COVID-19 Updates

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Updated: 17/08/2020

We are pleased to be re-opening the church building from Sunday 6th September, to meet together for Sunday morning worship services. We have carefully and prayerfully considered the Government and Baptist Union guidance, and have put in place various measures to ensure the safety of all who attend. We respectfully ask that all visitors read the attached guidance before attending, and familiarise themselves with the attached Privacy document which all attendees will be asked to complete this upon arrival.

If you'll be visiting for the first time, please do drop us a message beforehand, and if you have any queries please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.

All other church groups and clubs remain closed at this time, and of course we will continually review the guidance issued as the coronavirus situation continues to change.

	Guidance to attendees (reopening the building Sept 20) (186.3KB)
	FORM - Coronavirus Fair Processing and Privacy Notice (131.0KB)

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Current advice from the UK Government can be found here: nhs.uk/coronavirus

Following direction from the Government on Monday 16th March, wherein the nation was advised to “avoid all non-essential contact with others and unnecessary travel” and “avoid ... social venues”, the church leadership team has taken the step to cancel all church based activities with immediate effect. This will last until the advice is revoked by the Government.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis we have had to cancel ALL our Sunday services, care groups, prayer meetings, youth club and other activities usually held on church premises. We have also shut down the church building until further notice.

We encourage church members NOT to meet up over this time period, but stay in touch via phone, texts, or our Facebook page.

Any church members (or indeed any member of the public) who is in particular difficulty should contact us via email on shotgatebaptist@outlook.com, and we will see what we can do.

Preaching and Worship

Starting this Sunday 5th April, each week our Minister in Training Pholani Ncube will produce an audio recording that will be uploaded to our Resources-Sermons section of the website and will be sent out on email and whats app to church members on Sunday mornings. Each sermon will be accompanied with prayer, and there will either be performed piano accompaniment or a recommended list of worship songs that we will encourage you to listen to and immerse yourself in, before and/or after the sermon.

Planning your Visit

New to Church?

The following information is specifically for those planning a visit, so that you know, beforehand, what to expect on a Sunday morning.

Where & when does the church meet?

We meet at the Church Building (details below) for our Sunday Service starting at 10:30am. For your first visit, we recommend arriving 10 minutes early to ensure you get a parking space and find somewhere to sit before the service begins. When you arrive please do introduce yourself to someone, we are a friendly bunch.

We serve tea, coffee and biscuits after the church service finishes, usually around 11:45am, please do stay for a tea or coffee and a chat with fellow visitors and our church members. All refreshments are free.

You can see a map of our church location on our contact us page.

Accessibility: There is wheelchair access, and there are disabled toilets in the main foyer. Please let the person welcoming on the door know if you require any assistance.

Our Service

The main service begins at 10:30am with a warm welcome from one of our church members. Then follows a time of sung worship, led by our talented music team. Sometimes a person might pray out loud or read a small passage from the bible. Sometimes people share things that they believe God is saying to the whole church family. This might seem strange the first time you hear it but it’s all part of our connecting with God. We then share news and notices, usually about what’s going on in the life of the church. Our Minister in Training or a visiting speaker will then give a sermon that is bible based and that we can apply to our everyday life. We then finish with a final worship song. Sometimes there is an opportunity to receive prayer at the end of the service.

images: Services

What about my kids?

We love to have children join us, and welcome all ages! We ask that children be accompanied by their parent/grown-up at all times.

Children stay with their parent or grown-up at the start of the service for the welcome, songs and notices. We really value worshipping God all together as a family. At the end of the first part of the service someone will announce that it’s time for the younger members to go to their Sunday School . You are welcome to go with your children to their group, if they would be more comfortable with this.

The Sunday School activities vary depending on the age and theme but usually there is a friendly welcome, bible stories, testimonies, praying, music, craft, drama, fun games and play. Please pick your children up as soon as the service finishes.

Getting Connected

Care Groups

While Sundays are a great way to meet new people, it is often in smaller gatherings that you can really get to know someone. Being part of one of our Care Groups allows you to make new friends, share together and support each other. Check out Care Groups and see if there’s one that you could join.

Serving and Volunteering

If you want to get involved in the life of the church and help us make Sundays run smoothly, just let us know!

Other Ministries

We also run other events, activities and socials throughout the year - please check out the Church Life pages for more information.

If you want to know who the church leaders are , check out our church Leadership Team page.