Hi friends, we wanted to post a short video to let you know how we’re responding to the developing situation of coronavirus. I shared this at this morning’s service, but for anyone who missed it, we wanted to update you, too.
Some of the national Vineyard Movement conferences have been cancelled, and I can tell you also that our own leadership and Trustees, here at Kingdom Vineyard, have been really wrestling with the best course of action in light of the spread of COVID-19, how to “not give up meeting together”, as scripture urges us, without being part of the problem of spreading the virus. How to connect without causing harm.
So far, the government advice does not instruct meetings of our size to stop, and so whilst that is the case, our leadership and Trustees have not decided to cancel Sunday morning meetings for the time being, but, we will be keeping an eye on the situation, and making that decision week by week.
Similarly, we’re keen to keep meeting as Homegroups until it is considered unwise to do so, and we will communicate any changes about Homegroups or about Sunday morning services to you through our church website, through our church Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, and through an email that we will send out your ChurchSuite accounts (if you don’t have one, talk to your Homegroup leader, or Rachel or I). If you don’t have a Homegroup leader, I recommend you get one of those, too.
We think it’s important that as church we continue to meet to pray and worship together, if we can do so, but with some precautions taken to make sure that if we do continue to meet, we do so sensibly, and seeking to care for each other and the community around us.
This has some practical implications around the things we do at our Sunday services – this morning we offered refreshments, but in a way that protected hygiene as strictly as we could. We didn’t pass around the offering baskets, so everybody would touch them, but instead placed them at the back of the hall, and we asked people praying to “hover their hands” over each other, rather than lay on hands. Of course, we want to continue praying for each other, and especially praying for the sick to get well, but we don’t want to encourage contact that could endanger each other whilst we’re doing so.
But in both Sundays AND in Homegroups, PLEASE BE WISE – the current NHS advice is that if you have either a “new persistent cough”, or a temperature of 37.8°C or above, please follow the government instruction to stay at home for 7 days, and not risk infecting each other.
Also, if you’ve been at one of our gatherings, like either a Sunday morning or a Homegroup, and you do develop these symptoms, please would you let us know? We want to do our best to care for everybody that we can.
We can expect that in the coming weeks we will be asked to stop our Sunday morning services. If that happens, we will work to make sure that we can still worship together through the wonders of the internet and things like live streaming.
That’s the practical side. As well as that, I want to just say a little about us, as the people of God, in the midst of this whole situation.
Yes, the coronavirus pandemic is without precedent in modern times. Yes, there is a lot of scary stuff in the news at the moment, and we should be concerned for our vulnerable friends and family members, and for our healthcare workers.
But we are not a hopeless people.
In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, we have the opportunity to be a people of prayer, as well as people of precautions. People of peace, amongst a people in panic.
We know from experience that Jesus heals today, through our prayers. So please, do, be praying.
We know that Jesus meets with us, today, when we invite Him. So please, do, be inviting Jesus to meet with us and with everyone we can possibly think of to pray for.
We know that the peace that Jesus gives, a true peace, not a sticking-plaster, and that His is a peace that surpasses all understanding. So please, spend time with Jesus and rest in His peace.
We know that people around us will need the peace and presence of Jesus in their lives even more than they normally would (if that’s possible), and that we Kingdom Carriers are the antidote to the Fear Oppressed. Now is the time to introduce people to Jesus.
And lastly, we know that people around us will need some practical help in the coming weeks. We have the hope of Jesus, and the heart of Jesus, and we are the very people called by God to look after the vulnerable in times of trouble.
o If you have a neighbour, or someone you know who needs help (going shopping for them, etc), now will be the time to step up.
o If you have two packets of pasta, and your neighbour has none, now will be the time to give.
o If the world’s answer to coronavirus news is to raid the shelves, let us be the people who love the vulnerable, who remember the lonely, and who love our communities in real, practical ways.
Please do keep an eye out for future updates, and until then, God bless you.
Jim.