Our leaders' response to the Corona Virus outbreak
Greetings to all friends, members and family of Pendle Hill Baptist Church,
Due to the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19 your deacons had a major discussion on Thursday 19 March as to the precautions our Church should be taking. Having worked through health and safety implications and having accepted the advice from our NSW ACT Baptist association, we have come to the unprecedented decision of suspending our Church activities for the time being. This includes but is not limited to
Please remember that suspending Church does not end Church. Church is not about a single activity or gathering, but Church is the Bride of Christ, the people of God, the brothers and sisters who are part of community. Remember the words of our Lord who said that not even the gates of Hades will prevail against the Church. Let’s remember this great truth. As the Church has survived through history, so we will continue to survive.
We want to make sure you are pastorally cared for during this time as members and attendees of our Church. I personally over the next couple of weeks will contact every single member by phone and see what needs there are. If people would like a personal visit and they are healthy, I will make myself available to do that. We will encourage small groups of people to contact each member of their group as a way of pastorally caring for each other. We are also encouraging people to contact the office to provide news and prayer points so we can continue as a Church family.
We will be starting to live stream our Sunday services staring this Sunday (22 March) on our Church face book page https://www.facebook.com/groups/10986570074/. So, if you tune in at 9:30 on Sunday morning you will be able to worship with us from home and join with us for our own Church prayers.
We are doing this to protect our Church family from this virus. While the virus affects mainly older people, the young can catch it as carriers and spread it to older members of their families. We would hate to see this happen and so will err on the side of caution.
I look forward to the time when we can meet as a Church family and worship corporately once again. Until then, stay strong in the love of Christ,
Pastor Guy Johnston
Due to the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19 your deacons had a major discussion on Thursday 19 March as to the precautions our Church should be taking. Having worked through health and safety implications and having accepted the advice from our NSW ACT Baptist association, we have come to the unprecedented decision of suspending our Church activities for the time being. This includes but is not limited to
- Church services
- Pot luck dinners
- Adventurer’s outings
- Men’s activities
- Women’s activities
- Youth activities
- Bible studies.
Please remember that suspending Church does not end Church. Church is not about a single activity or gathering, but Church is the Bride of Christ, the people of God, the brothers and sisters who are part of community. Remember the words of our Lord who said that not even the gates of Hades will prevail against the Church. Let’s remember this great truth. As the Church has survived through history, so we will continue to survive.
We want to make sure you are pastorally cared for during this time as members and attendees of our Church. I personally over the next couple of weeks will contact every single member by phone and see what needs there are. If people would like a personal visit and they are healthy, I will make myself available to do that. We will encourage small groups of people to contact each member of their group as a way of pastorally caring for each other. We are also encouraging people to contact the office to provide news and prayer points so we can continue as a Church family.
We will be starting to live stream our Sunday services staring this Sunday (22 March) on our Church face book page https://www.facebook.com/groups/10986570074/. So, if you tune in at 9:30 on Sunday morning you will be able to worship with us from home and join with us for our own Church prayers.
We are doing this to protect our Church family from this virus. While the virus affects mainly older people, the young can catch it as carriers and spread it to older members of their families. We would hate to see this happen and so will err on the side of caution.
I look forward to the time when we can meet as a Church family and worship corporately once again. Until then, stay strong in the love of Christ,
Pastor Guy Johnston