Due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus, as of midnight on Wednesday 6th January, England will enter a third national lockdown.
Attending church is permitted
Following the Prime Minister's announcement on Monday evening, we were pleased to note that unlike in March attending a church service is one of the permitted reasons to leave home, as long as Covid security measures are in place. The Government's guidance is: "You can attend places of worship for a service. However, you must not mingle with anyone outside of your household or support bubble. You should maintain strict social distancing at all times."
One in-person Sunday meeting, 10.30am
We believe that we are able to provide a Covid-secure environment for people to worship appropriately, and hear God's word. We also understand that just seeing some people can be a boost to mental health.
So, we will continue to meet in-person at The Durham Centre - but for one meeting only at 10.30am. We anticipate this will provide sufficient capacity to meet demand and will reduce the pressure and risk to those serving. The prayer meeting beforehand will be at 9.45am.
Online meetings continue
We will also continue to give the choice of worshipping and hearing God's word online via YouTube.
There are dedicated teams that enable all this to happen and we so appreciate their hard work and service.
Ticketing and Test & Trace
We are running a ticketing system to both record your details for Test and Trace and also limit the numbers in the building. Please do not come without a ticket. We have increased the tickets available as we are moving to one meeting.
Please only book a week in advance, and from 11am on the preceding Sunday.
Tickets for this Sunday must be rebooked
If you have booked a ticket for this Sunday (10th January) for 9.30am or 11.15am, those tickets will be cancelled, and you will need to rebook for 10.30am. The link to book is here.
Keep your focus on Jesus
As we were reminded by RayLowe last Sunday, we remain in faith that God is putting on open door before us, even in this season, and we look with anticipation at what He is going to do in and through us at this time.
You will recall also that Fusi Mokoena encouraged us that God is comforting us at this time, restoring what has been lost and filling new wineskins with new wine. Our prayer is that God finds us all willing and open as His presence moves upon us wherever we are.
“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all
now and forevermore."