What will services be like as we come out of Lockdown?
| St Stephen’s – Redditch | St Leonard’s – Beoley |
| St Philip’s – Webheath | St Bartholomew’s – Tardebigge |
While social distancing remains a factor in public life our services will not be the same as we were used to. So that you are not surprised we’ve listed a few of things you will notice as we seek to worship God together over the coming months.
- The capacity of our churches will be limited – this means that it is not viable for some of the church buildings to open for general Sunday services just yet.
- You will need to book – we need to know how many people are coming and the size of the bubbles (family groups) coming. This will help us to manage the limited capacity we have and comply with the Track-and-Trace requirements.
- There will be no fellowship time before or after services inside the buildings – we are all used to the buzz of gathering for our church services and the time of sharing after. This is not possible at present and there will not be any refreshments.
- Services will be said and shorter – the guidance we have asks us to keep our acts of worship short and no singing is allowed within our buildings. Reflective music may be played.
- Holy Communion will look different – firstly, the congregation will be only receiving the bread, there will be no sharing of wine. The minister will be wearing PPE (at the very least a visor) and the minister will not be able to offer any words as you receive and laying on of hands is not permitted at present. We anticipate that everyone will receive in their seat.
- Maintaining of Social Distancing – we have mapped out seating in our buildings to allow for 2m social distancing. We do need family units (bubbles) to be mindful of this. If children are with you, they cannot be allowed to move freely around church as some may have become used to.
You will see this will feel quite different but we do hope that we can adapt to the changes we need to make for this season.
We do hope that our times together will be times when we can be aware of what God has for us as individuals and as His Church.
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27 verse 4
We all pray for a time when all aspects of our lives do not have to consider social distancing.
How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
Psalm 133 verse 1