Covid-19 Response
This information was last updated Friday 27th March 2020 10:50am
In response to the growing concern regarding the Covid-19 virus and government advice, we’ve prayerfully considered how best to keep our our congregation safe and healthy and spiritually cared for.
Following advice from a number of sources and considering a number of circumstances, it is with much sadness that we have taken the decision to suspend all church meeting for the time being. This decision was not taken lightly, is made with a heavy heart and with the health and safety of the congregation in mind.
We encourage you to spend some time each day, and especially on the Lord’s day in prayer in your own homes. We will be running a live stream at the usual time of the morning and evening services (10:45am and 6:30pm) which you can access through our YouTube channel. This will take the format of a shortened service, with time for prayer and the preaching of God’s Word. We hope that you will be able to join us, but if not, the video will be available shortly after the broadcast ends, and the audio will be available on SermonAudio as usual. For those without the facility to access the live stream we will endeavour to distribute CDs of the audio during the week.
As the situation continues to develop we’ll provide information here on the church website, and on the YouTube channel, we’ll also keep in contact with those who can’t access the internet and would encourage you to keep in touch with each other and above all pray for each other.
Please continue to follow the advice and guidance as issued for hand-washing and general hygiene if you are in the building, or if you’re helping someone out, and for self isolation in cases where it is necessary. If you are isolating then please do contact one of the church leaders or ministers if we can be of any help to you.
Finally, when Martin Luther was dealing with The Black Death plague, a situation far worse than we face today, he wrote these wise words that can help inform the way we approach things happening in our world right now…
“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbour needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”
Luther’s Works Volume 43 pg 132 the letter “Whether one may flee from a Deadly Plague” written to Rev. Dr. John Hess
Psalms 91:1-6
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.