Lockdown III - update

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."

Farewell to Rachel

Our FP interns Rachel, Becki and Jonny have now completed their internship with us. We’re grateful to God for bringing them to us and to each of them for the service they’ve given to us as a church over the past year.

Rachel, pictured with her dad

In her final FP update, Rachel shares how her internship has concluded and what she’s going on to do next…

I can't believe my year as an intern has come to an end! I thought I would start this final update by telling you all what I've been doing over lockdown. One of the main ways I've been serving in this time is in youth work. I, alongside a great team of people, have been creating content to go through the first half of Exodus with the youth, and meeting with them via Zoom on Sunday evenings. It's been so fun to get to be with them every week, and I'm going to continue doing so over the summer.

Secondly, Jonny, Becki and I had our last ever training block last week, again via Zoom. It was so sad to say goodbye to everyone there, but it was a great 3 days. I got to give a talk on Genesis 1-3 and Revelation 21-22, which was really fun because it's what my dissertation was about, so it was great to get to share that with people!

Lastly, I had a job interview on Friday for a graduate scheme in Assurance at EY, and was offered the job later that same day! I have accepted it and so will start in September in Southampton. I will miss Durham and Emmanuel Church but hopefully this next stage of my life will be an exciting one.

Thank you so much for being my church community these last few years.

All my love,
Rachel

We wish Rachel every blessing as she relocates to Southampton.