Our Church building is RE-OPENING for Worship Sunday 5th July

by | Jun 28, 2020 | News

Churches re-opening for services

We are very pleased to be able to announce that our churches will be re-opening for services from Sunday 5 July 2020.

There will be a Eucharist at St Thomas’ at 9.15am and at St James’ at 10.45am.

It’s important for you to know that, for the moment at least, ‘church’ will feel rather different to what we remember pre-lockdown.

Here’s the plan:

  • Services will be said
  • Services will be shorter than we’re used to
  • Holy Communion will be in one kind only and you will be invited to receive if you feel comfortable to – for those who prefer to remain in their seats there will be a prayer to use for making your spiritual communion
  • We won’t be able to offer any refreshments, stalls, leaflets at the moment
  • Each church has a capacity of apx. 40 people, depending on how many people need to sit alone, or with members of their household/bubble

 

  • You will be asked to
    • enter only by the main door
    • sanitize your hands on arrival and as you leave
    • follow a one-way system as much as possible inside church
    • sign-in with a welcomer to enable us to track and trace
    • leave your offering in the collection plate as you arrive if you gift either by envelope or cash (please ask for information about Standing Orders)
    • collect a service sheet and take it home with you afterwards
    • sit at an appropriate social distance from people not in your household or ‘bubble’
    • sit in pews which have been left ‘open’ and aren’t cordoned off
    • leave church once the service ends – it’s not possible to stay and chat indoors

 

The Church is the Body of Christ – that’s all of us – and we are so pleased to be able to come together for worship and prayer once more. Our great desire is for everyone to feel comfortable and safe which is why we have put these measures in place. If you don’t feel comfortable to come back to church at the moment then please don’t feel pressured. We will continue to live-stream services on our Facebook page for the foreseeable future so that we can reach out to as many people as possible.

 

Fr David & Churchwardens