The Rev. Karen Haig has told members of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church that all services and activities at the Bainbridge church have been suspended for the next two weeks.

“The way we are church must change in these strange and tender times, and I write today to share the news from Bishop Rickel that all church services and activities in the Diocese of Olympia are suspended for at least two weeks, and that our entire facility will be closed during that time,” Rev. Haig said in a message Friday to the St. Barnabas family.

“While we are changing the way we ‘do’ church, we are not changing the way we ‘are’ church! We want to be together and we are coming up with some wonderfully creative ways to do that. We will continue to worship together from our separate places,” she added.

Several churches will be streaming services on Sunday, the rector added, and she noted that St. Barnabas was “in the process of setting up check-in groups for the full congregation.”

The church is also setting up a private Facebook page “where our children can connect, ways for those who are not at risk to help with shopping and errands, phone trees and other ways of connecting and checking in on each other.”

“While not gathering together for worship and connection may seem difficult news for us — we are a deeply connected, worshipful and sacramental community — I am in full agreement with the Bishop’s decision. We are in unprecedented times. A significant number of our parishioners are among the most vulnerable. And while we do this to care for ourselves and our congregation, we are also doing it as the very best way we can love our neighbor in these uncertain times. The only way to slow the spread of the coronavirus is to stop spreading it — and the only way to do that is to stop being in the same place at the same time. Sacrificial giving comes in many forms and right now, we must sacrifice our time together for the good of the whole.”

While St. Barnabas staff and the church’s commercial kitchen users will continue to use the church, the rector asked others not to enter any of the church’s facilities until permission was given from Bishop Greg Rickel.

“Some of us are anxious, some concerned, some frightened and some are just fine,” Haig said in her email. “This is a wonderful season to practice patience, forgiveness, compassion and kindness. God’s grace is sufficient for all things and when we embody that grace, we offer God’s love in a time it is desperately needed. Give each other lots of room and give yourselves the room to pray and process and care for yourselves.”