Update on Indoor Mask Mandate and Sunday Services

Friends,

As I am sure you may have heard, as of Friday, August 20, 2021, New Mexico will again be under an indoor mask mandate, per order of the Governor of New Mexico. This mandate applies to all people (ages 2 and older) no matter their vaccination status.
Houses of worship are not exempt under the new order and can be fined up to $5,000 if they are found to be out of compliance with the order.
Amongst our diverse congregation, I know there are strong feelings towards this mask mandate in both support and opposition. One thing that cannot be denied is that New Mexico hospitals are filling up and there is a surge of COVID cases in our state. I hope we can all agree that we want the sick to receive treatment for any ailment and not be denied due to a lack of space in our hospitals.
The Governor has said that she believes the best course of action to prevent this from happening is to temporarily enact this mandate. To be clear, I do not, nor do your Elders, believe this mask mandate defies the Word of God (Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-17) or that compliance with it would be sinful in any way. .
As such, City on a Hill will be complying with this mandate at our Sunday Services, including kids ministry. We don’t like that we are taking what feels like a backward step in our communal desire to return to some level of normalcy, but we choose to submit to this mandate because it shows that we believe it is truly important for us to conform our lives and worship to the Word of God.
Some of you may have drawn a line in the sand about mask mandates saying, “If the church requires us to wear masks, we will leave.” I implore you to not leave the church over this issue. This is not worth breaking fellowship over. This is a matter of submitting to Scripture over all things and there is no strong biblical case to be made for our civil disobedience to this particular order. We must be careful not to equate things that we don’t like with things that are sinful or are in violation of the Word of God.
Finally, we are all weary. I get it. Please be gracious with one another. One of City on a Hill’s pronounced strengths is our unity on the essentials and our charity in the diverse views that we hold in non-essentials. Please continue to strive to keep your eyes upon Jesus. Trust in Him, growing in knowledge and grace as He works in our lives and in the life of our church through what may feel like a setback.

In Christ,
Pastor Ryan, on behalf of the Elders of City on a Hill Church