‘Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

    my God, in whom I trust.”‘

Psalm 91

Dear church family,

Psalm 91 calls us to find our shelter and rest in the Lord Almighty. At this and every time we know in Christ we have a refuge from every danger, and a fortress in which we will be safe. How good it is to know that as we’re made to distance ourselves from each-other, God invites us to draw ever nearer to him in Christ. Only in his shadow, and under his wings, we can find true peace and safety.

This week we’ve been writing to explain how we hope to continue to function as a church family in the days ahead. Today we’re going to focus on pastoral care and our regular ministries.

Pastoral care

Without any opportunity to gather corporately, our homegroups will play a vital role in how we support each other at this time. We all need to be willing both to provide prayer, encouragement & help, as well as be open and honest so we can receive those things from others. Like never before we need to pull together and not give up the habit of meeting together – even if how we do it is different.

How each group does this will be different, but many plan to ‘meet’ midweek to discuss the sermon as before, but using video sharing software. Your leaders will be in touch to explain more, but if you don’t have the technology needed please get in touch with the church office and we will endeavour to organise some technical support for you.

If you’re not in a homegroup at the moment, but want to join a virtual homegroup community, please let us know and we’ll do our best to connect you.

As elders, we’ve tried to identify who might be most at risk and in need at this time. Alongside home groups, we plan for the staff team to provide this extra support where it is most needed. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you just need someone to speak with or pray with. If you need to go into self isolation, please let us know, as we’ve got people volunteering already to support practically. 

Ministries

As our formal ministries have stopped for the time being, in the coming weeks we’re going to explore if and how they might continue to function: Some will stop altogether, some will ‘move online’ and continue to meet, some will stop meeting but keep contact with their members. Others are still thinking through the options and leaders will be in touch soon.

We hope ministry teams will remain connected and continue to pray even though they can’t meet, and we’re excited about new possibilities for ministry that this time may bring to light. One thing we plan to begin on Monday is to send out a daily Psalm – read by someone different from the congregation each day.

We trust that in the weeks ahead, God will continue to minister to us, and through us – and that when we do meet ‘in the flesh’ again we’ll have many stories of his grace and goodness to tell!

With love in Christ,

John

On behalf of the elders & staff