RE-OPENING OF THE CHURCH

LETTER FROM THE CHURCH SECRETARY:

Dear Friend,

As you will no doubt know, Redland Park URC has been closed for worship since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I am, therefore, delighted to be able to write to you on behalf of the minister and Elders with our plans for re-opening the church for worship. They have been put together by a group representing interests across the church and have at their heart our primary ethos: safety.

We plan to restart worshiping in church from Sunday 13th September.

• Maximum capacity = 18 in congregation to start with, to ensure social distancing
• Need to book in advance; cannot turn up on spec. (contrary to previous advice); details will be destroyed after 21 days
• Markings outside to indicate queueing positions
• Notify Church Secretary if suffering from Covid-19 symptoms (for Test & Trace)
• Please don’t attend if you display symptoms of Covid-19
• Notify stewards if feeling unwell during service
• Masks mandatory unless exempted in line with UK government advice; DB won’t wear mask; readers may remove masks
• Leave promptly at end of service
• No gathering in church; can do so outside
• Temperatures to be taken on entry
• Hand sanitizers around church; use on entry and exit
• Bring own cushions and drinks; only use pews without cushions
• Don’t share microphones
• Congregation to be shown to their seats
• BKC to use church after us; they will clean between services
• No Bibles, books or service orders to be provided; bring your own & take home
• No singing
• Live-streaming via Zoom (same login details)
• No Junior Church on premises until at least October
• When Junior Church meets on the premises, they will use church rooms and follow guidelines for schools/educational establishments
• Means will be provided to allow each person to clean toilet before and after use
• Recommend everyone to get flu jab
• Collection basket to be available on the way in, locked away and then counted a week later
• Kitchen will be closed until further notice
• Lettings to resume 7th Sept
• Church meeting = Wed 23rd Sept @ 7:30pm via Zoom
• Aiming to make audio CD’s of live-streamed services available

This may feel divisive but we hope to increase capacity and capability fairly rapidly; treat first two services as “pilots”.