COVID-19 Updates

Dear church family,

We miss you sorely.

We miss greeting you at the door, we miss giving you handshakes and hugs and high-fives. We miss hearing you sing, we miss sitting under the teaching of God’s word together in one room. We miss hearing the clinks of communion cups being rounded up, we miss seeing your faces out in the foyer.

We simply cannot wait to worship with you again.

In the meantime, if there’s any way we can minister to you, please get in touch with us here.

Thank you for your support and prayers. Many of you have reached out to tell us how much you have been praying for us, and we have definitely needed it. Thank you for your patience - we recognize our communication has been sparse, but we have endeavored to make the wisest decisions possible, which meant that most of our answers to your questions during the last few weeks have simply been “it’s currently under discussion” - in this season of uncertainty and anxiety, we’re aware of how unsatisfying and stressful such an answer can be… so again, thank you for your patience.

As a leadership group we have been praying, considering, discussing, watching, and listening to a range of contacts and resources to navigate a way forward for us to start our services and ministries again. Throughout this process, our decisions have been guided by three main premises;

⚫ Love one another. We want unity despite location. We want to ask ourselves ‘what does love require of me?’ What does it mean for us to put others and their welfare ahead of ourselves? What does setting aside my preferences and rights look like during this time? (Phil 2:3, Eph 4:3-6, John 15:12)

⚫ Safety of our people. How can we care for the most vulnerable, the elderly, the children, the immunocompromised during a health crisis? (Phil 2:4)

⚫ Submission to governing authorities. How can we operate in a way that shows submission to God and to the governing authorities He has placed? How can we be a good witness during this time? (Rom 13:1-2, Rom 2:24, 1 Peter 2:13)

As of Friday, we enter the COVID-19 Protection Framework (Traffic light system), which will grant us more (but still limited) freedoms.

As much as we would like to take full advantage of these freedoms, as a leadership we believe there are still many things that need to be thought and prayed through before coming to a conclusive decision. It has occurred to us every step of the way that when something seems like a simple decision… it comes with five more ramifications or follow up questions. Black and white suddenly turns out to be grey.

Indeed, we cannot go on forever without making definitive decisions, so they will come in due time. But for the time being, at our most recent elders’ meeting - with all things considered - it seemed good to us and the Holy Spirit that we delay our in-person gatherings until at least February 13th, 2022. We want to make the wisest, and most Scripturally-consistent decision possible.

Not only does this allow us more time to think theologically and discuss the issue of Vaccine Passports, but this also means that;

🟢 We can observe and learn from how the Traffic Light system plays out.
🟢 We are afforded more time to have safety/hygiene/ventilation protocols to ensure we can open in the safest way possible.
🟢 The vaccination rates will be even higher, providing a safer environment for everyone.

This also comes at a time (summer holidays) when church staff and volunteers will be unavailable to launch a big re-gathering. We are hesitant after such a tough year, to potentially take away much needed time off from our staff. They have been working hard in the background to ensure that our congregation has been looked after. Delaying our in-person gathering until February means our staff are able to take some much-deserved time off for Christmas. The mental well-being of our team is not something we want to overlook.

We understand how desperate you are to get back together. We feel it too. In the meantime, we are working on a church-wide initiative that will allow us to gather together on Sundays in people’s homes - to watch the service, worship, and fellowship together. More on this soon.

It’s not the same as a large gathering, which is sad. But we encourage you to shift our perspective from “unable to meet for the time being” to “God has presented us with an opportunity to pivot and carry on the mission of the church (to make disciples) in creative and innovative ways.”

We are reminded of the Acts of the Apostles and the early church. They had all sorts of ‘restrictions’ come their way - and as tough as they were, they did not allow their mission as ambassadors of Jesus Christ to be thwarted. Ten years from now, as we look back on this strange season in the life of our church, may it be said that we did not let restrictions prevent us from living as followers of Jesus!

Ultimately we want you to convey to you a message of hope. Remember God is not surprised by anything. He is on the throne, He is in control, and we are trusting Him to guide us to make the best God-magnifying and church-edifying decision possible.

We will do our best to keep you informed and updated. The best forum for this is our weekly email. If you haven’t yet, you can sign up for it HERE

In the meantime, we are looking forward to gathering on Sundays in homes. Keep an eye out for this initiative. We love you church. We resonate with the Apostle Paul, when he wrote to the Philippian church; "For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus."

Grace and peace to you.

From the Pastors & Elders