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David's Update 26th June 2020

Dear Friends

In the United States of America 4th July marks Independence Day, a celebration of the removal of external, colonial control over the lives of people.  In Britain 4th July 2020 marks a significant easing of lockdown regulations and in a ‘responsible, social distanced way’ we can celebrate a number of new freedoms.  This newsletter contains lots of new and important information particularly relating to worship.  Please do take a few minutes to read the content and make yourself familiar with the changes that are coming.

With love and prayers

David 

This Sunday 28th June we will be offering the following:

We will offer worship via Zoom at 10.00am

The login details for this Zoom service are the same as before, the service is simply at a different time! 

And…

Live streamed worship via YouTube at 11.00am

The worship will be streamed on our church’s YouTube Channel.  To watch, simply click on this link https://www.youtube.com/SJBBurscough to get straight to our channel, then click on the video for 28th June 2020.  Alternatively, find YouTube on the internet (https://www.youtube.com) and then search for the SJBBurscough YouTube Channel.  

 

Then…

After Church Brew and Fellowship via Zoom at 11:40am

We will also offer an ‘online brew’ following the 11:00 am YouTube service.  Simply make yourself a brew and login to Zoom for a time of chatting and fellowship with Church members. 

Please contact me if you would like more details:

Revd Canon David Banbury:

david.banbury@stjohns-burscough.org         

01704 891640

 

Chris Neilson - new curate: WELCOME PARTY – Sunday 28th June 5:00pm

On Sunday 28th June Chris Neilson will become our new Curate.  We are organising a welcome party for Chris and his family via Zoom.  We will have a Zoom party on Sunday 28th June at 5.00pm to welcome Chris, Laura, Barny, Caleb and Ben.  Please make every effort to be part of this welcome event.  We suggest you organise some ‘party food’ in your household and we will eat together online. 

 

We will also do an interview with Chris and then organise people into Zoom breakout rooms and Chris will do his best to get round some of the rooms.  We will then come together for some games activities and a quiz.  It would be great if as many people as possible could be part of this welcome event for Chris and his family.

 

Please sign up by clicking the link below or by logging into My Church Suite

https://stjohnthebaptistburscough.churchsuite.co.uk/events/thqgv4gc

There is a welcome video from Chris on our YouTube channel SJBBurscough.

Opening Church for Worship and Private Prayer:

You may be aware that lockdown restrictions for churches are further easing on 4 July. 

Private Prayer:

We have thoroughly sanitised church and we have conducted a thorough risk assessment process, so we are pleased to announce that church will be opening for private prayer on Tuesday 30th June, between 09.00am - 12.00noon. 

The first hour 9.00am - 10.00am is set aside for people who have been shielding because of age or underlying health conditions.  Then from 10.00am -12.00 noon it will be open to all.  We can only accommodate a maximum of 30 people in church at any one time, so please be aware you may have to wait before you can enter.

There will be a one-way system working in Church and those attending will need to comply with all of the relevant regulations. E.g. hand sanitising, social distancing, numbers attending, etc. 

Church Open for Worship - Sunday 5th July and Tuesday 7th July

We will also start to conduct worship services in our Churches on Sunday 5th July and Tuesday 7th July.

We will have to operate under the relevant regulations and there are some restrictions which we will need to have in place.  For the first Sunday we are going to be cautious in the provision we offer but once we have got one Sunday under our belt we hope to expand the provision we offer.

The services in church that we are initially able to offer will be as follows:

Sunday 5th July

  • 9.00am Morning Prayer at St John’s (Max 45 people)
  • 6.30pm Evening Prayer (Book of Common Prayer) at St Andrew’s Crabtree (Max 20 people)

Tuesday 7th July

  • 10.30am Tuesday Service at St John’s (Max 45 people)

[* Please note church will not be open for private prayer on this day] 

Continued Online Sunday Worship

We will continue to offer Online Worship via YouTube and the online service will premiere on Sunday morning at 11.00am.  Our YouTube channel is SJBBurscough.

We will also continue to follow this service with a time of ‘after Church brew and Fellowship’, via Zoom.  

Sign Up Procedure for Attending Church Services

As attendance at St John’s is limited to 45 people (socially distanced), we will be asking people to SIGN UP in order to attend these services. 

  • We would like to give priority to those who have not been able to access worship online. Therefore, ONLINE SIGN UP will not be available until Thursday evening (7.00pm) but from that point, reserving a space will be open to anyone who would like to attend (up to the limit of 45 People).
  • For those who cannot sign up online, please contact our Church Administrator Mel Critchley on 07395 979929 at your earliest convenience, to inform her that you would like to sign up for one of these services.
  • For everyone else, sign up will be available from 7:00pm on Thursday 2nd July, via My Church Suite or via these links: -
  • Sunday 5th July, 9.00am Morning Prayer Service

Please Note:

*  When you sign up, you need to enter ticket information for each person from your household that will be attending with you.

*  In order to be fair and create spaces for as many as possible to attend, please only sign up to ONE SERVICE and don’t sign up unless you fully intend on attending, as you will be denying someone else the opportunity if you don’t turn up!

FURTHER INFORMATION

  • The service at St Andrew’s Crabtree is restricted to those who would normally attend worship there.
  • The numbers attending all services are restricted with a maximum of 45 people at St Johns and 20 people at St Andrew’s Crabtree. If more people turn up than we have capacity for, additional people will not be able to enter the building. 
  • Everyone must use hand sanitiser prior to entering church.
  • The service will be said and we will listen to worship music but we are not able to sing under current regulations.
  • At the moment we are unable to offer Holy Communion.
  • There is a one-way system in place at St John’s and people will need to use the relevant entrances and exits.
  • Chatting with people after the service must be socially distanced and ideally happen outside.
  • We will sanitise and clean surfaces between services.
  • We are currently considering whether we are able to open toilets, but it is best to assume that toilet facilities won’t be available.
  • We are unable to serve refreshments after our services
  • People may wish to wear a face mask/face covering in church, but this is an individual choice

We recognise that the news that we are able to worship in church will delight some people and cause anxiety to others.  We fully respect people making their own decision about how they will engage in worship and we recognise that some people will choose to attend a service in church, while others will continue to access online worship.

Please be aware that plans to have church open for private prayer and worship may change if government regulations change.

Church is also now available for funerals services.

 

Get to know the St John’s Newbies – Send in your questions!


As you will be aware we have had some fantastic people who have either recently joined our staff team (Dave Emmett and Diane Taylor-Harrison), or will soon be joining us (Chris Neilson), but we understand that it is difficult for the congregation to properly get to know them in these unusual times, so we thought it would be good to put them on the spot and throw some quick fire questions at them from the congregation.  Your questions can be as sensible or silly as you like; maybe about their new roles in St Johns, what they like to do in their personal lives or something else completely random like a ‘would you rather?’ and we would love to get all sorts of different questions from a range of different ages.  Once we have enough questions we will video their answers and include it in one of our upcoming Sunday services.

Please email your questions to -

Jennie Short:

jennie.short@stjohns-burscough.org

Brian Abraham’s 20th Anniversary of Ordination

THANKFULNESS

On the 5th July I will be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of my Ordination, which took place on a hot summer’s evening at St. John’s. The Assistant Bishop of Liverpool, Bishop Jim Roxburgh officiated at this service which was very special for me and my family especially as Bishop Jim insisted that Sue stood by my side as he said “you are a team and you will serve Him together.”

Over the last twenty years I have had the privilege of serving at St. John’s, Crabtree Mission and the former Hoscar Mission – getting alongside people and sharing with them in their celebrations of life, their challenges and sometimes their sadness.  I have sought to minister to people and bring them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His love for them.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all who have travelled this journey with us, for your love, encouragement and prayerful support.  I am grateful to God for His love and grace enabling me to fulfil my ministry in the power of His Holy Spirit and my prayer is that he will continue to use me for His work.

This passage from 1 Timothy I have held close to my heart: 

"I give thanks to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength for my work. I thank him for considering me worthy and appointing me to serve him" – [1 Timothy 1:12 – GNB]

God bless

Brian

From the family of Margaret Jackson

This is just a short, but very sincere message of thanks for all the prayers, love and support received throughout a very difficult time.

We have been overwhelmed by the many cards, gifts, and messages of sympathy - and so grateful to the many members of the church fellowship who stood and paid their respects at her funeral.

Mum (and Dad) were such a big part of life at St John’s for so many years, and therefore any donations received will be for Crabtree Mission which was very special to them in recent years as their mobility reduced.

Thanks once again.

 

Tim, Jill and all the family

 

Previously Circulated Information: 

MAF Mission Update from the Parkers:

Many of you will know the Parker family who are currently serving the Lord out in Uganda and working for the charity MAF who fly aid and supplies to remote areas in poor countries.  In current times, where the whole world is affected by Covid-19, their work is even more vital than usual, so please continue to pray for them and the fantastic work MAF do.

Click HERE for an update about some of the things they have been getting up to recently and the many challenges the family continue to face in Uganda.  

Live Stream Midweek Worship:

Jen and Pete Short are also continuing to offer live midweek sung worship on a Tuesday evening at 8pm, The video will remain on the YouTube channel, so if 8pm doesn't work for you, you can watch it at your convenience.

The livestream can be accessed from 7.50pm each Tuesday, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG_h0eWr_oUB5GtQLDHsDbQ

Subscribe to this YouTube channel to receive alerts as new videos are posted.

Additional Worship Information:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has launched a free national phone line as a simple new way to bring worship and prayer into people’s homes while church buildings are closed because of the coronavirus.

Daily Hope offers music, prayers and reflections as well as full worship services from the Church of England at the end of a telephone line.

The line is available 24 hours a day on 0800 804 8044

Good News Stories:

We have created a 'Good News Page' on the website (https://www.stjohns-burscough.org/GoodNews/) and so we would love to hear from you if you have an encouraging story to tell, no matter how small or insignificant you might think it is, we want to hear it!
Please send your good news stories to -

Stuart Ashcroft

stuartashcroft1@sky.com

Recent Funerals

Please pray for the family and friends of the following people who have recently passed away.

Leonard Caunce

Walter Steen

Joan Spencer

Vivienne Thompson

Richard Gardner

Joy Rainford

Alice Suffell

Annie Houghton

John Stringman

Ronald Cheetham

Nora Davies

Trevor Bridge

Vera Evans

Margaret Forshaw

Margaret Jackson

George Finch

Alma Hope

Bryan Perret

Cicily Caunce

 

Our verse for 2020: Love one another as I have loved you - John 13:34