A message from Rev Paula

As from Monday 11 May, clergy or licensed lay ministers in this diocese may enter their church buildings for private prayer, or to record or livestream services.
 
Only members of the minister’s household may accompany him or her into the church building. This is not permission for any sort of public meeting or worship.

Further stages of return to our buildings will follow, depending on government advice and regulations. It is likely that in a few weeks, small-scale services such as baptisms, weddings and funerals, with family only present, will be possible. Social distancing, and strict conditions around access and cleaning, will have to apply.
 
Further down the line, I hope to be able to authorise Sunday worship on an appropriate scale. This will depend on how many people can conveniently be in the building with appropriate social distancing (which is likely to remain in force for months at least). Please note that it is very unlikely that we will be able to permit singing in the coming months, as the medical advice is that this would require social distancing of five metres, and that no books or service sheets can be used: these are a good way of passing germs from hand to hand.
 
Once there is a vaccine available to all, we will be able to return to something nearer normal, but all the advice I have seen is that sometime next year is the earliest possible time for that.
 
There are no timings on this plan. These will depend on government advice, on other advice I receive, and on local conditions. It is possible that relaxations to the lockdown will have to be reversed, and even new restrictions imposed, if there is a new wave of infections nationally or locally. Please be patient, and help your people to be. I want our churches open, but only when that is safe.
 
These steps towards re-opening will in some ways look like a postcode lottery. I regret that, but it is inevitable. Lifting a lockdown is much more complicated than imposing one. The 40 diocesan bishops of the Church of England are in close touch with each other, but each of us, with our advisers and staff teams, is responsible for making these decisions for our own diocese. We have all agreed the direction of travel, and the different steps necessary, but details and timings will vary from one diocese to another.

One area which is particularly complicated is the question of opening churches for private prayer. It might seem that this is a relatively easy win, but I am afraid that it is not. If churches are left open, they will need to be hygienically cleaned after each use. Remember that each person who enters the church might be a carrier of the disease, or might be particularly vulnerable to it. We are responsible for keeping our people as safe as we can, especially in our church buildings. I know that this will not be popular, but for the time being our church buildings cannot be opened for private prayer or other visits. Perhaps counterintuitively, this is likely to be the very last point on any roadmap towards re-opening.