Coronavirus Updates

As the situation evolves, advice from both the UK Government and the National Church changes weekly or even more regularly.

Please:

  • Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
  • Keep an eye on this webpage which will be kept up to date as to how our regular and one-off events are affected.
  • Join our email based mailing list which we would encourage you to sign up to. This mailing list will only be used for this one purpose and you can unsubscribe at any time.

We're currently holding no services in church, instead Livestreaming each Sunday at 10.30 on our YouTube channel and also on Zoom.

Here are a couple of useful weblinks for you:

During this time of great anxiety, please continue to pray for one another, and to care for those around us. The telephone could be a great comfort to those who are isolated from physical contact. In all of this, we trust our Father in Heaven, who knows our needs and our anxieties, cares for us deeply, and wants us to walk in trust in him.


Affected Events

  • Sunday and Midweek Services: We are currently holding services in church at 9.30am and 11.00am (booking required), then streaming a repeat online each week (11th July).
  • Church Buildings are now kept locked during the day.
  • Kemsing Lunch Club: Cancelled as of 16th March 2020.
  • Mothers and Others: The last session was Tuesday 17th March 2020. We'll announce here when restarting is possible.
  • Bell Ringing: All bell-ringing practices and ringing for services has been suspended until further notice, in line with advice from the Central Council.
  • Midweek Children's Groups: T7 and Wednesday Club are currently meeting face-to-face, with a limit of 15 children on the roll of each. Parents should contact Deb for details to see if there is room for their children to join. Explorers suspended until further notice.
  • Sunday Special: Sunday Special is meeting, with a weekly session for children in Key Stage 1, and a session most weeks for children in Key Stage 2. Parents should have received an email from Deb with information; please contact her if you did not receive this. We cannot yet run creche during the morning services.
  • Midweek Home Groups: Physical meetings suspended until further notice. One meets over Zoom weekly.
  • Food Bank: Monthly collections. We collect from after church on the first Sunday each month, until 5pm on the Wednsday following. Do not bring contributions to church - the venue is announced each month.

Log

  • Tuesday 30th March 2021: Following guidance from UK Government and the National Youth Agency, we're starting to re-open our children's and youth activities face-to-face. T7 and Wednesday Club start this week; Sunday Special starts after the Easter break.
  • Sunday 21st March 2021: We're back meeting in the church building twice each Sunday (booking required). Government and Church of England guidance now makes clear that singing is not allowed, so we no longer have a small choir of 6 to sing our hymns for us.
  • Sunday 31st January 2021: We move from holding online services only on YouTube to using Zoom and YouTube at the same time, giving people another way to join in.
  • Thursday 14th January 2021: The PCC decides that, because of the higher risks associated with the strain that started in Kent, and because it's hard in practice to remain adequately distant from other households, we would revert to holding all our services online. A decision will be taken in mid-February as to what we will do from the beginning of March onwards.
  • Wednesday 6th January 2021: National lockdown 3 begins. Wonderfully, the government allows churches to remain open, leaving the decision to local church leaders. For the time being, we'll keep our services running both in the building and online, but the vicar, wardens and PCC will monitor the situation closely.
  • Saturday 19th December: Kent placed into newly created "Tier 4" Our planned Christmas services have been carefully planned to be safe, and still take place, but people are encouraged to consider their own circumstances carefully before attending in person.
  • Wednesday 2nd December: Lockdown ends, and Kent is placed in Tier 3. Services revert to 9.30 and 11am, with an online version at 4pm each Sunday. T7 and Wednesday Club resume face-to-face (St Edith Hall), as does Sunday Special (Mark Collett Pavilion).
  • Tuesday 1st December: Our full programme of Christmas services is published, including an open-air carol service at which singing will be allowed.
  • Thursday 5th November: Second England-wide lockdown begins; our Sunday services revert to being online-only at 10.30am each week.
  • Sunday 11th October: Sunday Special restarts, for children aged 5 to the end of year 6 during the 11am service, and for "Pioneers" (our secondary aged group) after the 11am service.
  • Tuesday 29th September: T7 and Wednesday Club restart as face-to-face activities
  • Tuesday 1st September: Services in church to resume again after the summer break, at 9.30am and 11am, with an online stream at 4pm for those unable to join in. The Church of England now allows a small choir to sing as part of a service; it will take us some time to work out if this gives us an opportunity to enhance our worship here.
  • Wednesday 12th August: Services back in church to take a summer break for 3 weeks, with pre-recorded services online instead.
  • Tuesday 14th July: We announced plans to restart public worship from Sunday 19th, with tickets required. The exact plans will not necessarily be the same from week to week as things continue to evolve.
  • Tuesday 23rd June: The government announces that public worship will be possible for up to 30 people from Saturday 4th July.
  • Monday 15th June: The government allows church buildings to open for private prayer, subject to following certain guidelines; the vicar and churchwardens decide that, at this time, the precautions needed are not practicable and to do so would put people unnecessarily at risk.
  • Friday 8th May: Services may now again be streamed from the church building, and not just from home. We will resume doing so from Sunday 17th.
  • Tuesday 21st April: T7 and Wednesday Club resume, as online activities. Wednesday Club is via a WhatsApp group for parents; T7 is via Zoom. Parents of both age groups should contact Deb for details of how their children can join in.
  • Sunday 5th April: Monthly foodbank collections resumed - instructions sent each month to our email list and given out in Sunday service notices.
  • Wednesday 25th March: Further directives say that the vicar cannot even enter the building for private prayer or to stream a service, so all services now to be streamed from home.
  • Tuesday 24th March: Sadly, we can no longer receive and pass on donations on behalf of the foodbank.
  • Monday 23rd March: Following direction given to churches inside the M25 to close their buildings, the vicar and churchwardens decided that we should do the same here since we could potentially be saving lives by doing so (and we would probably be told to do so soon enough).
  • Sunday 22nd March: A morning service was streamed from the church building in Kemsing.
  • Tuesday 17th March: A directive from the Archbishops of Canterbury and York says we should suspend all worship services until further notice. This obviously covers our Sunday services and our midweek Communion. However, it also indicates that the need for social distancing is not just for the elderly and those with underlying health problems, so we are also suspending our midweek children's groups and our home groups.
  • Tuesday 17th March: The bell-ringers had been using hand gel to sanitise hands before ringing, but have now had advice from the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers to suspend all ringing.
  • Tuesday 17th March: Mothers and Others meets one final time, and thereafter is suspended for social distancing.
  • Monday 16th March: Age UK's policy is for community lunch clubs to suspend meeting.
  • Wednesday 11th March: National church guidance says that a common cup is not to be shared at Communion, there is to be no physical contact when sharing the peace, and no refreshments where multiple people touch mugs, utensils and foodstuffs. We change our practice accordingly.