Dear Friends,

As we’re into the holiday season, and I’m currently on leave, this note should have been brief, except that in response to the introduction of the new face mask rules on Friday 24th July, the Church of England has launched a huge swathe of revised guidance for worship, including reference to face coverings. I haven’t had time to read it all, but the little bit I’ve seen made me want to revise the letter I’d prepared for today.

Before I comment on the guidance, let me give you word for word, what the Bishops (headed in this instance by the Bishop of London, who is a former Chief Nursing Officer for the UK) have told us.

Q. Should I wear a face covering in a church building?
A. Face coverings are currently mandatory on public transport and will be mandatory in shops and in supermarkets from 24 July 2020. People are also encouraged to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces where there are people they do not normally meet, such as a place of worship. We strongly advise that face coverings should be worn by all those attending a place of worship, including ministers, worshippers, staff, volunteers, contractors and visitors, where there may be other people present; remembering that they are mainly intended to protect other people, not the wearer, from coronavirus COVID-19 and that they are not a replacement for physical distancing and regular hand washing.

Having worn face masks quite a lot this week whilst travelling around Paris and visiting various visitor attractions, as well as in shops, and bars, I’m not a great fan of them, though I take some comfort from the thought that at least it isn’t as warm back in England as it is here, so they won’t fog your glasses up as much as they’ve fogged my sunglasses this week! But the lesson learned from the many Asian nations that suffered from the SARS outbreak a few years back, is that face coverings make a real difference. Hopefully they’ll make a real difference with Covid here too, and help us get rid of it for good.

I know a lot of you will not like the idea of wearing them, and particularly the advice to wear them in church. Note first that the advice is not mandatory. This is not a law, just advice, so we won’t be turning people away if they don’t wear them. But I do think there is a strong Christian case for wearing them.

The case isn’t built on a self-interest plea about the possibility of a mask preventing us catching an unpleasant disease, but instead on Jesus’ call to us to love our neighbours as ourselves: to do as we would be done by.

Early next month, shielding ends for over two million clinically extremely vulnerable people (many of our regular church attenders and some of our service leaders are in this group), and they’re being “released” at a time when we’re wanting to get the economy moving again, to travel more and get life back to normal. In other words, perfect conditions to increase the spread of Covid-19. Face masks in public spaces may well be the price we all have to pay to protect the most vulnerable.

As I’ve already said, I don’t like wearing them, but I think it’s a sacrifice worth making if it stops me harming someone. I hope you’ll come to see it in those terms too.

I’ll update you more on the revised guidance in a subsequent letter, but here’s the rest of the note I had originally planned to send…

Last weekend we had another event to celebrate – the first service at Earls Croome Church since lockdown began. I’m enormously grateful to Margaret Herbert and her team who have taken the lead on getting the building “Covid-safe”.

This weekend we’ve our first service at the Hook for months, and next weekend the first service at Ripple. So things are beginning to look a little more normal. As to whether the Prime Minister’s suggestion that normal life will resume by Christmas, I’m a little more sceptical, but let’s hope for the best, and plan for the worst!

With more “physical” church services happening we’re slowly scaling back our online services. We won’t be running any more “services of spiritual communion” on a Sunday morning, but we are going to keep a monthly-midweek one running for the next few months.
We’re also about to review whether to continue producing the Daily Prayer videos. Some of you have really appreciated them, but we’ve noticed a slow decline in numbers viewing the service in the last few weeks. Please tell us what you think we should do with these daily videos. It’s very much a “use it or lose it” type situation!
Here’s a run down of everything going on this week, along with links to some fun things we’ve spotted this week, and our updated prayer list.

1) Services in church, this Sunday 26 July

• Morning Worship – 11am – Hook
• Holy Communion – 11am – Welland

2) Online Services

Click the links on the list below to take you direct to the event at the appropriate time.
Sunday 26 July

• Prerecorded, (stream at your convenience)Sunday Service (traditional hymn version) – PRERECORDED so you can watch anytime from midnight on Sunday (also available through our Youtube channel).
• Church Family (modern music version) – PRERECORDED – watch anytime from midnight on Sunday at www.hopechurchfamily.org/virtual or through our Youtube channel or join the live Facebook Premiere at 9:30am.

29 July

• Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 6:30pm. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.

Every Day except Sunday

• Daily Prayer – a short service of prayers and readings.

Services for Sunday 2 August

• Holy Communion, Hanley Swan @ 9:30am
• Matins, Ripple @ 11am
• Evensong, Hanley Castle @ 6:30pm
• Service of the Word (traditional) – PRERECORDED available from midnight
•  Church Family (contemporary)– Facebook Premiere at 9:30am and PRERECORDED available from midnight.

3)Church finances – you can make a difference!

Like all small charities, your local church is suffering a significant financial shortfall as a result of lost income from collections and special fundraising events we’d have run through the summer.

Whilst there’s still some hope we might be able to run a few events in the open air later in the summer, we do face a very challenging future financially. If you are in a position to give an additional gift at this time, it would make a huge difference.

To make this simpler, we’ve set up a new GIVING page on our website (https://hopechurchfamily.org/giving), with all the information you’ll need to give a one-off, or regular gift to any of our churches.

4) Services on DVDs and CDs

Every week I produce the services on DVD and CD for a small number of folk across the area who don’t have internet access. It’s been a lovely way for them to stay in touch. If you know of anyone else who would be helped by this ministry, please let me know.

5) What Covid-safe church will be like.

AsTAs ofaof 23 July the basic, common-sense, “ground rules” for a Covid-safe church service.

• If you are experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms (high temperature, new continuous cough, loss/change to your sense of smell or taste) please seek medical advice and do not attend services. We are continuing to provide services online.
• If you are currently shielding (ie in the clinically extremely vulnerable group) please continue to observe government guidance, which is currently to stay home and not attend a place of worship prior to 1 August.
• We will need to take contact details from you when you arrive to assist with contact tracing in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19. This will be kept for 21 days and then disposed of.
• When you enter and leave the building, please use the hand-sanitiser provided.
• Where single-use service sheets are supplied, please take them away with you after the service and dispose of them. Please do not leave them on your seat.
• The social distancing rule is 2 metres. In practice during the distribution of communion, it may be hard to maintain the rule, and other risk-mitigating measures may be in place (for example the use of face masks or visors).
• To enable social distancing rules to be maintained, please only sit in the seat(s) you are assigned. It helps us increase capacity if family groups/bubbles sit together.
• At the moment we do not think demand will be such that we have to introduce a ticketing system, but we may have to do this in future weeks. In the event of the building reaching capacity we will have to turn you away, so you are advised to come early to guarantee a seat!
• There is no requirement to wear face masks, but you may wish to do so if it helps you feel safer. Some service leaders will wear them during the distribution of communion when it is not practical to maintain a 2metre safe distance.
• Singing is not allowed, due to the risk of virus transmission posed by energetic singing! Shouting and energetic liturgy is discouraged for the same reason!
• Hard though it will be, family groups and bubbles are discouraged from interacting with each other in the building or in the church grounds.
• Children are the responsibility of their parents/guardian during the service. In line with national guidance, childrens corners in churches are currently closed, and we are not yet in a position to offer any Sunday School or Breakfast Church provision.
• Please exit the building as soon as the service ends.
• There will be no refreshments served after the service
• Holy Communion will be served in “one-kind” only (bread) as the common cup is seen as a greater infection risk.
• Cash collections are discouraged. If you give using cash, please consider setting up a standing order or using the Parish Giving Scheme to support our work. You can find out details relating your parish here.
• Please observe all directions the stewards give you.
I’m grateful to you all for your continued patience as we try to work all of this out in a way that is safe for everyone concerned. Please continue praying for everyone involved in reopening buildings and restarting services: we need it!

6) Churches Open For Individual Prayer.

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer cleaners and organisers we’re able to open three of our churches for a short period each week for individual prayer. You can visit to pray at the following times:

• Mondays 10am-noon St James’ Welland
•  Tuesdays 10am-noon St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
•  Wednesdays 10am-noon St Mary’s, Hanley Castle
• Thursdays 10am-noon St James’, Welland
• Fridays 5pm-7pm St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Saturdays 10am-noon St Mary’s, Hanley Castle

To help keep you safe, the buildings are being cleaned before and after each opening period, and the three-day gap between each building opening will act as an additional “safety buffer” in which the scientists tell us any virus particles that the cleaners have missed will die.

Notwithstanding that, please help us keep the buildings clean and safe by minimising the things you touch while in the building, using the provided hand gel, observing social distancing, and following all safety instructions in the building.

Please do not enter the building if you are experiencing any of the key Covid-19 symptoms:
• a new continuous cough.
• a high temperature.
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

It’s also possible that we may need to close one of the buildings occasionally for a funeral, or other service, or because we haven’t been able to maintain cleaning safety. We’ll do our best to inform you of this.

———–

We long for the day when we can all gather together again, but in the meantime, stay safe, stay prayerful, and God bless!

Barry Unwin

Dear Friends,

Just a short note this week. I hope I find you well.

Getting back to my desk after a brief break has been pretty tiring, lots to catch up on, and plan, and some good news to share.

First, with Upton reopen for worship we were able to welcome year six from Upton School in for a leavers assembly. This was a wonderful (if socially distanced) event, recorded for the rest of the school to watch in their classrooms on the last day of term. It was a truly moving occasion, and I felt blessed to be able to take part in this relatively normal rite-of-passage! It really feels like some parts of life are returning to normal!

Other bits of good news include our plans to reopen both the Hook and Ripple churches for worship. The Hook should have its first service for four months on 26 July, and Ripple will follow suit a week later. Huge thanks go to Kate Chester-Lamb and Roger Gillard, for taking a lead, and their teams of volunteer helpers who have worked through all the details of how to do this safely!

I also wrote my first Bridge Magazine article for 4 months today – the Bridge will be back in early August, another glimpse of normality, and just to complete the set, I’ve a hair-dresser’s appointment booked for tomorrow so I can finally get my curly hair back under control! Bliss!

Briefly, a few other bits of news. And remember, please also scroll down through the rest of this email to see details of readings for this Sunday, links to some fun things we’ve spotted this week, and our updated prayer list.

1)     Services in church, this Sunday 19 July

• Morning Worship – 11am – Earls Croome
• Holy Communion – 11am – Hanley Castle

2) Online Services

Click the links on the list below to take you direct to the event at the appropriate time.
Sunday 19 July

Live

• Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 9:30am. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.

Prerecorded, (stream at your convenience)

• Sunday Service (traditional hymn version) – PRERECORDED so you can watch anytime from midnight on Sunday (also available through our Youtube channel).
• Church Family (modern music version) – PRERECORDED – watch anytime from midnight on Sunday at www.hopechurchfamily.org/virtual or through our Youtube channel or join the live Facebook Premiere at 9:30am.

Wednesday 22 July

• Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 6:30pm. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.

Every Day except Sunday

• Daily Prayer – a short service of prayers and readings.

Services for Sunday 26 July

• Morning Worship, The Hook @ 11am
• Holy Communion, Welland @ 11am
• Service of the Word (traditional) – PRERECORDED available from midnight
• Church Family (contemporary)– Facebook Premiere at 9:30am and PRERECORDED available from midnight.

3)Church finances – you can make a difference!

Like all small charities, your local church is suffering a significant financial shortfall as a result of lost income from collections and special fundraising events we’d have run through the summer.

Whilst there’s still some hope we might be able to run a few events in the open air later in the summer, we do face a very challenging future financially. If you are in a position to give an additional gift at this time, it would make a huge difference.

To make this simpler, we’ve set up a new GIVING page on our website (https://hopechurchfamily.org/giving), with all the information you’ll need to give a one-off, or regular gift to any of our churches.

4) Services on DVDs and CDs

Every week I produce the services on DVD and CD for a small number of folk across the area who don’t have internet access. It’s been a lovely way for them to stay in touch. If you know of anyone else who would be helped by this ministry, please let me know.

5) What Covid-safe church will be like.

These are the basic, common-sense, “ground rules” for a Covid-safe church service.

• If you are experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms (high temperature, new continuous cough, loss/change to your sense of smell or taste) please seek medical advice and do not attend services. We are continuing to provide services online.
• If you are currently shielding (ie in the clinically extremely vulnerable group) please continue to observe government guidance, which is currently to stay home and not attend a place of worship prior to 1 August.
• We will need to take contact details from you when you arrive to assist with contact tracing in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19. This will be kept for 21 days and then disposed of.
• When you enter and leave the building, please use the hand-sanitiser provided.
• Where single-use service sheets are supplied, please take them away with you after the service and dispose of them. Please do not leave them on your seat.
• The social distancing rule is 2 metres. In practice during the distribution of communion, it may be hard to maintain the rule, and other risk-mitigating measures may be in place (for example the use of face masks or visors).
• To enable social distancing rules to be maintained, please only sit in the seat(s) you are assigned. It helps us increase capacity if family groups/bubbles sit together.
• At the moment we do not think demand will be such that we have to introduce a ticketing system, but we may have to do this in future weeks. In the event of the building reaching capacity we will have to turn you away, so you are advised to come early to guarantee a seat!
• There is no requirement to wear face masks, but you may wish to do so if it helps you feel safer. Some service leaders will wear them during the distribution of communion when it is not practical to maintain a 2metre safe distance.
• Singing is not allowed, due to the risk of virus transmission posed by energetic singing! Shouting and energetic liturgy is discouraged for the same reason!
• Hard though it will be, family groups and bubbles are discouraged from interacting with each other in the building or in the church grounds.
• Children are the responsibility of their parents/guardian during the service. In line with national guidance, childrens corners in churches are currently closed, and we are not yet in a position to offer any Sunday School or Breakfast Church provision.
• Please exit the building as soon as the service ends.
• There will be no refreshments served after the service
• Holy Communion will be served in “one-kind” only (bread) as the common cup is seen as a greater infection risk.
• Cash collections are discouraged. If you give using cash, please consider setting up a standing order or using the Parish Giving Scheme to support our work. You can find out details relating your parish here.
• Please observe all directions the stewards give you.

I’m grateful to you all for your continued patience as we try to work all of this out in a way that is safe for everyone concerned. Please continue praying for everyone involved in reopening buildings and restarting services: we need it!

6) Churches Open For Individual Prayer.

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer cleaners and organisers we’re able to open three of our churches for a short period each week for individual prayer. You can visit to pray at the following times:

• Mondays 10am-noon         St James’ Welland
• Tuesdays 10am-noon         St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Wednesdays 10am-noon         St Mary’s, Hanley Castle
• Thursdays 10am-noon         St James’, Welland
• Fridays 5pm-7pm            St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Saturdays 10am-noon         St Mary’s, Hanley Castle

To help keep you safe, the buildings are being cleaned before and after each opening period, and the three-day gap between each building opening will act as an additional “safety buffer” in which the scientists tell us any virus particles that the cleaners have missed will die.

Notwithstanding that, please help us keep the buildings clean and safe by minimising the things you touch while in the building, using the provided hand gel, observing social distancing, and following all safety instructions in the building.

Please do not enter the building if you are experiencing any of the key Covid-19 symptoms:

• a new continuous cough.
• a high temperature.
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

It’s also possible that we may need to close one of the buildings occasionally for a funeral, or other service, or because we haven’t been able to maintain cleaning safety. We’ll do our best to inform you of this.

———–

We long for the day when we can all gather together again, but in the meantime, stay safe, stay prayerful, and God bless!

Barry Unwin

Dear Friends,

I’m writing this from Cornwall, where I’m having a short break with my family. It’s been good to get away for a few days this week after the challenges of co-ordinating work to reopen some of our churches for individual prayer and/or worship over the last few weeks.

We spent Monday on one of my favourite beaches in the UK, Pedn Vounder, about half-way between Penzance and Lands End. The sun shone brilliantly throughout, the high cliffs protected us from the chilly north-westerly breeze, and we spent the day surrounded by beautiful white sand, swimming in crystal clear seawater. It was a wonderful reminder to me of why Psalm 8 tells us that God has set his glory in the heavens: the beauty of creation reveals God’s power and might and majesty – and in this summer season, despite the strangeness of Covid-19, there are so many reminders to us of God’s goodness all around us. So let’s not be afraid of the challenges ahead, but face them knowing that the God who creates so much wondrous beauty can do wonders in us too.

Last weekend I presided at communion for the first time in nearly four months, and it was a joy to focus again our Lord’s sacrifice as well as to share some, limited, face-to-face fellowship with the small numbers who joined us. The building had been immaculately prepared, and all the advised precautions were taken to enable us to reopen safely. Thank-you to those who joined us for worship – I hope the absence of song wasn’t too strange!

Over the next few weeks we’ll continue to slowly restart worship in various different venues around the benefice. As I’ve said previously, congregational leadership in helping manage safety, building capacity and the number of service leaders available to us are the major restrictions on how we can proceed, and therefore please don’t expect worship to return to your church immediately! Many churches across Worcester diocese (both large and small) are not reopening yet – indeed the Priory in Malvern will not be reopening for services until at least August.

Rather than waiting for a service to come to your familiar place of worship – let me encourage you to be willing to travel between our buildings for regular worship. It was good to see a number of visitors in Hanley Swan last weekend (from Ripple and Upton) and I’d encourage more of you to be willing to travel like this. Collective worship, wherever it takes place, is good for us, and its good for inter-church relationships as well!

Some of you I know are not yet able to travel to church, or do not yet feel safe doing so. We will continue to provide church online (and on DVD) for the foreseeable future, though we will be cutting back the provision somewhat as there aren’t enough hours in the day to do both physical church and virtual church well!

Before I tell you when and where services will be this weekend, please can you read through this guidance note setting out the “ground rules” for a Covid-safe church service.

• If you are experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms (high temperature, new continuous cough, loss/change to your sense of smell or taste) please seek medical advice and do not attend services. We are continuing to provide services online.
• If you are currently shielding (ie in the clinically extremely vulnerable group) please continue to observe government guidance, which is currently to stay home and not attend a place of worship prior to 1 August.
• We will need to take contact details from you when you arrive to assist with contact tracing in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19. This will be kept for 21 days and then disposed of.
• When you enter and leave the building, please use the hand-sanitiser provided.
• Where single-use service sheets are supplied, please take them away with you after the service and dispose of them. Please do not leave them on your seat.
• The social distancing rule is 2 metres. In practice during the distribution of communion, it may be hard to maintain the rule, and other risk-mitigating measures may be in place (for example the use of face masks or visors).
• To enable social distancing rules to be maintained, please only sit in the seat(s) you are assigned. It helps us increase capacity if family groups/bubbles sit together.
• At the moment we do not think demand will be such that we have to introduce a ticketing system, but we may have to do this in future weeks. In the event of the building reaching capacity we will have to turn you away, so you are advised to come early to guarantee a seat!
• There is no requirement to wear face masks, but you may wish to do so if it helps you feel safer. Some service leaders will wear them during the distribution of communion when it is not practical to maintain a 2metre safe distance.
• Singing is not allowed, due to the risk of virus transmission posed by energetic singing! Shouting and energetic liturgy is discouraged for the same reason!
• Hard though it will be, family groups and bubbles are discouraged from interacting with each other in the building or in the church grounds.
• Children are the responsibility of their parents/guardian during the service. In line with national guidance, childrens corners in churches are currently closed, and we are not yet in a position to offer any Sunday School or Breakfast Church provision.
• Please exit the building as soon as the service ends.
• There will be no refreshments served after the service
• Holy Communion will be served in “one-kind” only (bread) as the common cup is seen as a greater infection risk.
• Cash collections are discouraged. If you give using cash, please consider setting up a standing order or using the Parish Giving Scheme to support our work. You can find out details relating your parish here.
• Please observe all directions the stewards give you.

Still want to come? Then this Sunday (12 July) Jane Fraser will be presiding at a service of Holy Communion at 9:30am in Upton and our lay reader Alison Martin will be leading Evening Prayer in Welland at 6pm.

Next weekend (19 July), we hope to have a service of Holy Communion in Hanley Castle, and a morning worship service in Earls Croome, though this is still subject to change. Please check next week’s newsletter for final details!

I’m grateful to you all for your continued patience as we try to work all of this out in a way that is safe for everyone concerned. Please continue praying for everyone involved in reopening buildings and restarting services: we need it!

Briefly, a few other bits of news. And remember, please also scroll down through the rest of this email to see details of readings for this Sunday, links to some fun things we’ve spotted this week, and our updated prayer list.

1) This week’s Online Events

Click the links on the list below to take you direct to the event at the appropriate time.

Sunday 12 July

Live

• Church Family (modern music version) – Join in the planned premier post on the Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/hopechurchupton) from 9:27am, feel free to comment and chat using the links on Facebook.
• Service of Holy Communion – 9:30am – Upton
• Service of Evening Prayer – 6pm – Welland

Prerecorded, (stream at your convenience)

• Sunday Service (traditional hymn version) – PRERECORDED so you can watch anytime from midnight on Sunday (also available through our Youtube channel).
• Church Family (modern music version) – PRERECORDED – watch anytime from midnight on Sunday at www.hopechurchfamily.org/virtual or through our Youtube channel or join the live Facebook Premiere at 9:30am.

Wednesday 15 July

• Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 6:30pm. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.

Every Day except Sunday

• Daily Prayer – a short service of prayers and readings.

Services for Sunday 19 July

• T.b.c. Morning Worship, Earls Croome @ 11am (please check website or this newsletter next week for final details).
• TBC Holy Communion, Hanley Castle @ 11am  (please check website or this newsletter next week for final details).
• Service of the Word (traditional) – PRERECORDED available from midnight
• Church Family (contemporary)– Facebook Premiere at 9:30am and PRERECORDED available from midnight.

2)Church finances – you can make a difference!

Like all small charities, your local church is suffering a significant financial shortfall as a result of lost income from collections and special fundraising events we’d have run through the summer.

Whilst there’s still some hope we might be able to run a few events in the open air later in the summer, we do face a very challenging future financially. If you are in a position to give an additional gift at this time, it would make a huge difference.

To make this simpler, we’ve set up a new GIVING page on our website (https://hopechurchfamily.org/giving), with all the information you’ll need to give a one-off, or regular gift to any of our churches.

3) Services on DVDs and CDs

Every week I produce the services on DVD and CD for a small number of folk across the area who don’t have internet access. It’s been a lovely way for them to stay in touch. If you know of anyone else who would be helped by this ministry, please let me know.

4) Churches Open For Individual Prayer.

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer cleaners and organisers we’re able to open three of our churches for a short period each week for individual prayer. You can visit to pray at the following times:

• Mondays 10am-noon        St James’ Welland
• Tuesdays 10am-noon        St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Wednesdays 10am-noon        St Mary’s, Hanley Castle
• Thursdays 10am-noon        St James’, Welland
• Fridays 5pm-7pm           St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Saturdays 10am-noon        St Mary’s, Hanley Castle

To help keep you safe, the buildings are being cleaned before and after each opening period, and the three-day gap between each building opening will act as an additional “safety buffer” in which the scientists tell us any virus particles that the cleaners have missed will die.

Notwithstanding that, please help us keep the buildings clean and safe by minimising the things you touch while in the building, using the provided hand gel, observing social distancing, and following all safety instructions in the building.

Please do not enter the building if you are experiencing any of the key Covid-19 symptoms:

• a new continuous cough.
• a high temperature.
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

It’s also possible that we may need to close one of the buildings occasionally for a funeral, or other service, or because we haven’t been able to maintain cleaning safety. We’ll do our best to inform you of this.

———–

We long for the day when we can all gather together again, but in the meantime, stay safe, stay prayerful, and God bless!

Barry Unwin

Dear Friends,

I’m writing this after watching my oldest son’s school leaving assembly, all streamed online, and it served as a startling reminder of just how much Covid-19 has changed life over the last three months. But now as the virus recedes, the country begins to emerge from lockdown, and life starts to look more normal, our church life can begin to follow suit.

As of this weekend we have permission to restart church services, but I’m afraid they will be a little less frequent, and quite a lot different to what you are used to.

In Pre-Covid days we’d have offered services in six different venues on Sunday. Sadly this weekend we can only offer two. I appreciate this will be a disappointment to some of you, however we are balancing a number of complex factors which restrict what we can do.

• Our buildings need to be prepared to Covid-safe standards before they can be reopened. This involves someone taking responsibility for a risk assessment and a team of volunteer cleaners. I’m very grateful to everyone who has stepped forward to help with this.
• The need to social distance in our buildings, which severely reduces capacity. Our biggest venue (Upton) can seat no more than 40, and our smaller ones are restricted to 10.
• Service leaders. We are missing a number of our service leadership team either due to them being part of at-risk groups, or holidays. We also have to work to keep them safe.
• Congregation numbers. Many of you are also in at-risk groups, and from the survey I undertook last week, only about half of you are ready to return to church.
• Online church. Many of you have enjoyed our online provision and until all of you feel safe returning to church, we’re keen to keep this going.

So during July and August we’ll be working towards providing two services a month in our larger church buildings that are ready to reopen (Hanley Castle, Hanley Swan, Welland and Upton where we can seat 15-40 people safely), and one service a month in the smaller venues which are ready to reopen (Earls Croome and the Hook – where we can seat around 10 people safely).  As other venues are ready to reopen we’ll look to add services there too.

Please therefore be patient with us as we seek to serve you…we can only do as much as we can do!

Before I tell you when and where services will be this weekend, please can you read through this guidance note setting out the “ground rules” for a Covid-safe church service.

• If you are experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms (high temperature, new continuous cough, loss/change to your sense of smell or taste) please seek medical advice and do not attend services. We are continuing to provide services online.
• If you are currently shielding (ie in the clinically extremely vulnerable group) please continue to observe government guidance, which is currently to stay home and not attend a place of worship prior to 1 August.
• We will need to take contact details from you when you arrive to assist with contact tracing in the event of an outbreak of Covid-19. This will be kept for 21 days and then disposed of.
• When you enter and leave the building, please use the hand-sanitiser provided.
• Where single-use service sheets are supplied, please take them away with you after the service and dispose of them. Please do not leave them on your seat.
• The social distancing rule is 2 metres. In practice during the distribution of communion, it may be hard to maintain the rule, and other risk-mitigating measures may be in place (for example the use of face masks or visors).
• To enable social distancing rules to be maintained, please only sit in the seat(s) you are assigned. It helps us increase capacity if family groups/bubbles sit together.
• At the moment we do not think demand will be such that we have to introduce a ticketing system, but we may have to do this in future weeks. In the event of the building reaching capacity we will have to turn you away, so you are advised to come early to guarantee a seat!
• There is no requirement to wear face masks, but you may wish to do so if it helps you feel safer. Some service leaders will wear them during the distribution of communion when it is not practical to maintain a 2metre safe distance.
• Singing is not allowed, due to the risk of virus transmission posed by energetic singing! Shouting and energetic liturgy is discouraged for the same reason!
• Hard though it will be, family groups and bubbles are discouraged from interacting with each other in the building or in the church grounds.
• Children are the responsibility of their parents/guardian during the service. In line with national guidance, childrens corners in churches are currently closed, and we are not yet in a position to offer any Sunday School or Breakfast Church provision.
• Please exit the building as soon as the service ends.
• There will be no refreshments served after the service
• Holy Communion will be served in “one-kind” only (bread) as the common cup is seen as a greater infection risk.
• Cash collections are discouraged. If you give using cash, please consider setting up a standing order or using the Parish Giving Scheme to support our work. You can find out details relating your parish here.
• Please observe all directions the stewards give you.

Still want to come? Then this Sunday (5 July) I’ll be leading a service of Holy Communion at 9:30am in Hanley Swan and my colleague Sue Adeney will be leading Evening Prayer in Hanley Castle at 6pm.

Next weekend (12 July), we hope to have a service of Holy Communion in Upton at 9:30am, and Evening Prayer in Welland at 6pm, though this is still subject to change. Please check next week’s newsletter for final details!

I’m grateful to you all for your continued patience as we try to work all of this out in a way that is safe for everyone concerned. Please continue praying for everyone involved in reopening buildings and restarting services: we need it!

Briefly, a few other bits of news. And remember, please also scroll down through the rest of this email to see details of readings for this Sunday, links to some fun things we’ve spotted this week, and our updated prayer list.

1)     Church finances – you can make a difference!

Like all small charities, your local church is suffering a significant financial shortfall as a result of lost income from collections and special fundraising events we’d have run through the summer.

Whilst there’s still some hope we might be able to run a few events in the open air later in the summer, we do face a very challenging future financially. If you are in a position to give an additional gift at this time, it would make a huge difference.

To make this simpler, we’ve set up a new GIVING page on our website (https://hopechurchfamily.org/giving), with all the information you’ll need to give a one-off, or regular gift to any of our churches.

2)     Services on DVDs and CDs

Every week I produce the services on DVD and CD for a small number of folk across the area who don’t have internet access. It’s been a lovely way for them to stay in touch. If you know of anyone else who would be helped by this ministry, please let me know. And can I say a big thank-you to Alison, John and Robina, who are helping with distribution in Ripple and Welland!

3) Coffee and Chat RIP

One consequence of restarting physical services is that I won’t be available to host our online coffee and chat on a Sunday morning any more. I know for a number of you this has been a valuable means of social interaction during the lockdown. To replace it, we are suggesting you either attend a physical service, or if you aren’t able to do that, participate in the online services of spiritual communion, which will now include an extended “chat” time after the service.

4) Churches Open For Individual Prayer.

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer cleaners and organisers we’re able to open three of our churches for a short period each week for individual prayer. You can visit to pray at the following times:

• Mondays 10am-noon         St James’ Welland
• Tuesdays 10am-noon         St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Wednesdays 10am-noon         St Mary’s, Hanley Castle
• Thursdays 10am-noon         St James’, Welland
• Fridays 5pm-7pm            St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Saturdays 10am-noon         St Mary’s, Hanley Castle

To help keep you safe, the buildings are being cleaned before and after each opening period, and the three-day gap between each building opening will act as an additional “safety buffer” in which the scientists tell us any virus particles that the cleaners have missed will die.

Notwithstanding that, please help us keep the buildings clean and safe by minimising the things you touch while in the building, using the provided hand gel, observing social distancing, and following all safety instructions in the building.

Please do not enter the building if you are experiencing any of the key Covid-19 symptoms:

• a new continuous cough.
• a high temperature.
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

It’s also possible that we may need to close one of the buildings occasionally for a funeral, or other service, or because we haven’t been able to maintain cleaning safety. We’ll do our best to inform you of this.

5) This week’s Online Events

Click the links on the list below to take you direct to the event at the appropriate time.

Sunday 5 July

Live

• Church Family (modern music version) – Join in the planned premier post on the Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/hopechurchupton) from 9:27am, feel free to comment and chat using the links on Facebook.
• Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 9:30am. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.
• Service of Holy Communion – 9:30am – St Gabriel’s Church, Hanley Swan.
• Service of Evening Prayer – 6pm – St Mary’s, Hanley Castle

Prerecorded, (stream at your convenience)

• Sunday Service (traditional hymn version) – PRERECORDED so you can watch anytime from midnight on Sunday (also available through our Youtube channel).
• Church Family (modern music version) – PRERECORDED – watch anytime from midnight on Sunday at www.hopechurchfamily.org/virtual or through our Youtube channel or join the live Facebook Premiere at 9:30am.

Wednesday 8 July

• Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 6:30pm. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.

Every Day except Sunday

• Daily Prayer – a short service of prayers and readings.

Services for Sunday 12 July

• T.b.c. Holy Communion in Upton, 9:30am (please check website or this newsletter next week for final details).
• Evening Prayer, Welland, 6pm
• Service of the Word (traditional) – PRERECORDED available from midnight
• Church Family (contemporary)– Facebook Premiere at 9:30am and PRERECORDED available from midnight.

We long for the day when we can all gather together again, but in the meantime, stay safe, stay prayerful, and God bless!

Barry Unwin

Dear Friends,

I hope you’ve had an enjoyable week and that the heat hasn’t been too much for you. We’ve certainly been very thankful for shade and a big paddling pool!

We had some good news this week: the Prime Minister announced on Tuesday that churches (among other things) could reopen for worship services from next weekend (5 July). I thank God that the time is soon drawing near when we can meet again face to face.

However, as I write (Friday) we are still waiting for more information on the Covid-safety guidelines our services will operate under. Apparently the bishops are locked in discussions with the government to get the information finalised, but with so many industries and organisations doing the same thing, the government and scientists are struggling to resolve matters swiftly enough. As a consequence we are unlikely to get the guidance Monday or Tuesday, which may make it difficult for us to restart services next weekend. Please be praying for the bishops and the government as they sort these things out – they’re working in our best interests on some pretty complex matters and I hope you’ll agree with me when I say it’s better we wait and get it right, rather than rushing into restarting services without fully understanding our Covid-19 related duty of care to our congregations.

When we do restart, it’s likely that for the first few weeks, we’ll only be able to offer one or two services a weekend, which we’ll move around the churches that can be safely reopened (ie those where we have an identified “Venue Manager” who is taking responsibility on behalf of the PCC for the cleaning and management of the building). From the results of our survey this week, I’ve been greatly heartened that most of you are willing to worship at a building that is not your usual church, so I would encourage youto  worship where services are available, until such time as we have regular services everywhere.

Inevitably there are a few rumours circulating about what services will be like when we can restart. It seems likely we will not be allowed to sing for the foreseeable future (for some of you this will be a relief, for others devastating). We will certainly have to socially distance in church, and it seems likely that once inside a building, we’ll not be allowed to interact socially outside of our family groups. We’re hoping the rules for open air worship might be a bit more relaxed, and we’ll certainly look at that option when we know what we’re allowed to do.

In the meantime, please be patient, and keep praying for everyone involved in reopening buildings and restarting services: we need it!

Briefly, a few other bits of news.

1)     Church finances – you can make a difference!

Like all small charities, your local church is suffering a significant financial shortfall as a result of lost income from collections and special fundraising events we’d have run through the summer.

Whilst there’s still some hope we might be able to run a few events in the open air later in the summer, we do face a very challenging future financially. If you are in a position to give an additional gift at this time, it would make a huge difference.

To make this simpler, we’ve set up a new GIVING page on our website (https://hopechurchfamily.org/giving), with all the information you’ll need to give a one-off, or regular gift to any of our churches.

2)     Services on DVDs and CDs

Every week I produce the services on DVD and CD for a small number of folk across the area who don’t have internet access. It’s been a lovely way for them to stay in touch. If you know of anyone else who would be helped by this ministry, please let me know. And can I say a big thank-you to Alison, John and Robina, who are helping with distribution in Ripple and Welland!

3) Get Togethers

We still can’t meet physically as church at the moment but Zoom continues to be a good tool to help us keep in touch and meet with a crowd of folk! If you’ve not tried it yet, and have a computer, do give it a go – it’s possible to leave the video off and just talk, or even just to listen in to others chatting. Sunday 28 June, 10-11am, Coffee and Chat.

4) Churches Open For Individual Prayer.

Thanks to the hard work of our volunteer cleaners and organisers we’re able to open three of our churches for a short period each week for individual prayer. You can visit to pray at the following times:

• Mondays 10am-noon         St James’ Welland
• Tuesdays 10am-noon         St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Wednesdays 10am-noon         St Mary’s, Hanley Castle
• Thursdays 10am-noon         St James’, Welland
• Fridays 5pm-7pm            St Gabriel’s, Hanley Swan
• Saturdays 10am-noon         St Mary’s, Hanley Castle

To help keep you safe, the buildings are being cleaned before and after each opening period, and the three-day gap between each building opening will act as an additional “safety buffer” in which the scientists tell us any virus particles that the cleaners have missed will die.

Notwithstanding that, please help us keep the buildings clean and safe by minimising the things you touch while in the building, using the provided hand gel, observing social distancing, and following all safety instructions in the building.

Please do not enter the building if you are experiencing any of the key Covid-19 symptoms:

• a new continuous cough.
• a high temperature.
• a loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia)

It’s also possible that we may need to close one of the buildings occasionally for a funeral, or other service, or because we haven’t been able to maintain cleaning safety. We’ll do our best to inform you of this.

5) This week’s Online Events

Click the links on the list below to take you direct to the event at the appropriate time.

Sunday 28 June

Live at 9:30am

• Church Family (modern music version) – Join in the planned premier post on the Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/hopechurchupton) from 9:27am, feel free to comment and chat using the links on Facebook.

Prerecorded, (stream at your convenience)

• Sunday Service (traditional hymn version) – PRERECORDED so you can watch anytime from midnight on Sunday (also avaliable through our Youtube channel).
• Church Family (modern music version) – PRERECORDED – watch anytime from midnight on Sunday at www.hopechurchfamily.org/virtual or through our Youtube channel or join the live Facebook Premiere at 9:30am.
• Evening Prayer  – PRERECORDED – watch anytime from midnight on Sunday at www.hopechurchfamily.org/virtual or through our Youtube channel.

Wednesday 1 July

• Service of Spiritual Communion – Live – 6:30pm. LIVE – using Zoom. You can download a service sheet here.

Every Day except Sunday

• Daily Prayer – a short service of prayers and readings.

Services for Sunday 4 July

• Possibly 2 live communion services in church, depending on clergy availability, building safety, and the complexity of the government’s rules…More details in next week’s email.
• Service of the Word (traditional) – PRERECORDED available from midnight
• Church Family (contemporary)– Facebook Premiere at 9:30am and PRERECORDED available from midnight.

We long for the day when we can all gather together again, but in the meantime, stay safe, stay prayerful, and God bless!

Barry Unwin

Dear Friends,

As the government begins to relax the Coronavirus Lockdown, it’s time for us to think about how we restart our church services. It will be hard to go back to how things were before Coronavirus, and before we start to think about what the future pattern of activities should be, it would be really helpful to know if there are things we’ve been doing during lockdown that we should continue when it ends.

To help answer that question, I’ve designed a short survey which I’m sending to everyone on our regular mailing list, inviting you to help us shape our future service and online church provision.

The survey is nice and short, only eight questions, anonymous, and shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes to complete. But those five minutes can make a real difference to our planning – so if you are willing to help please click this link to go to the survey.

Thanks,

Rev’d Barry Unwin
Priest in Charge, Upton with the Hook, Ripple, Earls Croome with Hill Croome and Strensham, Hanley Castle with Hanley Swan, and Welland