Lockdown #3 at Emmanuel

Whilst government lockdown guidelines allow for churches to remain open for public worship during Lockdown #3, we have made the decision to remain closed during this time (as we did during Tier 4) as have ALL the churches in the Billericay & Little Burstead Team Ministry.

DUTY OF CARE We recognise we have a duty of care to those in our church family, and the wider community, especially when we live in an area that has one of the highest infection rates in the country. None of us want church to be a place people can be infected with COVID 19. This fits in with recent Diocesan recommendations for us to close our churches for public worship and move our services online. More details of our online worship can be found here Livestreamed & Online Services at Emmanuel

MIDWEEK COMMUNION at Saint Mary’s in the High Street will also be suspended, with immediate effect, for the same reasons as above. However, it will continue to be open for private prayer – see days and times on poster below.

OUR HEARTS ARE OPEN There’s no doubt these are challenging times and, whilst our doors might be closed our hearts, as always, are open, We continue to pray for God’s peace to be upon us, our families, our community and our nation at this time.

KEY WORKERS We pray for all key workers, especially all those in the NHS on the frontline those in retail, manufacturing and distribution. May they have the resources they need and the strength to continue to serve us.

SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES Please remember schools operating under great pressure. Pray for teachers and all staff that they will cope with the many pressures they are under and for students as they seek to make up for time lost during this past school year and for parents having to make arrangements to home school when working from home themselves. Pray, too, for students at University as they seek to make sense of a hugely disruptive year.

It’s been really tough on our emotions these last few weeks. If your mental health is struggling, why not reach out to:

IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO FOR YOU? Be sure to let me, or another member of our church family, know if there is anything I/we can do for you at any time. I’m more than happy to have a Skype, FaceTime or Zoom with you, speak on the phone or have a conversation on your doorstep (at 2.0m distance of course). Contact me on 01277 658055 or via email on paul@billericaychurches.org  or via Twitter or Facebook.