On Sunday, Nov. 27, the congregation at New Journey Lutheran Church gathered in its usual church attire, only this week, masks were mandatory for in-person worship.

Earlier this year, New Journey created a council policy on COVID-related decisions about holding in-person services. The church anchored its masking policy decisions to the Maricopa County COVID-19 data website, which recently determined the Fountain Hills community COVID-19 level was set to “medium.”

According to New Journey Reverend Elizabeth Gallen, the church’s COVID policy was created as a guideline to follow given the unpredictable surges in COVID cases across the Valley.

“Our elected leaders drafted a COVID mask policy back in [February] and this was largely in response to the Omicron surge,” Gallen said. “Instead of chasing our tails every time there’s a surge in COVID cases or any kind of respiratory infection, they thought, ‘You know, it’s probably best if we just have a policy.’”

According to New Journey’s COVID-19 masking policy, when the Maricopa County COVID data website shows a “low” transmission rate for the 85268 zip code, the following worship service will be “mask optional.” When the site shows “moderate” or “high” transmission rate, the following service will be “masks mandatory.”

As of Tuesday, Dec. 6, Fountain Hills has 112.67 cases per 100,000 people, with a 35.48% positivity rate.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Community Level map, which determines Maricopa County’s Community Level, is updated weekly on Thursdays and can be accessed at Maricopa.gov/5786/COVID-19-Data.

“COVID has thrown in instability for all of our lives, and policies really help ground us when things are constantly shifting,” Gallen said. “I think we are all trying to juggle a changed world…so having a starting place helps calm people and helps us all get on the same page.”

Along with their masking guidelines, New Journey adopted various COVID care strategies, including a request for members to stay home if they are feeling ill or have a fever, signing in at the welcome table in case there is an exposure and need to be notified, live-streamed services for members to tune into from home and allowing church members the choice to participate in the practice of communing by intinction (handling bread and dipping it into a communal wine or grape juice).

“We want to take seriously Jesus's command to love our neighbor, and so what that means is crafting and developing policies that protect the most vulnerable among us,” Gallen said. “A large portion of the members of New Journey are in that vulnerable population.”

Aside from a theological commitment to care for each other, Gallen said that her congregation is one that generally holds trust in medical institutions, public health policy and the advice of doctors and scientists.

Gallen also pointed out that New Journey is constrained by a limited amount of physical space, where worship services take place behind a store front on Parkview Avenue, so masks add further protection against transmitting respiratory viruses.

“Developing this policy, it was really important to have all the different opinions at the table and really make space for disagreement and conversation,” Gallen said, acknowledging the polarization of mask mandates. “We’re like everyone else and we’re just tired of it. We’re tired of having to constantly pivot and change and alter and mask up again…[but] this is an expression of how we love our neighbor.”

Despite a perpetually shifting sea of COVID case rates and an uptick in COVID transmission rates as witnessed last holiday season, New Journey is trying to give its congregation one less worry when it comes to spreading respiratory viruses.

“We’re not here to tell anybody what they should or shouldn’t be doing within their own houses of worship. That’s not our role,” Gallen said. “We’re just trying to make the best decision that we can for the health of not just New Journey, but the health of the broader community.”

New Journey Lutheran Church is located at 16748 E. Parkview Ave. Worship services are held 10 a.m. every Sunday.