A few thoughts on our motivation and on risk management

At WCC, we have not rushed to return to meeting in person at the Primary School. This is partly because Zoom is working surprisingly well in many ways, partly because many of our congregation were or still are shielding, and partly because of uncertainty around how well sharing the venue would work for the school.

We’ve started working through the risks involved in meeting together, but every step is reinforcing to us that every congregation is unique, and has its own unique situation and risks. It’s become hard to think everything through theoretically, and hence we’re aiming to have a one-off “pilot” Sunday when some of us meet in person, but others can participate equally online from their homes. After this, we can review all of our risk assessments, seek feedback as needed, and make more concrete plans for returning when we are confident that it’s safe to do so.

We’ve mentioned that we’d like to break bread together at our pilot service. Thankfully, there is now such a thing as “communion servings” (a fully-sealed individual cup of grape juice with a wafer) and we believe that by using these, we can break bread together without introducing any additional risk. We’re also looking to make the service very short (perhaps 30-45 minutes) to minimise the need for use of toilets, and to make life easier for parents (as we cannot currently run separate kids’ groups).

Some of you may (very reasonably) be asking the question – if there’s any risk at all, isn’t the most responsible thing to wait? Our concern at this point is to balance the obvious and visible risk of transmitting infection with the less visible but equally real risks of prolonged isolation: loneliness, depression, anxiety and perhaps a decline in spiritual life and connection with the Lord. These are hard things to balance, and ultimately it comes down to a judgment call: please extend grace to those making the decisions if we balance these needs differently from how you would do it!

Lastly, we will keep flexibility about all our in-person plans for the foreseeable future. We will make a decision late in the week as to whether any given Sunday is safe to go ahead – based on government guidelines, the local situation, and any other factors. As we will need to ask people to “book” in advance to let us know they’re coming, we know who we’d need to contact if things change, and can call around if there are any last-minute developments.

If you haven’t already done so, it would be hugely helpful if every household that regularly attends WCC could fill out this survey so that we have a measure of people’s feelings and also of the likely demand for spaces on Sunday mornings.

During this time of heightened pressure and need, we in the WCC community want to support each other as well as possible, practically and in prayer.

To help us to coordinate this well, please could you send any prayer requests you have, as well as any practical needs, to care@wheatleycommunitychurch.org. If it’s just to let us know and not for sharing on a prayer list, please mention that in the email so we know not to circulate it.

Last week was a learning experience for us all – thanks for getting stuck in, and for all the helpful comments and suggestions you’ve sent in since Sunday.
We are taking them on board, and will be making the following changes to Sunday services for this week:

1. We’ll try to keep the service to an hour or so.
2. The first 15 minutes will aim to be all-age-friendly.
3. Some of the kids’ leaders will put together some suggested activities for our young people for half an hour or so – kids’ sermons, worksheets, and prayer activities.
4. We’ll make sure that any videos we play for sung worship include the lyrics.
5. We have made edits to our website, hopefully making the online services more welcoming to people who don’t normally worship with us. The “Church online” page also gives you links to all our online meetings, in case you’ve mislaid them.

The decision has been taken to cancel the walk, in the light of government social distancing guidelines. We would encourage people to make whatever individual arrangements they can, withinthe boundaries set by government advice.

Due to the step-up in recommended social distancing, we will be reviewing the proposed walk this Sunday afternoon. Options include cancelling it altogether, or sending people off in two-household groups. The church leadership will be meeting before the service to make a final decision. If you are not “attending” the morning service, please check back here for an update before turning up!

Firstly, a heads-up that our Saturday prayer breakfast will be going ahead at 9am tomorrow as planned – but online. Details follow below.

Technology update

For the time being, all of our online meetings will be held using Zoom. This is an online conference-call tool that allows for multi-way communication with video and/or sound. If you are happy working out the technology, all you need to know is the meeting link – this will prompt you to download the software to computer. You can also use a phone or tablet, downloading the Zoom app from the relevant app store.

If you’re not comfortable with the technology, we have put together a short “getting started” guide, which can be accessed by clicking the link below. Please have a try and see how you get on. If you have any trouble, Jemima is happy to help you get started – just give her a call between 3pm and 5pm this Saturday (Mar 21st) and she will talk you through any snags you might have.

Getting started guides for Zoom: Windows laptop / tablet or phone

Saturday morning prayer: Zoom meeting #838-431-480 or click https://zoom.us/j/838431480

Sunday morning service: Zoom meeting #705-130-489 or click https://zoom.us/j/705130489

Home Groups

Stephen & Jemima’s home group has already met once successfully using Zoom. From next week, both home groups will dial into a single meeting using the details below. Once in the meeting, we will divide everyone into the two normal groups and they will run separately.

Home group: Zoom meeting #608-712-524 or click https://zoom.us/j/608712524.

Prayer

Now more than ever, it is a time to be pushing into prayer. Do put the Saturday morning prayer meetings in your diary, and make it a highlight at the start of the day! We’ll start at 9am – bring your breakfast and sit and chat. Prayer will start in earnest at around 9:30.

Calendars

While we will try to keep everyone up-to-date with events and developments by the usual channels, you may find it helpful to subscribe to the WCC calendar. You can do this by clicking one of these links: Google Calendar / Outlook / iCal

For more information on how we’re planning to move forward at this time, and for details of pastoral care and Sunday services, please see our 15-minute briefing video at http://bit.ly/WCC20200318.

17th March, 22:00:

We have just concluded our Trustees meeting. We started by praying that we’d come to conclusions that “seemed right to the Holy Spirit and to us”, and I feel that we really did.

It’s too late to get a proper update out tonight, but do watch this space for an update tomorrow. Also, tomorrow is Newsletter Day – if you do not get the church newsletter and would like to – or if you used to and then stopped because you heard the notices on Sunday mornings instead, there’s no time like the present! Please drop an email to office@wheatleycommunitychurch.org and we’ll get you connected up.

16th March, 21:00:

The decision has been taken to cancel the Pulse worship service this coming Sunday evening.

The Trustees will still be meeting tomorrow to plan ahead – expect a fuller update on Wednesday.

If you do not get the church newsletter and would like to, please drop an email to office@wheatleycommunitychurch.org.

13th March, 09:00:

Our current plan is for Sunday’s service to proceed. We will be taking extra precautions, including spacing the chairs wider apart, and asking our welcome team to avoid handshakes and hugs. Please bring your own travel mug if you would like a drink!

If you feel it is wise to stay away, please do so with our blessing. Do send through any prayer or practical requests to your home group leader, or to the Church office (office@wheatleycommunitychurch.org).