Dear LBC family,
Advent is a time of waiting, the hope and joy of the coming of Christ at Christmas reminds us once again that God works in his timing and everything is in his hands, he is merciful, loving and kind and longs for us to draw close to him this Advent and Christmas time. Good news has been born among us, Emmanuel God is with us. As we think of celebration the stark reality of our current situation remains before us, this Christmas won’t be a usual one for us as a church family, but it is my hope that we can still find time and space to celebrate and think again about Jesus, God’s gift of love.
This week sees the end of the period of lockdown and Warrington reverts to being in tier 2. From December 6th we can hold services again in the church building (with all the restrictions prior to the lockdown still in place). For those of us involved on a week by week basis with our services, the last few months have been a really challenging time keeping up to speed with all the various changes to restrictions and we really appreciate your prayers and patience as we grapple and try to adapt quickly to new rules and regulations.
As we’ve been aiming to do since the summer, we will continue to provide a range of streamed services and events, and at the same time offer space for those who feel it is right to come to worship with other Christians in a Covid-secure setting. As we’ve said throughout this time, whether we attend live services are personal choices to make prayerfully and carefully and as a leadership we are committed to providing for the whole church family in whatever way is right for you.
Over the last three weeks we’ve effectively turned Lower Ridgway into a recording studio, where we can record services, music and conversation. This has worked well (at least for those of us leading and involved technically 😊). To enable us to provide the best quality recordings for over Christmas we aim to keep this space set up for recording at least until mid-December. Below, I set out what we’re planning up until the end of the year for Sundays and Christmas Day. A full list of services will be in the weekly news (including Christmas Eve & New Year’s Eve).
- 6th & 13th December We’ll stream from Lower Ridgway but will have Millington open for any who want to book in to come to church and worship with other Christians as the service is shown live on the big screen. On both these Sundays the 5pm service will also resume.
- 20th December there will be no ‘live’ 10.30 service, but instead we have been invited to join with other Baptist churches across the North West for a shared service with Phil Jump. Part of our reason for doing this (other than it is great to share with others) is to maximise the time and space for the afternoon and evening where we are having 3 live carol services at 3/5/7pm. The middle one will be a streamed service. This will enable us to book in around 90 people, this will have to be on a first come first books in basis. So, if you’d like to come to one of these please contact the office ASAP.
- Christmas day: We’ll pre-record a 30-minute service which will be shown online at 10am. We’re also going to be opening up the church for a slightly longer 40-minute service, which will involve watching the pre-recorded streamed service at 10am with additional prayers and reflections. Please book ASAP if you’d like to come.
- 27th December: Online only. No afternoon services.
- 3rd January 10.30 service in Millington with congregation (please book ASAP). No afternoon services, these will all start back the following week
God bless,
Jonathan
(on behalf of LBC leadership & staff teams)