Although the building is closed for regular worship due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we wish to advise congregation members that access to our sanctuary is available by appointment only to individuals and households to fulfill their spiritual needs…read more
Based on the recommendations of the Building Reopening Task Force, the Session made no changes at its September meeting to our current status . The First Church building will remain closed to in-person worship and gatherings. The predominant reasoning still remains that our building does not have sufficient outdoor air exchange to contain the spread of the virus indoors and it would be too risky to consider resumption of any form of in-person worship until Philadelphia's positive rate of infection falls to 1 percent or below. Other considerations are the current lack of a readily available COVID-19 test, reliable and robust contact tracing methods, and the fact that the availability of an approved vaccine is months away. For information about the particular circumstances of First Church—specifically, the air-flow (or lack of it) in our building—please read the original task force report published in June 2020.
Despite the fact that we are not able to be together in person, we are a community of faith with our roots deep in the reformed tradition. We seek as a body of faith to be the best citizens of our communities. We believe care and concern for all of our members must drive our decisions.
Please continue to check the website for the latest updates.
