Message from the Minister – 19 March 2020
Dear Church family,
I pray that you are doing well and trusting in God’s good graces and sovereign hand in these times.
Last night your parish council met to consider the way forward in light of the new restrictions on gatherings of over 100 people, and the further spread of the COVID-19 virus. It was a difficult decision to make and we spent good time considering it from many perspectives, but in the end we came to an unanimous decision to suspend all Church Services for the time being. We will continue to review the decision as circumstances continue to change, and will update you regularly.
Why did we come to this decision? A number of factors featured in our discussion:
- Our 10:30am service is usually over 100 people and so in its usual form is not permitted to meet under government regulations in any case;
- Our other services have a high number of people in the most at risk categories of people – those over 55;
- For the good name of Jesus Christ (reputational considerations) – at a time when the tenor of every government advice is to gather less, it may be that our wider community would consider it irresponsible for us to be encouraging people to gather together in larger groups even if they are under 100 people;
- The fact that the majority of other Anglican churches we knew of had come to the same conclusion and the news that the Catholic Church as a whole had also suspended their services.
The suspension includes our usual Wednesday service for the moment. All these decisions will be constantly reviewed in light of changing circumstances.
Not everyone receives this email, and so please do be in touch with those you know to let them know about this, and to offer care and support in the midst of this disruption.
Youth Group and Small Groups
At this stage parish council has decided that:
- at present, given the fact that the schools remain open, we are happy for the youth group to continue, provided that the youth leaders are comfortable with continuing, strict observation of social distancing best practice and hand hygiene and the encouragement of youth who might be sick in any way to stay home. We’re also planning on consulting with parents and the youth themselves on this as well. We will confirm whether or not youth group is proceeding on Friday night by the end of today;
- we encourage small groups to continue to meet, at a time like this the support and care provided in these is important, but we also acknowledge that some may wish to pause their gatherings. We are happy for individual small groups to decide what is best for them in the circumstances. If small groups do continue to meet, we again encourage them to heed the government advice on social distancing and hand washing, and encourage members to stay away if at all unwell.
The mission and ministry of St John’s and Christ Church continues!
We want to make sure that we are continuing to glorify our God, encourage one another to maturity in Christ and proclaim the gospel in word and deed as a church even during this time – though we will not be meeting on Sundays the mission and ministry of the church continues! It will however look different for some time. This Sunday we will deliver some form of online service that you will be able to access via the website (www.cranbourneanglican.org.au) – at the very least we will have a recorded sermon and some prayers you can access on Sunday morning. If we can master the technology in time, we may even have a live streamed service. We’ll send out further information on this as we develop the online service further.
We are aware that many members are either not online or are not confident with technology. Over the next week I will look to call our Ministry Advisory Committee together to consider ways in which we can ensure all members are cared for and remain connected to the church and each other. It may be that we will look to set up more small groups to ensure people remain connected, or look to divide the church into pastoral care communities with leaders particularly responsible for keeping in touch with members in their sub-community, or some other way of caring for one another through this time.
My prayer is that this time will actually serve to strengthen our church and grow us as disciples – opening up our communication channels, growing our small groups and improving our pastoral care – and that we’ll come out the other side of this stronger in faith, in love for one another and in our ability to proclaim the gospel.
Mission and Vision Process
We
are in the middle of our mission and vision process – we have listened
to God through a time of prayer and now are turning to a time of
listening to each other. Our internal survey was going to be launched
last Sunday but we held off on launching it in light of the
circumstances so that we could add some questions relating to how we can
support and bless you at this time. You will receive a further email
about this later today that includes a link you can click to fill in the
survey online.
Communication
We’re keen to continue to bless and support you pastorally, and so we
will be looking to communicate more by email and our website (www.cranbourneanglican.org.au)
in the coming weeks – please keep checking your emails and check in on
the website. Paper copies of this letter and other updates will be
available for people to pick up at the church.
Giving
As I said last week, people are our primary concern, and we are committed to continue to both pastorally care for you and be a witness to Cranbourne and beyond for Christ. Nonetheless this will have financial implications for us as a church too. Can we encourage you to start giving to the church electronically if you do not do so already? We can only continue to support and bless you as a church and work to be a blessing and witness to our community through the generosity of the people of St Johns and Christ Church, and while we suspend Sunday services, while our costs will nonetheless remain largely the same. So please do continue to be faithful in giving. You can set up your giving online using the details below. Just be sure to reference it as ‘Personal Giving’, and if you would like to, you are welcome to include your last name as well (particularly if you want your giving to be directed to the building fund this would be helpful)
| Anglican Parish of Cranbourne |
| BSB: 083 214 |
| Account: 596 278 950 |
Closing Remarks
These are strange times for us all, and it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. Psalm 18 says:
2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
It is more important than ever to be going to our God in prayer and to His word daily. Be encouraged! God is stronger than the troubles of today, and he has promised us an eternal joy that can never be shaken, whatever each day holds.
Be assured of my prayers and thoughts for you at this time.
With love in Christ,
Sam Bleby
Minister | Parish of Cranbourne
St John’s Cranbourne | Christ Church Tooradin
m: 0406 342 028
www.cranbourneanglican.org.au