We’re excited to let you know that we will be able to start public worship in St Mark’s Church from Sunday 20th September. Government guidance has been revised, allowing some activities to take place in church buildings. It is vital that all necessary hygiene and social distancing precautions are kept in place. We will have one public service in the building on a Sunday, and thanks to everyone’s generosity with fundraising for a camera, this service will also be streamed live online.
Each of us will have to make our own decisions about risk, and to choose whether to join us in the building, or whether to continue joining our services online. Please do not feel any pressure to do anything that is too great a risk for you, however you choose to be a part of our church and community, we are glad you are here.
Sundays at St Mark’s (from 20th September)
- 9am – Service in the building
This will be a communion service, on all Sundays except the first Sunday of the month, which will be a service of the word. - 10am – Online Only service
We will continue to offer an online only service, recognising that there are many people who might not ever be able to join us in a building, and for whom the online gathering is connecting. When people join this service live in YouTube or Facebook live, there is the opportunity to interact through the livechat with us as we stream the service.
Guidance for coming to a service in church
- If you have any symptoms of covid, please do not come to the church building.
- Entrance to the building is through St Mark’s Room, ensuring a step free access for everyone. Please wait to enter at 2m distance, following the markings.
- Face masks are mandatory for all attending a place of worship.
- Hand sanitiser is required.
- As you enter the building, we will ask for your name and contact details, as part of the government’s track and trace. We will keep these details for 21 days.
- You will be directed to your seats, seating from the front of the church first. You can only sit with others in your household.
- At the time of printing, congregational singing is not allowed, so the service will be slightly different.
- To enable social distancing, the distribution of communion will take place at the end of the service as you leave the building.
- We will not be opening the toilet or kitchen (except in an emergency!)
Numbers within the church building will be restricted, to keep everyone at social distancing. When the church is full, we will not be able to let additional people enter. Every service will also be available online.
These guidelines are there to keep us all safe. Our priest, Rachel, has been in the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable to covid category, and many of our usual congregation are Clinically Vulnerable to covid. Please respect the social distancing, to help this feel a safe place for us to be able to gather and worship together.
We look forward to welcoming you, to sharing in physically gathered worship again.