Sunday 25th July will be a crunch date in the calendar. This is the first Sunday after the formal relaxation of all COVID restrictions in England. It means that there will no longer be regulations and fines relating to failure to wear masks or socially distance at a church gathering. Singing will also be allowed… Continue reading Risk Management decisions and in person worship post July 19th re-opening
Category: Church life
The risks for churches post 19th July
After the 19th July, the Government will remove all remaining COVID-19 measures. This means that there will not be legal restrictions such as social distancing or wearing face masks. But the Government and the national health/science advisors have been clear that COVID hasn’t gone away. It’s not that those measures don’t matter anymore, it’s that… Continue reading The risks for churches post 19th July
Are we playing the same game?
Imagine watching the Euros as a Rugby Union fan. You would cheer every time a player took the ball beyond the by-line or booted it over the goal posts and you’d be surprised every time there was jubilation whenever the ball went under the bar. You’d be assessing the team’s performance by a different set… Continue reading Are we playing the same game?
The long haul pastoral job of bringing your church out of COVID
Church returns to normal on the 25th July. What this means is that all the legal restrictions we have faced will have been removed. For various reasons, I think we can still expect it to actually take longer for things to return fully to normal. I will keep repeating this but don’t expect everyone to… Continue reading The long haul pastoral job of bringing your church out of COVID
COVID and church re-opening
I’m continuing to try and provide little updates regarding what we are seeing in terms of COVID-19 data. My aim in these posts is particularly to help church leaders have visibility of the type of information that will be informing the Government’s decision making on whether to re-open fully on the 19th July. This week,… Continue reading COVID and church re-opening
Belonging to The Church and to a church (Acts 2:42-47)
few years back we did summer camp at home for our church young people at Bearwood. The camp finished at our Nueva Vida Service with a bi-lingua celebration. I thought I would share here the talk I gave to round things off. During the camp, the young people learnt about: Calling God Father, Living for… Continue reading Belonging to The Church and to a church (Acts 2:42-47)
Returning well – lean into your blindspots
The Government are expected to confirm on Monday 12th July the ending of all remaining COVID-`9 measures. There has been a lot of speculation over the past few weeks about what that will exactly look like. On the one hand, there have been briefings from some ministers, scientists and even the PM suggesting that some… Continue reading Returning well – lean into your blindspots
Songs for a COVID Generation
I thought I’d share with you some of the songs on my playlist that have kept us going through the pandemic. This is the stuff I’ve been sticking on YouTube and singing along to. I’m looking forward to singing them, and other songs again together with others when we finally get free from all restrictions… Continue reading Songs for a COVID Generation
Why It’s time to return to in person church
Since the delay to the completion of England’s roadmap out of lockdown, I’ve been including regular updates on Faithroots to help church leaders stay up to date with the data and plan ahead. Today I want to write to church members generally and explain why I would encourage you, if you haven’t already, to begin… Continue reading Why It’s time to return to in person church
Our responsibility when there are accusations of abuse and bullying
Today I’m attending an online conference organised by Church As Refuge. The organisers want to encourage pastors and church leaders to think about how we make churches safe and welcoming refuges for victims of abuse. However, the context is also that sadly we have seen too many cases of abuse within the church. We’ve seen… Continue reading Our responsibility when there are accusations of abuse and bullying
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