For all the information about GROUP Sundays (starting 9/18/22), click here.

For a description of each GROUP that will meet on the 1st and 3rd Sundays, check out these videos.

It is an enormous understatement to say that a lot has changed in the last few years. There is not an area of our culture (including religion and the Church) that is not in turmoil or undergoing a significant shift. 

With so much upheaval, it is understandable that we might want to try and keep things the way they’ve always been, but this is ultimately unhelpful (and impossible). 

What if instead of maintaining the status quo, we dared to dream — to experiment — to risk? What if we leveraged this moment to help us see in new ways and respond with fresh expressions of faith? What if this became a time of discovery and growth?

Sundays this fall we will be trying some new patterns and rhythms that we hope will meet us in this particular moment of time and help us connect and grow. We’re sure there will be some bumps in the road. We won’t get everything right. But we do trust that God will be with us and will work through our time together to transform our lives and world.

For all the details in our brochure, click here! You can also listen to a short podcast with lots of info here. You can also watch very short videos here that describe each GROUP we are offering.

We would love to have an idea of how many people to expect in each group. You can help by signing up here!

In the last few weeks, government agencies have revised their Covid guidelines. We have also seen a steep decline of cases and ICU hospitalizations in Kent County. Therefore, we too are adjusting our policies beginning this Sunday, March 13.

• In rooms with good ventilation and air filtration, masks will be optional.
  • This includes the sanctuary and Grade School room.
  • The sanctuary has recently installed continuous ionization filters (the same used in schools and healthcare facilities), has fans circulating the air and participants are spaced apart while seated.
  • The Grade School Room also has continuous ionization filters and children are spaced apart while seated.
• In all other areas we will continue to ask people to wear masks (except those under 2 or with a medical exemption).
  This includes bathrooms, hallways, the cafe and entry ways.
• Because vaccinations are not yet available to 4 and 5 year olds, we will continue to require all those in our Preschool Room to wear a mask while in that room.
  • We will reevaluate this policy once vaccinations become available.
• We will also be engaging in a conversation with parents who have children in our Nursery and Toddler Rooms to get their input on how and when we might reopen this room. Until it reopens, little ones are welcome to roam and run in the sanctuary or the balcony, as well as join us at other times we gather (like the groups meeting after worship this week). Seeing (and hearing) them gives us joy.

We are all hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind us. And yet, the last two years have required us to admit that the future is wildly unpredictable. Which is to say, our policies will almost certainly change again. And while we hope that those changes will only bring us closer to pre-pandemic routines, we will continue to evaluate and adapt our policies based health department guidelines.

Join us for Ash Wednesday
12:00-12:30pm OR 7:30-8:00pm
At the building or on YouTube

As we begin Lent, we are setting aside space to ask, “What would it mean for me to live wholeheartedly?”

This 30 minute gathering is a chance to pause, breathe and set our intention for the 40 days ahead.

We look forward to having you join us.

With the latest numbers improving and fewer isolations and positive cases within the Branch community, worship this Sunday (2.6.22) will be available both in-person at the building and online on YouTube (please note the change; here is a link).

Here are a few reminders about Sunday:

1. We will be meeting at 9:30am!
2. As we have throughout the pandemic, we will be following the Kent County Health Department’s and CDC’s recommendations. Currently, this means that everyone, regardless of vaccination status or age, will wear a mask whenever in the building. Those under 2 and with medical exemptions are not required to wear a mask.
3. If you are not comfortable wearing a mask, or are not ready to be back indoors, we invite you to join our YouTube page.
4. BranchKids PreK-4th grade will resume on 2/6/22. Kids will start in worship with their families and then be dismissed about mid-way through our time together. Learn more here.
5. Toddler and Nursery rooms will not be available; however, the balcony has been reconfigured and has space for parents with babies or toddlers to roam, rest and participate in worship.

We have decided to not gather on Sunday, December 26th, but instead use that time in other ways that might connect us to God’s love and each other. We have a beautiful digital liturgy we can share with you (created by Sanctified Art). To get a digital copy, simply email chris@thebranchonline.org. This liturgy could be used by an individual or family.

And/or, we encourage you to do something that will remind you of God’s love for you. How do you best connect with God? What easily brings joy? What puts your mind and heart at peace? Whatever it may be, may you “be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19 The Message)

Our homes are regularly a part of our holiday traditions. But home is more than just an address or a physical structure. To each of us, ‘home’ carries a multitude of meanings, memories and emotions.

And in its broadest sense, home is more than the place we live and all it entails. Home could be any place where we feel safe and cared for – and so do others. It could be any time when we are able to be our truest selves — and so are others. Home, for many, is being at peace personally and collectively. In short, home is where things are as they should be.

We all long for this sense of home. To experience a wholeness within ourselves and with each other. This Advent we’ll be considering what it might look like to move closer to this home. To become people who come home and help others do the same.

After a year and a half of upheaval and change, we are circling back to the core values we have committed to as a community. Not only do these values help us describe how we will move through the world, but they also paint a picture of the kind of life we believe Jesus lived.

Join us as we consider our identity and sense of call together.

September 12 – Liberty: in a world that longs for black and white and constantly picks sides, we choose liberty.

September 19 – Incarnation: in a world of isolation and disconnection, we choose incarnation.

September 26 – Simplicity: in a world of endless choices and burnout, we choose simplicity.

October 3 –  Partnership: in a world of competition and individualism, we choose partnership.

October 10 – Participation: in a world of consumerism and tribalism, we choose participation.