Living Water Evangelical Free Church
(785) 863-9260
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Please be advised that Jefferson County has adopted Governor Kelly's mask order for public places, which has now been extended to February. You can find the order at the link below.
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Jefferson County Mask Order

First Time Guests

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 We know that visiting a church for the first time can be stressful. We also know that you probably have a lot of questions for us before you visit. Here are some answers to questions we've asked before visiting a new church. We hope these answers help you, too! If you have any further questions, please contact the church office at (785) 863-9260 or at admin@livingwaterefc.org.

Current COVID-19 update:

Children's Sunday School has not resumed, but we do have children's church during the worship services on the 2nd-5th Sundays of each month for children ages 5 years old through 5th grade. Kids Club and The Way™ Youth Group are both scheduled to resume on 1/24/2021. Please see our Student Ministries page for more details.

Nursery care has resumed, for children 4 years old and younger. We require all nursery workers and parents to sign COVID waivers, acknowledging the risk. We take temperatures at the door, and do not permit children or workers with symptoms to be in the nursery. We are still figuring this out, so please be patient with us as we get used to the new check-in/check-out and sanitation procedures.  

We have implemented
social distancing in our sanctuary seating, by removing seats and spacing out rows. We are currently under a county-wide mask mandate (link above) for all in-person gatherings, including a limit of no more than 75 persons in attendance at any gathering. Our staff has implemented increased sanitation procedures throughout the building. We do offer our Sunday worship services online, both on Vimeo and on our public Facebook page, if you'd like to join us for worship remotely. 

As COVID continues to encroach on our community, we're updating our protocols for cancellations. We will post cancellations as applicable here on our website, on Facebook, and through our TextCasting and email service. Student ministries will automatically be cancelled if the Oskaloosa schools (USD 341) go to red status, but that is not our only criterion. If you'd like to stay up to date with announcements and cancellations, please text LWEFC to 84576 and follow the prompts, to be included.  
(Updated 1/20/2021)

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What will we do?
Before the worship service, we ordinarily have a Bible study and fellowship time (Sunday School) beginning at 9:15, which we call Equipping Hour.
​No Equipping Hour classes are ongoing at this time, due to COVID, but we will update here when those resume.

When you enter the sanctuary, you may be greeted by various people. This is a friendly church, and we'd love to get to know you! You are also welcome to sit and prepare your heart for worship or pray, if you don't want to chat. Right before the service begins at 10:30, we play several songs and show a slideshow of current announcements. 

We begin our services with a time of music and worshiping God. Our worship ranges from the newest songs and choruses to some of the oldest hymns of our faith. 

After worship, we have our offering. We are not currently taking an offering by passing offering baskets, but we do take time during the service to acknowledge financial giving as an act of worship, and instructions on how to give are available at that point. If you're visiting, we don't want you to feel that you are obligated to participate. If you choose to contribute, please be assured that the leadership of our church prayerfully directs the church funds. 

After the offering time, our Lead Pastor Dave Ballast, or occasionally our Family Pastor Benjamin Hardee, delivers a sermon. Most Sundays (2nd-5th Sundays of each month), we offer children's church during the sermon, where children from 5 years old to 5th grade can learn about God in a way that is more tailored to their abilities to understand. It is our goal that all of our teaching is Bible-based and applicable to your life. Our entire service lasts about an hour and fifteen minutes.

The first Sunday of every month is a Communion Sunday, when we join with the saints around the world and throughout the ages in celebrating the Lord's Supper. If you believe in Jesus you are welcome to join us in receiving communion elements, even if you are not a member of Living Water Church. Our elements consist of individual cups of grape juice and wafers. Communion Sunday is also a family worship Sunday, so there will not be children's church offered during the sermon.  

What should I wear?
We believe that God is much more concerned with your heart than your outward appearance. On Sundays there will be people in attendance wearing everything from their Sunday best to jeans. We want you to feel comfortable to come as you are. 

Where should my kids go?
We have excellent programming for kids - infants through high school. ​Our nursery and student ministry areas are upstairs (the stairwell is located just inside the main entrance on the east side of the building). Please see our Student Ministries page to see current children's discipleship programs. 

What about nursing mothers, crying children, or special needs individuals?
We have an area upstairs in the Student Ministry center set up with closed circuit access to our service, where you can be comfortable and undisturbed. If you need assistance, please let us know! 


admin@livingwaterefc.org

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Our Address

13960 Hwy K92
P.O. Box 471
Oskaloosa, KS 66066

(785) 863-9260
Living Water Evangelical Free Church Copyright (c) 2020