Coronavirus Update for WBC
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
The latest health advice can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
27/06/2020
We were of course all so excited by the government's decision to allow churches to open on 4th July. The church leaders met on Thursday evening to discuss the practicalities of us meeting in the chapel building again on Sunday mornings. However, it is with great regret that we have decided to continue with our Zoom meetings on a Sunday for the time being. Since coming to this conclusion, we have received the latest communication from the EBA and feel this really confirms our decision.
During our discussion we agreed that there are five main elements that make up our Sunday morning gathering; these being:
I'm sure you are all as disappointed as we are but we hope you can understand our decision, which was not an easy one to make.
We were of course all so excited by the government's decision to allow churches to open on 4th July. The church leaders met on Thursday evening to discuss the practicalities of us meeting in the chapel building again on Sunday mornings. However, it is with great regret that we have decided to continue with our Zoom meetings on a Sunday for the time being. Since coming to this conclusion, we have received the latest communication from the EBA and feel this really confirms our decision.
During our discussion we agreed that there are five main elements that make up our Sunday morning gathering; these being:
- Sung worship
- children's ministry (Beach Hut)
- the sermon
- monthly communion
- fellowship over coffee & cake
I'm sure you are all as disappointed as we are but we hope you can understand our decision, which was not an easy one to make.
3/03/2020
We are continuing to meet via Zoom on Sunday mornings at 10:30 for our sermon and discussion. If you wish to join us, just follow this link on a Sunday https://bit.ly/WBCSunday.
We are also running a children's programme at 14:00 on Sundays via Zoom. If you wish to join, just follow this link https://bit.ly/WBCSundaySchool.
We are continuing to meet via Zoom on Sunday mornings at 10:30 for our sermon and discussion. If you wish to join us, just follow this link on a Sunday https://bit.ly/WBCSunday.
We are also running a children's programme at 14:00 on Sundays via Zoom. If you wish to join, just follow this link https://bit.ly/WBCSundaySchool.
19/03/2020
The Church Leadership met last night and have made the following decisions to help us stay together as a church family and support each other during this time:
The Church Leadership met last night and have made the following decisions to help us stay together as a church family and support each other during this time:
- All church activities including Sunday mornings have ceased until further notice. Obviously the Easter Trail has been postponed until 2021.
- Pastor Martin will prepare and record a short sermon every week which will be uploaded onto our website on Saturday evenings.
- We are asking the church family to commit to listening online together at 10.30am on Sundays after which we can have a sharing time on Zoom (details to follow). Maybe we can also simultaneously watch a YouTube worship song together. This is going to be a work in progress and we may change this if we find a better way forward.
- The Beach Hut leaders maybe able to come up with some activities for the children as well.
- The 2020 address list is now ready to be published. We intend on emailing it to everyone and propose to no longer blind copy the church emails so that we can openly share stuff together. This should help everyone to stay better connected and if we know where everyone lives we can all be on hand to practically help each other if necessary. Please let us know by Saturday 21/03/2020 if you don't want to be part of this.
- We are holding a day of prayer and fasting for this situation tomorrow (Friday 20/03/2020). We are asking to the church to participate in this together in what ever way you can.
- We are also suggesting that as a church we commit to reading together through the Psalms. Everyday we will read one Psalm and hopefully we will all be physically together before we reach number 150!
- Maybe we can share our thoughts as we read and to that end would people like a church Whats App group?
- Pastor Martin is available to all at the end of the phone if you need to chat any time. Let's support each other and grow closer still as a church family.