On 12th July we will return to our church building for public worship. We plan to do this in a staged and sustainable way, seeking to reduce risk as much as possible whilst complying with government regulations. At present the national church guidelines recommend that if you are vulnerable for any reason you should avoid public gatherings of more than six people.

For these reasons there will be changes to how we worship together and we will continue to offer on line worship on Sundays and Wednesdays.

The changed pattern for now is set out below.

Sunday 12th & 19th July

9.30am – Worship from Chris’ study - online – via Facebook, YouTube and Website

11am – Morning Worship – St Andrew’s Church**

5pm – Sunday Service – Felixstowe Radio

** We are excited to return to our building for worship but in order to allow churches to open for public worship we will have to limit numbers to ensure social distancing (2m) We have also been asked to keep a record of all who attend to aid possible track and trace should there be a case of Covid 19.

In order to help with this, we have introduced a booking system to attend church. This will be done through the online system Eventbrite.

This system is widely used, simple to use and once you have done so once it is easy to do again. It will allow us to keep records of who attends for three weeks as required by the government and manage numbers.

Registering is reasonably straight forward (and there's a video guide) but if you are struggling to register please be in touch with (Rev Chris, Rev David, Richard Copestake or David J) who will talk you through it and give you support. If you have no internet access, please be in touch with Rev Chris before midday on the Saturday before the service and you will be added to the list if there is space.

You don't need to print the ticket, or bring any ticket details with you. This is simply so that we know who is coming and to make sure we don't exceed capacity. As long as you've booked, we will know and you'll be on our list.

When you arrive in the building you will be asked to maintain social distancing both outside and inside the building, as well as cleaning your hands, on entrance and exit. There will certain areas where you will asked to sit with numbers limited to each pew.

Each service will have its own order of service that you will need to take away with you. The service will be spoken as we are not allowed to sing, though there may be some music for reflection as part of the service.

At the end of the service you will be asked to leave in a particular way and unfortunately there will be no after church refreshments served.

This video shows you what to expect.

We will continue to review and amend our procedures as we move forward ensuring we reduce risk.

I am aware that this will be very different to how we have come to church in the past and I am sure going forward we will settle into a new pattern. It is good to gather as God’s people whether in person or on-line and we seek to honour God in the different ways we do this. Please continue to pray that we will discover how we can seek to worship God in spirit and in truth in these new condition.

Chris.