Warbleton Parish Church

Welcome to Warbleton Parish Church website.

Our Sunday service is at 11am each week. 

You can also see Sunday service live on our church Facebook page here: facebook.com/WarbletonParishChurch

Or catch up later on our Warbleton Parish Church You Tube Channel.

Further details of our services and other activities can be found on our What’s On page or in our weekly notice sheet and monthly parish magazine. (PDFs) although these have been subject to change because of the corona virus situation.

(If you would like to see the adverts which normally appear in our magazine, you can access them  here: Magazine Adverts

There is a previous issue of the parish magazine in the free online e-reader Calameo here.

You can join our email mailing list here.

Covid precautions for services:

We have worked hard to comply with the law, guidance from the government, The Church of England and the Diocese and so that some of us can meet safely.

We recognise that some people will not want to join us for public worship at the moment. There is no pressure for anyone to do so until they feel ready and can do so safely.

Some who are clinically extremely vulnerable will have been given government guidance on shielding or will have received a letter from their GP and are not currently advised to attend places of worship. We would strongly discourage you from doing so. Anyone showing symptoms of COVID-19 (a new continuous cough, a high temperature or a loss of, or change in, their normal sense of taste or smell) should not attend. You should not attend if you are self-isolating due to a possible or confirmed case of COVID-19 in your household, or because they have been requested to so by NHS Test & Trace. Further details can be found via: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Those aged over 70 or with a particular vulnerability are encouraged to be especially conscious of the current stay alert and social distancing guidance and may choose not to attend. We respect your personal decision and encourage everyone to stay safe.

(If you attend church, you may of course appear in the online video but we will try to avoid close ups of members of the congregation unless you are doing a reading or leading the prayers etc.)

We will have the church well cleaned and well ventilated according to the guidance. You may want to bring a coat! (To reduce the risk of infection, the church will normally be locked for 72 hours before and after the service).

If you plan to attend, please wash your thoroughly hands at home before and after the service. We would also ask you to use your own 70% plus alcohol hand gel or the hand gel we provide on arriving and departing in the required way.

Please try to avoid touching your face. Cough or sneeze into a tissue which is binned safely, or into the crook of your sleeved arm if a tissue is not available.

We ask you to maintain a safe distance of at least 2 metres at all times between households (social bubbles count as part of one household for these purposes). The church building will be set out for social distancing with pews and chairs marked and blocked off as appropriate.

We will operate a clearly marked one-way system with entry through the normal south door and exit via the Vestry.

It will be one pew per household. We will ask you to move down to the end of the pew. To maintain a social distance, the maximum number in each pew is three persons in most cases.

In the unlikely event that we reach the maximum safe capacity, those who arrive last will be asked to leave. If we find this is an issue, we will look at introducing a booking system.

Please respect any requests from stewards and church officers.

Please seek to minimise what you touch and avoid moving around the building unnecessarily.

It is a legal requirement to wear a Face covering in the church building unless you have a good reason not to.

Once the service is over, the government advice is that, “participants should be encouraged to move on promptly, to minimise the risk of contact and spread of infection.” If you want to speak to others, it would be better to do that outside rather than lingering in the building. You will recall that when you are outside you can meet in groups of up to six people from different households, following social distancing guidelines but it is safer to keep this to a minimum. You should not move between groups of six.

We will probably ask different sections of the church to leave in order maintaining the one-way system, sanitising your hands again at the exit and avoiding congestion.

We will not be giving out or making available any hymn books, service books or Bibles. You may wish to bring your own Bible from home and take it away with you afterwards. All the liturgy will be on the screen. We will not be singing as this is an infection risk. We will also avoid raising our voices and we will not play loud music so that no one is likely to try to shout over it. The responses in the service should be said with a slightly quiet voice, not a raised one, please.

Kneelers and cushions have been removed for safety reasons. You may bring your own cushion if you wish. (Please be sure to take it home with you!)

We will have some copies of the printed notice sheet available if you are absolutely desperate for one. We will not be handing them out as the norm. We would ask you to pick one up without touching the others. It would be much safer to receive the notice sheet each week by email (contact to request this) or to view it online (see above). We would strongly encourage you to make use of a paperless option.

We will not be taking a collection during the service. There will be a plate available for cash donations (which you should avoid touching) but we would prefer people to use our contactless card option for those that would like to give before or after the service. Meryl Clark will be nearby to assist you. There will be a card reader available that accepts multiple types of cards, including visa, maestro, and ApplePay. A mobile phone will be used to enter the amount of donation, and GiftAid details if applicable. The screen only should be touched by you, or Meryl Clark, and will be cleaned with anti-bac between each use. Your preferred card will then be used with the card reader in a contactless manner.

Alternatively, regular giving through the Parish Giving Scheme, or standing order is an ideal method to support your church. Details can be emailed to you upon request. You are also able to donate through the website or via our Facebook page “Warbleton Parish Church”.

You should not feel obliged to receive Holy Communion if you are worried about your safety.  I will receive bread and wine. Communion for other members of the congregation will be bread only. This will be pre-cut up in a covered container (the Ciborium!) and I will sanitise my hands and then place the bread into you hand. We will aim to do this at arm’s length and without speaking.

If you would like to receive, please come up when directed by a steward and queue in a single line maintaining a two-meter distance as much as possible. We will receive one at a time standing up to avoid touching the altar rail. Again, we will use a one-way system.

Children and young people are always very welcome at our services. Children should be supervised by their parent or guardian at all times. Please explain the social distancing and hygiene precautions to your children and ensure that they comply with them. We hope to be able to operate a children’s Sunday Club during part of most services when possible, mainly outside. It would be helpful to contact us in advance if you would like to make use of Sunday Club so that we can explain to you how it will work and plan to welcome your children well. There are some items we would also like you to bring with you.

In line with government guidance, and so that we can assist the NHS Test and Trace service, like other venues including in the retail and hospitality sector, we will seek to keep an accurate temporary record of those who attend for 21 days. We will aim to comply with data protection legislation. We will ask you for your name and surname and a contact phone number if we do not already have this information. We will not use this information for any other purpose. If you plan to come to church and we might not already have a contact phone number for you, it would be helpful to email your name and surname and number to in advance, please.

Our Covid 19 privacy notice is displayed in the church and is also available here: COVID 19 Test & Trace Online Privacy Notice Warbleton.

The church will be open for private individual prayer only on a Wednesday afternoon between the hours of 2pm and 5pm. Anyone attending will be asked for their names and a contact phone number.

The latest Church of England guidance can be found at: https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-churches

We will of course keep what we are doing under review and make any necessary changes in the light of experience and any changes to the guidance or legislation.

If you have any other queries, please do contact me.

I very much look forward to seeing those of you who are able to join us.

 

The Revd Marc Lloyd

01435 830421 / 07812 054820

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The audio sermon is on the website as usual:

We are a friendly and welcoming, Bible-believing Church of England parish church. You are warmly invited to join us at our main Sunday service is normally at 11am (but see above), or at our other services and activities.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Christian faith we’d love to hear from you. We recommend the Christianity Explored Course which, along with other courses, we run regularly. You may find the Two Ways To Live summary of the Christian message helpful.

The parish of St. Mary the Virgin, Warbleton serves the communities of Beestons, Chapman’s Town, Punnetts Town (part), Rushlake Green, Three Cups, Turners Green and Warbleton, although many of our members come from further afield.