BIG WEEKEND 2021
COVID PROTOCOL
Health and Safety – First and foremost, the Student Ministry of First Baptist Kingfisher wants to always ensure the safety of our students, their families, and our student ministry workers. We in no way want to endanger a student or their families through any activities that we facilitate. We are doing everything in our power to make Big Weekend as safe as possible for our students and adults that will be participating. With this being said we cannot guarantee, as no one can, that we are creating an environment that is 100% free from Covid-19 or any other viruses or bacteria. What we can assure you is that we are doing our very best to begin hosting and providing student ministry events that will engage your students spiritually, but also in an environment that is as safe as possible.
For the past 9 months we have had to cancel almost every event that we have had scheduled because of the threat of spreading this virus to students and adults, or because the public perception of us hosting a student ministry event in the midst of a pandemic would be extremely negative to our church and our staff. We are asking that our student ministry be allowed, through Big Weekend and other activities, to be as impactful in our student’s spiritual lives, as we have allowed recreational activities to impact their social lives. We completely understand if parents choose to not allow their students to attend Big Weekend or other events that we host. We encourage you to prayerfully consider allowing your students to attend, and or, your involvement with Big Weekend 2021.
Host Homes – We are doing everything we can to ensure that we are able to have Big Weekend for our student ministry. In our attempt to host this event we have to make changes to the format. In past years we have had 5-6 host homes where we would place up to 20 students in a home with an adult leader that our student ministry is familiar with from around the state to lead in Bible Study. This year in an attempt to create more distance and to not expose students and host homes to potential harm, we are looking at placing students in homes with no more than 6 students. This means that we will need more homes available for students as we average around 80 students per year. This also means that we will not be bringing leaders from outside of our church to help lead students in Bible study. So, we are asking our host homes/parents/adults/leaders to invest in our students and also be their small group leader.
For many adults this may seem like a daunting task, but we can assure you that you will be fully trained in how to lead a small group before we embark on this event. We will need the leaders to be willing to spend the weekend with a group of up to 6 students, lead them in small group bible study, be their leader during recreation, and help them to social distance throughout the duration of the event.
Social Distance Policy –
Masks – We will not be requiring students to wear masks. Asking our students to wear masks all day at school, and then to continue wearing them all weekend is discouraging to our students, and would cause many of them to skip the weekend.
Host Homes – In our attempt to make the group sizes smaller, we are hoping to be able to separate the students away from each other while they are sleeping. Basically, we are asking the host homes/leaders to make sure that students sleep at least 6 feet apart from one another. During the day we are asking that students/leaders do their best to keep their distance from one another.
Worship Times – During our worship times we will ask each individual group to sit together in the sanctuary. We will distance each group from one another with a row in between each group.
Temperature Checks – We will take the temperature of every student and adult that will be participating in Big Weekend when they arrive. Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 or above will not be permitted to attend Big Weekend.
Meals – We will be asking host homes to cook/prepare some meals in their homes. This will help us to keep groups apart from one another. We will have pizza on Friday Night and sandwiches on Saturday both at the church, but will have students eating with their groups in individual classrooms.
Recreation – This will look a little different this year. As we prepare for Big Weekend, we are still developing a plan for how to accomplish this. We do know that we will be doing all recreation with only the students that are in each group. We will not get together for a large group recreation.
If you have any questions regarding this policy or event please email Jeremy