The following was sent to all our congregations by our Senior Minister, Jaime Dickson, on Tuesday 17 March.
Dear church family,
I’m writing to let you know that due to the present COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak, effective immediately, all our Sunday church services will be suspended. This is an extraordinary decision but a necessary one given the circumstances. Please know that this decision has been taken in the interests of those most vulnerable to Coronavirus, that is older people and those with underlying health conditions. For their sake, it is best that we suspend our Sunday gatherings for the moment.
However, as I said in my sermon on Sunday, we mustn’t let this disruption to our Sunday fellowship disrupt our fellowship altogether. More than ever, we must remain present to each other, alert to and aware of one another’s needs. We have a number of ideas in development at the moment aimed at enabling us to continue sharing our lives together albeit at some physical distance from each other. Please continue to check your email, SMS, Facebook etc regularly for updates.
Additionally, I believe our church community has an important role to play in the coming months in providing practical care and support for older and vulnerable people in our church & local community, who may find themselves isolated at home. I emailed you about this yesterday and have been delighted by the response so far. I'll continue to keep you informed about this in the coming days.
For now, please take a moment to stop whatever you’re doing and pray. Pray for those most vulnerable in our church and wider community; pray for community goodwill and self-less acts of kindness; pray for frontline medical staff as they prepare to confront increased demands on them; and pray for our church community, that this might be a time of Spirit-filled resilience, trust, and hope in the good purposes of God.
God bless,
Jaime Dickson
Senior Minister