Coronavirus (Covid-19) update: Sunday 29 March
Dear friends,
We trust and pray that you are in good health and faith as we approach the end of the first week of lockdown restrictions due to coronavirus. The following message contains important information about how we as a church community are adapting to the new circumstances we face. Please read it carefully.
Helping one another not to feel isolated
We have been greatly encouraged this week by how so many of you have kept in touch and encouraged one another by telephone, video call, our church Facebook group and other technology.
Our Emmanuel Communities are key to this. If you are not part of an Emmanuel Communty and would like extra support, please contact our Pastoral Care team: pastoral@emmanuel.org.uk.
We are aware that many of you are also reaching out to serve local communities and the vulnerable through this time. We pray the Lord's blessing on you as you do so - please be sure the follow the latest public health advice to keep yourselves and others safe.
Sunday meetings online
We know many of you were able to join us earlier today as we streamed an adapted Sunday meeting online, complete with prayer, worship, teaching and children's and youth resources. Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this technological leap possible for us. If you have feedback, please email: info@emmanuel.org.uk.
Going forwards, we aim to make each Sunday meeting available via our YouTube channel from 10.30am. You can also sign up for alerts, so you are notified when any new content is published.
If you missed today's meeting, you can catch up via our YouTube channel, and it is our intention to continue with this in future weeks also.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
We have been greatly blessed over the past 11 years that the conference and meetings business of The Durham Centre has been able to provide a significant financial support for our life and ministry as a church community.
However, as this business has been curtailed by the coronavirus, that contribution has ceased and we have had to make some difficult financial decisions to ensure our ongoing sustainability.
As many of you will be aware, the UK Government has introduced a temporary scheme through which employers whose businesses have been severely affected by the coronavirus can claim for 80% of the usual monthly wage costs of employers placed on a leave of absence (furlough).
Effective from Wednesday 1 April, Pete Gray, our children, youth and communities worker; Naomi Ryan, our youth worker; and John and Bekah Oliver, our students and 20s workers, will be placed on furlough until further notice. Lesley Miller, Tracey Cooke, David Wheeler and Peter Aidoo are also being furloughed from their work at The Durham Centre.
This means none of these can friends can even volunteer in a way that provides services for us.
We appreciate this will come as a disappointment, but all these friends are supportive of the decision and we would encourage you to continue keeping in contact and maintaining our community, including through the technology we have mentioned above. If you are part of the groups and communities served by Pete, Naomi, John or Bekah, they will be in touch shortly with further details.
We want to continue to be a responsible and caring employer even through these difficult circumstances, and so have committed to paying the remaining 20% of these friends' wages that will not be funded by the Government, so that they do not suffer any financial hardship.
As we have said previously, it is very important for the financial viability of our church that we continue to be a generous community even through this very challenging time, and this move reinforces this. If you wish to make electronic payments, visit our Giving page.
God is our refuge and strength
We pray over you Psalm 46:1, which has been a source of encouragement for many of us in these days: "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear."
The elders
Sunday 29 March
Coronavirus (Covid-19) update: Saturday 21 March
Please find below a further update on how we as a church are responding to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
Helping people not to feel isolated - text, phone, video call
Firstly, an encouragement: we have heard many stories of how individuals and groups within our community are responding in love to those around us at this time. May we commend you in this: in so doing, we are Jesus' hands and feet to those in need.
We encourage you to continue keeping in touch with fellow members of your Emmanuel Community, if you are part of one. If you are not, you may wish to share messages, as many have already done, on our church Facebook group. For those of us less familiar with different forms of social media, please be assured: posts on a Facebook group can only be seen by other members of that group (unlike posts on a Facebook page or profile, which are more widely viewable).
There are also free and easily available ways to hold conversations and meetings remotely, using video conferencing. Several of our Emmanuel Communities have successfully used Zoom. This allows meetings of up to 40 minutes, free of charge. And if you reach that time limit, you can simply hang up and re-connect for up to another 40 minutes.
Sunday at The Durham Centre
As we said in our previous update, our Sunday meetings/services are cancelled until further notice, but The Durham Centre will be open for one hour on Sunday, from 11am to 12pm, for private prayer.
There will be no children's or youth provision, or refreshments, and we encourage everyone to follow the NHS advice, including on staying at home if you have coronavirus symptoms and social distancing.
Resources for you
In future weeks, 15-minute versions of the sermon that would have been scheduled for our Sunday meeting will be made available as a video online.
Additionally, our children's and youth work team is working on resources for our younger people: activity packs, remote meetings and more.
Further details on how to access all these resources will be circulated in due course.
Fusion 2020
Fusion, our gathering of Regions Beyond churches from across the UK, which had been scheduled for May, has been cancelled. If you had already booked, you should have received an email from the Fusion team. If not, please visit the Fusion website.
A recap
Finaly, we would also like to re-emphasise some points from our previous update:
The pastoral care team is available to offer support, via: pastoral@emmanuel.org.uk
Please continue to give generously to ensure the financial viability of our church and the welfare of staff
Steward your time and resources responsibly, to stand against fear and panic
This message is being sent to all church members for whom we have contact details. However, please feel free to share it with others in the wider church community.
We will be in touch again soon.
God bless you all,
The elders
Saturday 21 March
Helpful links
NHS: coronavirus overview
Public Health England: Guide to social distancing (updated Friday 20 March)
Coronavirus (Covid-19) update: Tuesday 17 March
As a church we are continuing to respond to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and plan for possible future scenarios. We want to be those who live by faith in our ever-loving God, He who knows the end from the beginning, while also taking our responsibilities to one another seriously and making sensible precautions, so that we steward well all with which God has blessed us.
The latest UK Government advice is that we should all avoid “non-essential” travel and contact with others. This remains a fast-changing situation, and we will be in touch again as the situation develops, but as of today, Tuesday 17 March:
Sunday and midweek meetings
Having considered the approach adopted by the Church of England, we have decided to cancel all Emmanuel Church meetings, large and small, until further notice. This includes Sunday meetings and Emmanuel Communities meetings.
However, again following guidance, The Durham Centre will be open for one hour each Sunday, from 11am to 12pm, for private prayer. There will be no children’s or youth provision, or refreshments.
Friends in the church are exploring options for setting up virtual meetings online and more information will be shared as it becomes available, along with technical support if required.
Helping people not to feel isolated – text, phone, video call
It is our aim at this very difficult time that, while friends may be self-isolating, no-one feels alone.
If you are a member of an Emmanuel Community, please keep in touch with your leaders and fellow members; and, if you know of others in the church who are not in an Emmanuel Community and may be at risk of becoming isolated, please let your leaders know so that we can connect with them, too.
If you are not part of an Emmanuel Community but would like to access support, please contact the Pastoral Care team.
Helping those around us
The challenges that Covid-19 pose for vulnerable members of our local communities are considerable and varied, but offer us an opportunity to show Jesus’ love in practical ways.
We are looking at various ways that we as a church community may be able to support people who are suffering or at risk and further updates will follow.
In the meantime, linked here you will find a note that we encourage you, if you feel fit and able, to: print off, fill in and deliver to homes near to you – perhaps where you are aware there is someone who would benefit from some support.
Financial giving
It is very important for the financial viability of our church, and the welfare of staff employed by the church and The Durham Centre, that we continue to give generously financially through this period, whether we continue to meet on Sundays or not.
If you are in the practice of giving cash or cheques on Sunday mornings, we would encourage you to consider switching to electronic giving.
For more information, please visit our Giving page.
Responsible stewardship
Finally, we will have all seen how rumours and “fake news” have spread quickly, fuelling fear and panic. We would encourage you to stand against this, by stewarding your time and resources responsibly.
We will share more information as soon as we are able.
For now, may the Lord of all peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way (2 Thessalonians 3:16).
The elders
Tuesday 17 March
Helpful links
NHS: coronavirus overview
Public Health England: Guide to social distancing (published Monday 16 March)