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Hello <<First Name>>
It may be just me, but I must admit that I’m struggling to get my head round Christmas and the new Government regulations about households! Reading the wonderful Isaiah 43 this morning, with its vision of sons and daughters being gathered from the north and the south, the east and the west, sent me back to the relevant website to try to work out just who could join us for Christmas this year among our sons and daughters (three of them in Cambridge, the east, and one in Nairobi, the south) let alone my brother (from Durham, the north) and my mother (from Somerset, the west). And how about other guests we’ve usually invited to join us for the big day itself? It’s all very complicated especially with the three household limit.
This idea of ‘household’, of course, has its roots in many ancient cultures (including Hebrew culture), where it generally referred to what we would call the ‘extended family’, including any live-in servants the family employed, any animals, and often the property itself. The Greek word ‘oikos’ (from which we derive our words ‘economy’ and ‘ecology’) was then taken up by the New Testament writers to speak of ‘God’s household’ and ‘the household of faith’ – a far broader idea, reminding us of our familial commitments to our Christian brothers and sisters and not just to our natural and nuclear nearest and dearest.
Christmas, of course, is the one time of year where we often recapture that ‘household’ vision, drawing together those within our extended families (and often some outside of them) not least to live out something of that vision of a God who ‘sets the lonely in families’ (Psalm 68:6). Whether wisely or not, the Government has recognised that such a vision, properly regulated, should take precedence over health concerns for the newly-designated ‘five days of Christmas’ from December 23rd.
But having lived in extended households for almost half of my adult life – sharing our homes with a wide range of singles and families, among them a whole clutch of interns and prospective ordinands – I wonder whether this extraordinary year might refocus our minds on what a Christian household truly entails post-pandemic. Not necessarily travelling the path of community living, though I for one would recommend that where the circumstances are right. But discovering fresh ways to ‘gather’ God’s people from the north and the south, the east and the west, to ‘set the lonely in families’, even to ‘live in love and faith’, to coin a phrase. Households are for life, not just for Christmas.
Every Blessing
Bishop Andrew
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Resumption of public worship
Last week we circulated an FAQ based on the Government’s Winter plan. On 2nd December we will return to a three-tier system and the current lockdown eases. For The Diocese of Guildford, all our parishes are in Tier 2.
Tier 2 (High):
- Churches can open for public worship, so long as the Covid-secure number is not exceeded, social distancing is practised and face-coverings worn.
- Those attending cannot interact with anyone outside their household or support bubble.
- There is a maximum of 15 guests for weddings, civil partnerships, wedding receptions and wakes; and a maximum of 30 for funerals.
It is worth knowing that, should any parish move into Tier 3, the above remains true in all tiers as things stand today.
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Carol Singing
New government guidance on carol singing has been published here and the church of England has published an FAQ on carol singing on their website. The headlines are:
- Indoor carol services may go ahead but only a choir may sing indoors, there should be no congregational singing.
- Outdoor carol singing may go ahead and congregations/audiences may sing as long as households maintain 2m social distancing and the capacity of an area is adhered to. You will want to consider how you would ensure these rules are kept to e.g. with pre-booking and seating.
- Door to door carol singing is allowed, but 2m social distancing between singers’ households AND from the audience’s household must be maintained – you will want to consider whether this is possible in an area with small driveways/front gardens/pavements.
- Rehearsals are allowed for choirs.
- Churches are allowed to host school carol services using the above principles as long as there is no mixing of school bubbles and performances adhere to both performing arts guidance and guidance issued to schools regarding musical performances.
(please refer to government guidance, Church of England guidance, Suggested Principles of safer singing and performing arts guidance for full details on how to conduct the above safely)
Please note that for ALL performances and rehearsals those from different households (in choir and congregation) should be 2m socially distanced at all times (including entering and leaving a venue). Additionally as Guildford Diocese is in Tier 2 when inside those households are NOT allowed to mingle/chat with one another, and when outside should only mix in groups of up to six. You will want to consider how you would ensure this paying particular attention to arrival and departure from the performance/rehearsal.
While the above activities, subject to restrictions, are permissible an incumbent and their PCC must come to a local decision whether they are a sensible course of action in your own local context. There are a number of things to consider:
1. Smaller choirs are lower risk than larger choirs
2. Larger venues are lower risk than smaller venues
3. Outdoor singing is lower risk than indoor singing
4. Choirs with amplification can sing more quietly (therefore more safely) than those without, and still be heard
5. Rehearsals increase the risk as they increase the number of opportunities for transmission
6. The health context of both your area and your participants
7. The ability of the parish to effectively clean or leave for 48h an indoor area following a service/rehearsal
Government guidance outlines how much of a risk singing is here.
Something you may want to consider in your local area is using BBC Radio Surrey’s Doorstep Carols on 16 December to encourage people to sing carols from their own front door!
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Nativity Plays
The Government’s Guidance for Christmas permits children’s nativity plays and The Church of England has published an FAQ on children’s nativity plays which are allowed to go ahead in places of worship as long as they adhere to social distancing and performing arts guidance. Performances by school pupils, such as nativity plays and other seasonal events, should take place within existing school bubbles and avoid mixing across groups. Both the church and the schools should produce a risk assessment before making a decision. You will want to refer to the government’s guidance for music in schools and the government’s performing arts guidance to inform this.
Holy Communion
As Christmas approaches, there will follow some new guidance to allow for congregations to receive in both kinds simultaneously at Communion, using the method of intinction. The (very!) detailed guidance on this will follow in the next Briefing.
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| As we look ahead to 2021, we know that the many challenges presented by COVID-19 are not yet over. We have been encouraged by the way in which our parishes, communities and Church House Guildford (CHG) teams have worked together in the face of multiple challenges in recent months. In many areas of ministry, including the management of our finances, it has been so encouraging and heartening to see how our parishes and CHG teams are supporting one another in unparalleled ways through the current crisis.
As you know, we are continuing to face significant financial challenges across the Diocese of Guildford. We are facing the reality of a 2020 budget deficit and our Diocesan Synod have recently approved a deficit budget for 2021. This is clearly not a sustainable or healthy situation. We are all working hard to explore ways in which we can reduce our costs in the coming months to ensure the healthy, financial viability of our parishes and ministry across the diocese.
One of the measures we are taking to reduce costs is continuing to use Government’s extended Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
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For Church House staff
We have requested that the majority of our CHG staff agree to flexible furloughed working during December 2020 and January 2021 by reducing their normal hours by 20%. This will result in virtual Church House Guildford (CHG) closing on a Friday and operating an emergency out of hours arrangement for our parishes on a Friday for two months. For those who do not work on a Friday, the day in the week when they take the 20% reduction in hours will be subject to agreement between Team Directors, line managers and staff members.
Our Education Team and Local Ministry Programme Team (LMP) will operate adjusted reduction and flexible furlough arrangements through this period. Our Interfaith, SAAVS and IT teams, all of whom are funded differently, will continue as normal.
In order to enable the flexible furlough working, we will clearly need to prioritise some of the services and support that we provide. This will include slowing down some of our larger diocesan initiatives, such as Year of Children & Young People, the Parish Needs Process (PNP) rollout, some of our response times, planned training and webinars. We will, however, continue with our weekly briefing for parishes, COVID-19 guidance and the Christmas materials that we have already committed to providing to our parishes.
The period of flexible furloughed working will commence in the first week of December 2020 and end on 29 January, subject to the extended CJRS continuing and to our eligibility to participate.
The following out of hours emergency arrangements will be extended to cover Fridays for our parishes:-
- Safeguarding – pleasecontact the relevant statutory agency and follow up with our Diocesan Safeguarding Officer, Jackie Broadfoot, on the next working day
- Emergency property repairs – all necessary phone numbers are listed on our website here
- Media & Crisis communications – to contact us in an emergency outside of office hours please use the out of hours phone 07500 042769.
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For Curates
We have requested that all assistant curates agree to flexible furloughed working from December 2020 to March 2021 by reducing their working week by 1 day. We hope that that the furloughing for 1 day per week only would minimise the impact within a parish, continuing training and enable pastoral needs still to be addressed on the other days on which our Curates are able to exercise ministry.
We recognise that the proposed furlough leave will have an impact within parishes and may create some challenges, however, we are in unprecedented times that are requiring us to adapt our ministry in light of our serious financial situation. If there are exceptional circumstances that create very specific challenges for a parish, please do discuss this with your Area Dean or Archdeacon.
Curates will have agreed with their Incumbents the most suitable day in the week to take furlough leave and this will be communicated on a parish by parish basis.
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Past Cases Review 2 (PCR2)
The Diocese of Guildford is currently reviewing all its records, across all 162 parishes, to ensure that all safeguarding concerns and allegations have been identified, reported, and appropriately actioned. Critical to this, is the voice of survivors and victims. The Diocese of Guildford wants to listen to and to learn from your experiences and ensure that your voices are heard throughout this review process.
Last week we wrote to all our Clergy, asking for your help to raise awareness of this and help us reach as many people as we can. Thank you to those parishes who have already posted this article on their website and social media. If you are able to raise awareness for this critical project, please let wendy.sleight@cofeguildford.org.uk know..
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Dedicated Diocese of Guildford listening provisions
We recognise that local support is also critical. The Diocese has put in place two listening provisions for those people who have experienced church related abuse but who might want to talk through their experiences and feeling before taking any next step. The two different listening options will allow those people who do come forward to Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor Jackie Broadfoot to choose who and how they are supported.
Authorised Listeners (a Diocesan led listening provision). The diocese has three trained and experienced volunteer Authorised Listeners, two female and one male, supervised by the Diocesan Counsellor, who have experience of providing valuable listening to adults with a lived experience of abuse, referred to them by the DSA.
thirtyone:eight listening service(an independent third party listening provision). thirtyone:eight has the vision of a world where every child and adult can feel, and be safe. Their listening service is specifically for survivors of abuse to help them talk through their experiences, think about what actions or next steps they may want to take and to support All listeners are professionally trained social workers, police officers or teachers and have significant experience in safeguarding and supporting those impacted.
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A new look brief
To coincide with the start of the new liturgical year, we have refreshed the brief. COVID-19 may have been the detail that created this coordinated, cross department brief but we hope this briefing will continue to help our parishes long after COVID-19 has been fought back.
So today we launch the updated and renamed Parish Brief.
All comments welcome. Please email comms@cofeguildford.org.uk
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CPO’s gift to the Diocese – Share The Light Communications Campaign
Watch the film created by CPO which reflects the wonderful news that God send Light into the world (John 1.9). Building on that, the film shows Christians spreading that light and bringing hope and love into their world. They do that in many ways – with friends and family, in work and their community and with organisations such as yours.
To see the film you can either click on https://youtu.be/6fQuRdvVv5w . To see the full multi-media communication campaign go to www.sharethelight.co.uk/openyourgift.
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Sunday Sermon
Bishop Jo preaches on John the Baptist. Be warned: you will find nothing schmaltzy here… it is an ‘Advent begins in the dark’ sermon
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| Transcript here or to download directly click here |
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| We have one more Wednesday Webinar before Christmas and its such an important issue. If you are able to join us, register below. If you have missed any of our previous sessions, you can watch them all on our YouTube channel.
The highly popular Online and All age webinar is available privately here.
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Weariness and looking after our mental health
7.30pm on 9th December
As Christians, we are called to love our neighbours as ourselves. How do we look after our mental health, especially in times like this?
We are very glad to welcome Dr Kate Middleton, a clinical psychologist, author and speaker from the Heart and Soul foundation, who will be exploring why we might feel particularly weary in these strange times, how we might look after our mental health, signs to look out for and where to get help.
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This is a list of training or events or important dates to remember
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Monday 7 December, 11am-12.20pm, on Zoom
Join Emma Sijuwade, Social Media expert, with Amaris Cole and Liz Morgan from the Church of England Digital Team, for tips to promote your events in your local community using Facebook. Covering free advertising as well as an introduction to paid advertising, ideal for novices and anyone seeking fresh ideas.
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Monday 7th Dec, 4-5pm, on Zoom
This webinar focuses on developing an action plan for getting to net zero across all diocesan activities, including churches, schools and land. Whilst aimed at dioceses, there will be much of relevance to individual churches too.
Speaker: Jo Chamberlain, National Environment Officer, Mission and Public Affairs, at the Church of England
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Thursday 10th December 7.30-8.30pm, on Zoom
This webinar marks the launch of the Creation Care awards scheme, which is designed to help households better care for God’s earth. The webinar will feature
- Bishop Ruth Bushyager, Bishop of Horsham
- Revd Dr Dave Bookless, Director of Theology, A Rocha International
- Annabelle South, St Paul’s Action on Climate and the Environment
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Get the information as it happens
We have set up a Facebook Group, bringing together leadership across the diocese, to share best practice, to ask questions and encourage one another.
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The post Parish Brief December 1st (1) appeared first on The Parish of Capel and Ockley.
