Message to our church family Sun 12th July 2020 - C-19 Update around meetings
We just wanted to update you on our thoughts & plans for the rest of the Summer period. This email gives a little more detail that the 'headlines' we've announced on the last two Sunday Mornings.
But before we start, we wanted to thank you for all the wonderful things you've been up to over lockdown. We're called to demonstrate love, so doing this in our homes & spending a greater amount of time than normal with our families (even in unprecedented circumstances) has been lovely to see. We're all missing physical contact, so it's been great to hear stories of how you've found creative ways to spend time with friends over a walk / run / cycle, or over a chat in our gardens. It's also been a blessing to see so many of you at Small Groups, in our Prayer Gatherings, at The Marriage Sessions & on the CAP Course. On one level we've been restricted during lockdown, but we've loved your creativity & seeing you respond to how we can make a difficult situation easier for those around us. We are BEING the church, and it's wonderful to see!
When will we meet again on Sundays?
If you're hoping to read this & are looking for a date when we can start meeting again like we did before lockdown, then you might be disappointed! But here's some of the areas we're looking at in terms of how we can best serve each other as a Church Family, and what our options are as restrictions are 'eased'.
Headlines
If you don't want to read our reasoning below & just need some headlines, they are -
The Live stream with a zoom call after is working! Everyone can be involved, even those who are more vulnerable. We are planning to continue with this until at least the end of August.
So that means that we won't be doing our Sunday gatherings physically until at least September, although it may be later than that. We will be keeping an eye on government advice and will re-evaluate mid August.
For Small groups, we'll continue over zoom during July and are talking with small group leaders about plans going forward.
We won't be organising official EV socials just yet. But please don't let that stop you from arranging Social times (if you are happy to) with other members of your small groups & friends @ EV (whilst making sure you follow government advice of numbers & safe social distancing).
In Overview - Small groups & Sundays won't be a 'back to pre-lockdown' straight away, but is likely to be a 'phased return' to meeting together.
Sundays (the details)
We've been speaking to & taking input from Current Government Guidelines in England (inc. Public Health England), Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland, AJ @ SENZO Coffee Shop, Other Vineyard Senoir Pastors, and other local Church Leaders.
A few of the factors that are informing our decisions are -
We can't currently include sung worship if we meet together.
SENZO's current capacity is around 12 people (with Social Distancing in place), even some of the larger churches in Epsom can only accommodate 30 people at once with Social Distancing in place.
The Play Area at SENZO isn't permitted to be open currently.
Any Children's Ministry in England has to have parents present at the moment, and needs to include social distancing between households. We'd need a larger venue to facilitate this.
Churches in other countries have been accused of unnecessarily spreading C-19. We don't want to put you or anyone else in a place of unnecessary risk!
Small Groups, inc Prayer Gatherings & the CAP Course (the details)
Any changes we make will need to include everybody currently in our small groups over zoom.
Sadly a hybrid group of some meeting together & some meeting over zoom usually disadvantages those meeting over zoom. We'd prefer everyone to have the same experience, than some feel left out!
We could only host Small Groups indoors as two family groups, which realistically limits us to 4 adults max.
Some summer evenings would be enjoyable to meet outdoors, and we could meet with up to 6 adults. This is still a little limiting.
We usually stop small groups formally over August & instead meet socially. If you'd prefer to meet or arrange socials, please chat with your Small Group Leader.
Based on all of this we will keep meeting over zoom as we are, then re-evaluate at the end of July.
N.B. Please do remember you can invite others to join your small groups. We've found some friends who have seen our 'watch parties' of the Sunday 'Live-stream' are missing other people & have expressed an interest in our Small Group.
Socialising (our encouragement)
We're all missing seeing each other, but are well aware that some members of our church family are still isolating until Aug 1st. We don't want people to feel left out of official church gatherings, which is why we'll stick to our current ways of working until changes in Government advice allows us to meet a little more 'normally'.
However, we'd love those of you who can socialise to find safe ways of doing so. For now it would be great of you can invite upto 6 friends (in total), or another family group from Small Group around for a BBQs, or arrange to go out for walks etc.
Whatever you do, please make sure you're comfortable with it & are keeping as safe as possible.
Can we ask you to especially continue to look after those who can't socialise as freely, including your friends & neighbours outside of EV!
Phased Return to a 'new normal'
It is likely to be a while until we're back in church together like we were pre-lockdown, but we'll keep looking at how we can best serve each other, and our local communities. You guys have made lockdown so much more fun for us & we hope that being a part of the EV church has added blessing to your lockdown too!
Huge Blessings,
Duncan & Lorna
Message to all involved with Epsom Vineyard 20.03.2020
Dear ALL,
Following the Prime Minister's press conference last night, we wanted to contact you as someone who might come along to one of our 'gathered environments' at Epsom Vineyard, and keep you upto date with our advice & plans so we don't unwittingly spread COVID-19.
All Gatherings
With the Prime Minister's request to stop all non-essential contact, both Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland, and the Church of England (amongst most other organisations) have suspended Public Meetings. We will follow this same advice & sadly won't be meeting on Sundays @ SENZO until the Government advises that it is safe to do so again. Whilst being saddened by the fact that we won't see you all regularly, we completely understand our responsibility to protect you all at this time from potential sharing of COVID-19. Lorna & I will choose a live stream (or recorded sermon) to watch each week & will invite you to do the same so we can continue to learn together.
Saturday's Social walk
We will cancel this as an official Epsom Vineyard Walk & Coffee, but Lorna & I are still thinking of going for a walk on Saturday. If you'd like to walk with us (without a cafe stop), please do get in touch. We're very torn on this one as we'd like to reduce the opportunity for loneliness to be an issue, but don't want to encourage the unwitting spread of COVID-19.
Small Groups
Most of the other Vineyard Churches that we've heard from are either going 'virtual' with their small groups this week, or are planning on doing so as soon as possible. We will also follow this model as it allows us to stay connected, learn together, and pray for each other, without the risk of sharing COVID-19. If you aren't currently in a small group & would like to connect in on Thursday evenings 20:00, then please send us an email.
Love your Neighbours`
Jesus left us with the commandment to love our Neighbours, and over the coming weeks, we are presuming that many of them will be very grateful of our love, support, and potentially pastoral care. Lorna & I have started a Facebook Group for all our neighbours who are in self-isolation from COVID-19. Our hope is simple - that everyone on our Estate would know that they could contact someone if they need help at this time. Can we encourage you to do something similar (either by Facebook, in person, on WhatsApp, or via flyers)? Our recommendations for helping those who are ill or self-isolating are -
Offer help to those with any of the following - Picking up Shopping & medicine, a regular friendly phone call, & posting mail.
Don't go into the houses of those self-isolating and avoid physical contact (2m).
Wash hands before & after helping someone.
Connecting with a number of houses / families that you are comfortable to support.
Ask other neighbours if they can help too (we are hoping to look after our road & coordinate support across the rest of our estate)
If you've got single or elderly neighbours, please seek them out for additional support.
N.B. If you offer this, then get ill, we will as a church support you & your neighbours at this time.
Pastoral Support & Care
We want to make sure each of you at this time is looked after. If you need anything, please don't suffer in silence!
As ever, if you are in a small Group, our Small Group Leaders are our first port of call for any Pastoral requests. If they are not of a sensitive nature, you could also post them the 'EV General' WhatsApp group.
If you're not connected in either of those ways, please do contact Duncan & Lorna via hello@epsomvineyard, on 01372 897 765, or via WhatsApp message.
Prayer
We don't know about you, but this pandemic & its affects are making us more anxious & more prayerful at the same time. As we won't be able to meet & pray, we will look to meet virtually to pray. Could you email any prayer requests? We're also looking at increasing the opportunities to pray & will let you know as soon as we have details.
Lorna & I are also planning to prayer walk around our estate, asking for God's protection & peace at this time. Can we encourage you to do the same for your street or area?
Our hope remains in the 'Prince of Peace',
Duncan & Lorna
P.S. Link to the flyer - bit.ly/viralkindness