Covid-19 Information
As of July 1, 2021, Alberta is in Stage 3 of Re-Opening.
There are no more restrictions for worship gatherings. Masks are no longer required. Physical distancing is no longer mandated, so there will be no more roped-off pews in the sanctuary. There is no more limit on how many people can gather. We are also able to enjoy congregational singing once again! We are so thankful!
We will no longer be taking temperatures at the main entrance. We will not ask screening questions. There will still be disposable masks available for those who would like to wear them. If you haven’t yet been vaccinated, we do encourage you to wear a mask. However, that is entirely up to you. If you’re not feeling well, please wait until you’ve recovered before attending worship.
We will no longer be pre-registering people for worship. However, during the summer we will still check people in for worship when they arrive. This is a voluntary check-in for contact tracing purposes.
We will continue to be diligent with our sanitizing protocols. However, people who would like to shake hands or hug are certainly welcome to do so. We have asked our greeters not to initiate handshakes for the time being. But people who would like to do so are more than welcome to make physical contact.
Jeff Potts
Lead Pastor
College Heights Adventist Church
Mobile 306.850.8038
Office 403.782.6131
May 27, 2021
Our Alberta Premier announced today that churches may resume worship gatherings this weekend, May 29, with an attendance cap at 15% of fire code capacity. For the College Heights Church, this means we can now welcome up to 120 people at each of our services. We encourage you to pre-register for worship and Sabbath School at mychurch.chsda.ca. Sabbath School Classes will also resume for our children and youth according to the following schedule…
- Nursery and Cradle Roll at 10:30 am in CHCS gym
- Kindergarten at 12:00 noon in the Earliteen Room
- Primary A & B at 12:00 noon in CHCS gym
- Juniors meet online at 10:30 am (contact the leader for a link)
- Earliteen at 10:30 am in the Earliteen Room
- Youth at 10:30 am in the Youth Ministry Centre
In addition to our Sabbath Worship Services at 9:15 am and 12:00 noon, there is an adult lesson study in the Sanctuary at 10:30 am.
Jeff Potts
Lead Pastor
College Heights Adventist Church
Mobile 306.850.8038
Office 403.782.6131
May 5, 2021
The Alberta Government currently has in effect gathering restrictions for places of worship. Communities with a high number of COVID-19 cases are limited to 15 in-person attendees. Therefore, until further notice, the College Heights Church is closed for in-person worship. Please join us for worship via livestream at College Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church on Livestream.
There is currently no in-person Sabbath School programming. For information regarding Sabbath School for children and youth, please visit our Children’s Ministry Facebook page -- bit.ly/kidschsdaFB
Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you. Please call our toll-free helpline at 1-844-844-8248.
Jeff Potts
Lead Pastor
College Heights Adventist Church
Mobile 306.850.8038
Office 403.782.6131
March 12, 2021
Our outbreak investigation has been completed. There are no known cases of transmission at our worship services or Sabbath School. As of Sabbath, March 13, 2021, our church is once again open for in-person worship gatherings and Sabbath School. Masks are mandatory. All worshipers are screened upon arrival. We encourage you to pre-register for worship and Sabbath School at mychurch.chsda.ca. Our provincial government continues to limit the number of people who can attend to 15% of our fire code capacity. Most of our Children's Sabbath School Divisions are now meeting in person. Please note the details:
- Nursery and Cradle Roll at 10:30 am in CHCS gym
- Kindergarten at 12:00 noon in the Earliteen Room
- Primary A & B at 12:00 noon in CHCS gym
- Juniors meet online at 10:30 am (contact the leader for a link)
- Earliteen at 10:30 am in the Earliteen Room
- Youth at 10:30 am in the Youth Ministry Centre (Resumes March 27)
Jeff Potts
Lead Pastor
College Heights Adventist Church
Mobile 306.850.8038
Office 403.782.6131
March 5, 2021
I have good news! I've received a call from Megan Carter of AHS. She tells me they are in the process of wrapping up our outbreak investigation. Although I have not yet received confirmation in writing from Megan Carter, our church staff has voted to move up our church re-opening to Sabbath, March 13. This is a week earlier than anticipated. We're thankful we can gather for Sabbath School and worship on March 13.
At this point, we're still restricted to 15% of fire code capacity. Several of our children's divisions will not yet re-open due to lack of adequate room capacity. Our provincial government is not yet ready to relax this 15% restriction on worship gatherings.
Kind regards,
Jeff Potts
Lead Pastor
College Heights Adventist Church
Mobile 306.850.8038
Office 403.782.6131
February 18, 2021
Greetings!
I hope your week has been enjoyable and productive. We thank God for His unfailing love and faithfulness. Nancy and I continue to get stronger each day. Two days ago, Nancy felt like she actually had some energy. It was the first time since February 1. We’re grateful for God’s healing. Nancy looks forward to being back to work at CHCS on Monday.
I wanted to give you an update on the ongoing Outbreak Investigation at our College Heights Church. AHS will conclude the investigation once we’ve had no new cases for 4 weeks. Last week I informed you that in all our asymptomatic testing our church members have had no positive test results. However, that has changed. This past Sabbath, February 13, a Burman Student who has attended worship at our church tested positive. Thankfully this individual is asymptomatic and is in quarantine at Lakeview Hall. Unfortunately, this positive test may lengthen our outbreak investigation.
Our College Heights COVID Committee met earlier this week. I sure appreciate the faithfulness of the 14 individuals who serve on this committee. They have met 4 times so far this month! In the interest of bringing our outbreak investigation to a conclusion ASAP, the committee has voted to restrict church access to a very limited number of people. I apologize for any inconvenience. At this time, we ask that you do not drop by the church to pick up anything. If you need something from the church, please contact our head elder, Karen Leung, at (403) 872-6398. She will make arrangements for the item(s) you need to be delivered to your home. (Thanks, Karen! This is so kind of you!)
All our church meetings are being held online. We have re-scheduled our Annual Church Business Meeting for Monday, March 8 @ 7:00 pm. This event will be conducted via Zoom. Please watch the bulletin for the link.
Tax receipts for 2020 charitable donations will be mailed out before the end of February. Thank you so much for your faithfulness and generosity!
I look forward to speaking at first service this Sabbath, February 20. It’s feels great to be well enough to preach again!
Grace and peace to you!
Jeff Potts
Lead Pastor
College Heights Adventist Church
Mobile 306.850.8038
Office 403.782.6131
February 12, 2021
Nancy, Nadine and I want to thank our College Heights Church family for all the love and care and prayer that has been lavished on us over the last 10 days. We have had so much support. We feel very loved.
The good news is that I’m now out of quarantine. Today is my first day back to work. I’m still a bit fatigued, and I have a residual cough, but my other symptoms are gone. Nadine is also recovering well. Nancy has been slower in her recovery. She is still suffering with several symptoms and is not yet ready to return to work. She stays in close communication with her family doctor and is receiving excellent care. We’re thankful that all three of us could stay home during this illness. None of us had to be admitted to the hospital.
My family and I have had the UK Variant of COVID-19. AHS called last Sabbath, February 6, to let us know. As you are likely aware, this variant is highly contagious. I thank God I didn’t attend worship at College Heights on Sabbath, January 30 -- the day before my symptoms appeared. (The challenging thing about COVID-19 is that people are contagious for a few days BEFORE they are symptomatic.) If I had attended worship on January 30, there is a high likelihood that I would have spread the UK Variant to other church members. God in his providence had arranged for me to be preaching onlineto another congregation that Sabbath. God is so good!
There were two individuals who attended worship on Sabbath, January 23, who later tested positive for COVID-19. (Unfortunately, they didn’t contact our pastoral staff to inform us they had tested positive. AHS informed us of these cases.) Because several members of our church have tested positive, AHS has opened an outbreak investigation. We have since been declared an outbreak site. If you’d like to see our name on the list of outbreak sites in Central Alberta,
visit https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-alberta-data.aspx#p25721s5
AHS has encouraged all people who attended worship at College Heights on January 23 to go for asymptomatic testing. Please see the attached letter from AHS for more details. When you book an appointment, be sure to provide the following outbreak code: 2021-EI-1245. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to book a test.
The AHS outbreak investigation of our church is ongoing. Our College Heights COVID Committee has been working closely with AHS on the investigation. I want to publicly thank Pastor Jordane for her strong leadership through this process. Our COVID Committee has voted that the church remain closed for worship and Sabbath School until the outbreak investigation has been concluded. This means we will not gather for worship or Sabbath School for the remainder of February. We will still have small team on site to produce our livestream programing on Sabbath mornings. I encourage you to watch our livestreamed worship services at https://livestream.com/chsda
I’m pleased to report that other than sharing COVID-19 with Nancy and Nadine, I have not transmitted the disease to anyone else. Our pastors have all tested negative. Belinda Bader has tested negative. To date, all our members who have gone for asymptomatic testing have come back negative. We praise God for this!
Our COVID Committee will take a fresh look at our church protocols in view of the new variant strains of COVID-19. We will do our utmost to keep our people safe. We have taken a conservative approach from the outset of the pandemic, andwe will continue to do so.
May God richly bless you!
Jeff Potts
Lead Pastor
College Heights Adventist Church
Mobile 306.850.8038
Office 403.782.6131
February 6 2021
Updates on Confirmed Cases of COVID 19 at College Heights SDA and outbreak investigation site by AHS.
Please note new necessary precautions to limit the spread.
Confirmed Cases of COVID 19 reported at College Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church. Please take the necessary precautions to limit the Coronavirus spread in our community
As of February, 2021 the Church was informed of a total of 5 positive cases of COVID-19 in our community. A deep sanitization of all areas affected in the College Heights Seventh-day Adventist Church has been implemented.
In an abundance of caution, the Church Covid Safety Committee has voted that Sabbath Church Services and Sabbath Schools will be closed this Sabbath. Further communication will be forthcoming. We will be continuing to livestream our services, and the church will remain accessible to participants and tech crew to make this possible.
You can join the livestream of our service at https://livestream.com/chsda
Attached is a letter provided by AHS with all of the necessary information that you as a church family can do to make sure that we prevent any further exposure or spread of COVID-19. AHS encourages to get Asymptomatic testing done As Soon As Possible.
We thank you for your continued caution to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Continue washing your hands regularly and thoroughly throughout the day and sanitize them often. Clean common touch surfaces in the areas around you and avoid touching those surfaces when possible. Masks continued to be required inside the church building as well as 2-metre social distancing, and avoid unnecessary close contact with individuals around you.
The church office will be closed until further notice. If you have any questions, please email office@chsda.ca or jordane@chsda.ca. We will be checking emails regularly and thank you for your patience should there be a delay.
As a pastoral team we continue to pray for the health and safety of our church family and thank you for your prayers.