowing... please stay home and get well.

In addition, in adherence to the city's bylaws, we implore you to properly wear a mask while at church, even when singing. We would also remind you that we are continuing to livestream our services, and you may always participate from your homes. As has been stated a number of ways in the media, these measures are not merely a matter of your own personal safety, but also for the sake of those to whom the virus could be transmitted.

Please continue praying that the Lord would protect us and glorify himself in this situation.

Continue reading below for more details about COVID guidelines.

Saturday, March 20, 2021: Re-Opening Guidelines

Our sanctuary will be open for 11 a.m. Sunday services starting March 21, 2021. Read important re-opening guidelines below. Services will continue to be live streamed on YouTube. To watch, click here or on the banner on the jsbc homepage.

- fever/chills/body aches
- shortness of breath
- runny nose/congestion
- sore throat
- change in sense of smell or taste
- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea

SOCIAL-DISTANCING AND SERVICE ETIQUETTE
1. 11 a.m.Service: We will have one service at 11:00 am. There will be no Sunday School or Children’s Church available.
2. Entrances: We will use only the parking lot (North) and main Jarvis Street (West) entrances.
3. Ushers will be wearing personal protective equipment, and will direct you to your seating. Green tape on the pews indicates where you should sit. Each mark is over 2 metres apart, to account for couples and families. Please use discretion, a big family may take up two sections.
4. Nursery will be open if you have nursery-aged children (2 and under); parent(s) must stay with your own children in the nursery during the service.
5. Toddlers and small children will need to stay with you during the service, abide by the social distancing rules, and respect the worship and preaching.
6. Washrooms: The north and south stairwell washrooms, as well as the handicapped washroom, will be open. All distancing rules in effect. Disinfectant materials will be provided for you to clean all surfaces used (toilets, handles, taps) before and after your visit.
7. Masks are available for all who need them and are able to wear masks.
8. After the service: When the service is over, you may mingle in the main auditorium so long as social/physical distancing guidelines are maintained. We encourage you to exit the building and mingle outside. Please respect others wishes and the social distancing guidelines.

OFFERING
For your and our convenience, we encourage you to continue giving online here. If you are unable to give online, there will also be offering boxes inside the main auditorium for you to place your offering upon arrival or exit.

GOING FORWARD
As we progress towards fewer restrictions, we will keep you updated with our plans to move towards more normalcy on Sundays. We ask that you be patient with us, patient with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and respectful of the directives enumerated above.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Warm Christian greetings to you all!

It is a privilege to echo the words of Paul to the Thessalonians, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.” Through this difficult season, we especially would like you to know that we pray for you regularly and carefully. We have been asking that the Lord would continue sustaining and upholding you throughout these long months, that he would be your fortress and high tower, your refuge, and that he would shelter you under his wings.

It goes without saying that we are living through a confusing and frustrating time. We know that in changing restrictions, it is easy to become dispirited and exasperated. Many of us have only seen each other on screens or heard one another as voices on the phone for most of a year, and we miss each other. It is a painful separation we are facing. Now that we have entered a second period of lockdown, the elders have again made the decision to suspend our in-person worship services on Sunday mornings. We as elders and deacons would like to take this opportunity both to encourage you and also to be transparent about our rationale for our actions.

Both in the spring and now, we have taken the greatest effort to make our decisions as a leadership with clear conscience before the Lord in light of our interpretation of Scripture and the precedent of the church through the ages. And so, it is and has been very clear to all of us that, despite our many reservations, that the public lockdowns are not a gospel issue, nor are they in any way persecutions against Christians. We have never believed that a temporary shutdown in any way invalidates the worship we offer to God. While we do believe the ideal and most efficient expression of our worship is together in the spacious building God has given us, we also believe that our worship is in Spirit and in truth, and when apart, continues to be valid worship, in the name of the Lord, under the same preaching of the same gospel, in fellowship, under the authority and leadership of elders and deacons.

Thus, when we see the main command in Hebrews 10:24–25 to consider how we might spur one another on to love and good deeds, and when we consider that these verses tell us to do this by not forsaking meeting together, we see very clearly that the impetus of the command is to attend to the mutual fellowship and encouragement of the saints and not forsake the community of believers. Meeting together, whether in house churches (as many in the time of the New Testament were), in small or large gatherings, or over the phone or online (as some have had to do over the past years and decades around the world, and as we have to do for a time now), is what the church must strive to do. Those verses also tell us that some had made a custom or an ethos of forsaking the community of the saints, and thus we want to be very deliberate to encourage you all the more to join our live meetings, studies, and small groups, to gather with your family, to prepare for worship, to sing when we sing, pray when we pray, and be in contact with one another as we will be with you.

At the same time, we see that the commands in Scripture to honour the king and submit to governing authorities have not been altered (Matt 22:15–22, Mark 12:15–17; Romans 13:1–7; 1 Peter 2:11–25), and we have not yet sensed that we cannot both render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s in this situation. We may become agitated at the public decisions made (perhaps rightly so!), but they are not our decisions to make—and before God, we must not let our agitations compel us to disobey the clear commands in Scripture.

Together, this is why we have made this most recent decision to suspend our in-person worship services on Sundays while in lockdown.

We also acknowledge that in a time such as this there are many contentious issues. We ask that you humbly give room and space for others to disagree with your own opinions. There are well-meaning, Christ-loving individuals across the political spectrum, and those who are Christ’s are loved themselves by Christ: we must sacrificially serve one another in love and Christian unity. May we be characterized by gracious and wise speech (Col. 4:5–6). We have been extremely blessed and impressed with the unity we have sensed and seen among the body at Jarvis Street during these times, even as we have been imperfect leaders, and even in the midst, we are sure, of potential disagreements on current issues within the body. Please continue to love one another, and “strive to keep the spirit of unity in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:4).

We would ask that you continue in prayer for our elected leaders: first, that they would be saved; and second, that they would govern us well, selflessly, and prudently, and that their decisions would be in line with the teachings of Scripture. We also ask that you continue to give to the ministry of the church, not merely for the church to continue running smoothly, but for us to be able to help those who come to us in need who have seemingly been left behind by all other channels.

We therefore close by saying that we are very concerned not only for those in our church who are suffering the effects of this virus here and in their families abroad, but also for the further effects of the decisions made in the culture and economy around us. We will continually discuss these issues as they impact our church, and we do recognize that while the apostle Peter commanded us to obey and honour the governing authorities, he himself also defied the authorities when it came to preaching the gospel! Our decisions are not set in stone; we do not merely defer to pressures from governing bodies or others, but to a higher authority: God and his word. Thus, we move forward with a constant eye on the issues.

The Elders and Deacons of Jarvis Street Baptist Church

Thursday, November 12, 2020: New COVID Guidelines

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are communicating to inform you of some changes regarding worship this Sunday given new restrictions imposed on public gatherings in the city of Toronto, which can be accessed here, and which go into effect Saturday, November 14.

As you know, at Jarvis Street we have made every effort to do all we reasonably can to continue meeting together and worshiping together, an expression of our desire to honour God and his word as his church, and in light this desire to honour God and his word, we have also made every effort to respect the authorities God has put in place over us and the potential concerns and safety of our congregation and those around us.

In keeping with these convictions, the following changes will be put into effect this Sunday:

1. We encourage anyone in a high-risk category, or any who deem it necessary or are willing, to consider livestreaming the service rather than attending in person.

2. We encourage any and all who do attend to note the following:

a. We will host multiple gatherings during our main Sunday service time in three various locations: the Main Auditorium, Greenway Chapel, and the Great Hall (Junior Hall), each of which will have a maximum capacity of 50 people. In the order listed, when one room hits capacity, newcomers will be directed to an alternate entrance and the alternate gathering in that room.

b. The main service will continue unaltered, and the other gatherings will participate via livestream.

3. All that is required of you is to arrive on time and conduct yourself in a conscientious manner given the various guidelines in place, as you have already been doing.

Please keep the church in prayer during these times, and we look forward to worshipping with you,

Sincerely,

The elders.

Saturday, June 13, 2020: Re-Opening Guidelines

Our sanctuary will be open for 11 a.m. Sunday services starting June 14. Read important re-opening guidelines below. Services will continue to be live streamed on YouTube. To watch, click here or on the banner on the jsbc homepage.

Government of ON: Effective Friday, June 12, 2020 at 12:01 a.m… all places of worship in Ontario will also be permitted to open with physical distancing in place and attendance limited to no more than 30 per cent of the building capacity to ensure the safety of worshippers.

GENERAL GUIDELINES
If you or anyone you have close contact with has any signs or symptoms associated with COVID-19, or are not feeling 100%, you should stay home and join our livestream service instead. All others are welcome, but none should feel obligated to attend in-person if for any reason you do not feel it is safe or wise. A nurse will be stationed at each entrance. The service will continue to be live-streamed for all who cannot attend.

Symptoms associated with COVID-19 include cold/flu symptoms:

- fever/chills/body aches
- shortness of breath
- runny nose/congestion
- sore throat
- change in sense of smell or taste
- nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- abdominal pain

SOCIAL-DISTANCING AND SERVICE ETIQUETTE
1. 11 a.m.Service: We will have one service at 11:00 am. There will be no Sunday School or Children’s Church available.
2. Parking: We will use ONLY the parking lot (North) and main Jarvis Street (West) entrances.
3. Arrival: Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes early.
4. Screening: At each entrance, you will be greeted by an usher, and a screening station where one of our nurses will do a temperature check, screen for symptoms, and offer you any personal protective equipment you may want or need.
5. Ushers will be wearing personal protective equipment, and will direct you to an usher inside the building, who will direct you to your seat. Green tape on the pews indicates where you should sit. Each mark is over 2 metres apart, to account for couples and families. Please use discretion, a big family may take up two sections.
6. Nursery will be open if you have nursery-aged children (2 and under). Parents, please stay with your own children in the nursery during the service.
7. Toddlers and small children will need to stay with you during the service, abide by the social distancing rules, and respect the worship and preaching.
8. Washrooms: The north and south stairwell washrooms, as well as the handicapped washroom, will be open, limited to one user at a time. Disinfectant materials will be provided for you to clean all surfaces used (toilets, handles, taps) before and after your visit.
9. After the service: When the service is over, you may mingle in the main auditorium so long as social/physical distancing guidelines are maintained: members of different households must stay 6 feet apart minimum; we encourage you to exit the building and mingle outside.
10. No food: There will be no food line, tea, or coffee after the service.
11. Hand shaking: We ask you not to shake each other's hands or hug or kiss, in order to respect the social distancing guidelines and the health of others.
12. Doors: As many doors as possible will be propped open to ensure you do not need to touch door handles and surfaces.

OFFERING
For your and our convenience, we encourage you to continue giving online here. If you are unable to give online, there will also be offering boxes inside the main auditorium for you to place your offering upon arrival or exit.

GOING FORWARD
As we progress towards fewer restrictions, we will keep you updated with our plans to move towards more normalcy on Sundays. We ask that you be patient with us, patient with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and respectful of the directives enumerated above.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Dear Christian Friend,

I hope you and your loved ones are safe. As elders, we remember you affectionately and feel keenly the absence of regular fellowship with you in worship and conversation. This state of affairs spurs us to beseech the Lord earnestly to reunite us in short order and that in the ensuing period

“you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2).

Indeed, these are taxing times on multiple levels for us. Yet, we appreciate that our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ involves submitting to divine providence—in this instance, providence clearly manifested and unquestionably felt in the form of COVID-19. Acceptance of the Lord’s will in this situation should foster fortitude and hope, not fuel paranoia and despair. Let us continue to act prudently and wait patiently, trusting our wise and loving heavenly Father for sufficient grace and strength.

“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:8–9).

While we cannot predict when the government will lift the shutdown on congregational worship, this moment presents phenomenal opportunities. First, let us seize this time for personal devotion, to spend more time in prayer (for our spiritual growth, revival in the Church and society, and wisdom for our political leaders), reading, studying, and meditating on the Word. Second, couples should grasp this hour as a fantastic gift from the Lord to strengthen their marital relationship and, where applicable, spend more time in Scripture with their children. Third, since we belong to the one family of God, minister practically and sacrificially to fellow Christians and others in need. Fourth—and by no means least—prayerfully share the gospel with unbelievers the Lord places in your path. Direct them, for instance, to the online services, so that they will hear the preached Word of God. The Lord may well use you in the conversion of sinners!

Now, a few new items. Many of you know that this crisis forced us to begin streaming our services without adequate notice. For several years, however, we have been working on a plan to stream seminary classes to students outside of Toronto and Canada, who wish to study with us from the comfort of their homes. The plan for online streaming of TBS classes—and now JSBC’s services—requires vast technological investments and some rearrangement of the Greenway Chapel, which will become a multi-purpose space to host Sunday worship services, (re-structured) Bible Studies, and function as the main lecture hall for TBS. Please pray for this work and contribute financially to it as the Lord enables you. Our giving page, jsbc.org/donate, has all the information you need to give online.

Finally, should you require assistance from the Church or its elders, please do not hesitate to call upon us.

“Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10).

Yours in His service,

Dr. Glendon Thompson, Senior Pastor

April 2020

Dear Church Family,

We trust you are all well and experiencing the blessing of the Lord in these unprecedented times.

It has now been two full weeks of what seems to be further and further isolation as we try to prevent the spread of this virus, and as your pastors we desired to send along a letter to give you some updates as we go forward.

First, we want to continue to encourage you all in the Lord with the truths of which we are convinced from scripture: that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim 1:7). In a time when panic strikes the hearts and minds of many, and when cowardice abounds, and in a time when many in society are cavalier and brash, as believers we can act without fear, and with soundness of mind, because of him in whom we have placed our trust, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross.

To this end, as you all know, we have significantly altered our day-to-day and weekly practices at the church. As elders, we have had more meetings in a shorter amount of time than we can remember, both to pray for you all and for our nation, and particularly to plan how best to move forward as a church. We want you all to know you are in our hearts, and as we have made efforts to speak to as many of you as possible through the various channels we have open to us, we will continue to do so with the goal of reaching all of you; it is our earnest hope to continue to do what God has called us to do as it regards you all: to shepherd his flock. Please continue to reach out to us, and to one another.

Second, we want you to know that we remain available not just to talk and pray and counsel over the phone or internet, but to help you in any way you may need so far as we as a church are able. These are trying times financially, and some are out of work and out of pay. Please do not hesitate or feel it would be an imposition to reach out to us, and we, trusting God will provide, will do all we can to help you.

To this end, we want to encourage you all to continue to support the ministry of the church financially in your tithes and offerings. The words of the apostle Paul to the Corinthians seem doubly fitting in times such as these when he says,

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work”

(2 Cor 9:6–8)

and

“Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality”

(2 Cor 8:13)

As we all continue to give, we do so in the hope that the Lord may supply our every need, and even that he will exceed our expectations. We ask that you pray that this may be the case.

Thirdly, as you know, the elders decided a couple weeks ago to livestream services from the Greenway Chapel, which we have now done twice. Nevertheless, since meeting together—even with the best of precautions—exposes all of us to the virus (we are in contact with others outside the Church, for instance), we have decided to suspend, effective immediately, any public access to all livestreaming services from the Church building.

The new protocol for Sunday services involves pre-recording/livestreaming our services via YouTube, posted on jsbc.org. The YouTube link will be embedded on the church website by 11:00 AM.

Regarding Bible Study and other midweek meetings and studies, we have initiated a Zoom account for the Church, through which we will conduct weekly Bible studies. We will send out information shortly for how to use Zoom.

These are humbling days for us all as we seek to make due with the new situations in which we find ourselves. Yet as believers, we take a step back out of the seeming chaos of these current events, and we remember our one great mandate: to glorify God; the one great desire of the Christian life: to know Christ and make him known, and that fundamental and unalterable truth about the universe: that God remains on his throne.

By whatever means, we will strive to continue to preach and teach, worship, counsel, and pray, longing for the day when we can all meet together again and worship the Lord in sweet fellowship, and praying that we do so with new brothers and sisters who have been snatched from the fire in these dark days.

Yours in Christ,

The Elders