We hope this finds you well.
The lifting of restrictions on 19th July has been received differently by different people and in different ways. For some this will mean the ability to do things which they have not been able to do and we want to celebrate these things. For others, however, this will mean ongoing restrictions. However you are impacted by the news and direction of travel, we are with you, to love and support you.
Despite being unable to legally enforce any restrictions we are offering the following encouragements and suggestions to all of our church family. Please note that we want to make the best decisions for you and may make wrong decisions; we welcome feedback as we review all decisions regularly over the next few months.
Mask wearing/face coverings – these will be encouraged as much as possible during Sunday worship, particularly when moving around the building.
Social distancing – we will be providing two ‘zones’ in church; the ‘socially distanced zone’ and the ‘non-socially distanced zone’. People will, therefore indicate their own personal preference by sitting in those zones. If it turns out that one zone is too big or too small we’ll adjust accordingly. The back of church will remain a ‘non-socially distanced zone’ for children to use during the services.
Track and Trace – although not legally required, we feel it is still wise to continue to track and trace people who turn up on Sundays. For most people this involves being ‘ticked’ in by those on the door.
Singing – it is with great joy that we will be permitted to sing together on Sundays! We do, however, want to encourage this to be done with masks on so as to limit the amount of ‘droplets’ being projected into the air and, potentially, spreading any infections.
Eucharist – we will be continuing to distribute bread and wine in the way we have done through out the pandemic and that is by wafer intincted (if wanted) in the wine whilst Ned wears gloves and a mask.
Peace – we had hoped to begin physically exchanging the peace but were aware that this might raise alot of social awkwardness and uncomfortableness between people and so, for now, we are keeping with encouraging distanced sharing of peace with each other. If you have any ideas (which won’t be too complicated) to begin to reintroduce physical exchanges of the peace we’d love to hear them.
All other restrictions will be kept in place and, as we say, will be reviewed regularly.