Weekly Updates
This is where we’ll try to provide weekly items in addition to our other updates and letters – please keep coming back here regularly.
25th July:
Kip’s letter this week sets out more information about the introduction of the limited services taking place in church during August.
These ‘joining instructions’ are especially important because in order to come to a service, you must please book a place beforehand.
We invite people wanting to join us to telephone us in advance on:
August 2nd for services to take place on August 9th and/or August 16th
August 16th for services to take place on August 23rd and/or August 30th
On both 2nd and 16th August, the ‘Hub’ telephone number 0151 428 6810 will be open from 9am to 6pm to accept your calls. Bookings will only be taken on those dates so please don’t phone to register at another time.
If the phone is not answered, allow the call to ring through to the answer machine and give us:
your name; the number of people in your bubble who hope to attend; your phone number
We will then contact you within 48hrs and advise you further.
17th July:
As part of our planning for a gradual return to family-based activities, please look at our Summer Plans here
13th July:
Dear Friends
‘I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord’ (Psalm 122.1)
Planning for the gradual return to St Peter’s for worship
We are planning to gradually open St Peter’s church building for worship, while continuing to provide the online services. I’m hoping that we will be able to begin with a very simple, single service each Sunday from early August in the church building.
We are following the Church of England’s guidelines (which are in line with those of HM Government) to enable us to open the church building as safely as possible. The principles of physical distancing, hygiene and cleaning will apply, alongside a number of other restrictions. We have already conducted a risk assessment and will continue to update this regularly. At the present there are no plans to conduct weddings, funerals and baptisms in the building – it’s a case of one step at a time.
More details about the Sunday services – dates, time, how to book and what to expect – will follow, but all will be contingent on having a team of people available to support the reopening.
We can only open if we have a team of those who feel they can fulfil the following criteria so that people are kept safe:
Attend a training session and keep to guidelines
Prioritise a commitment to being at church before, during and after the service
Give a warm and friendly welcome without relaxing any of the guidelines
Being prepared do a variety of tasks: stewarding and guiding people to their seats, carrying out cleaning if necessary, and anything else necessary for the smooth and safe running of the service
Be prepared to wear PPE (which will be provided)
If you want to see St Peter’s start to reopen for worship and feel you are able to help us in this way, please let me know by email (address at the top of this letter), with your address and mobile phone number, so we have an easy way to contact you and inform you of the next stages of preparation.
Thank you for your prayerful consideration. We do understand that some of you will have good reasons not to volunteer and some of you will not feel ready to return yet, so let me remind us all that whether we are in the church building or not, we are still the church. So, let’s continue as the church to do three things:
1. Stay close to God.
I encourage you to join in the online worship if you can.
Even while apart, there can still be a sense of worshipping together.
‘And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another’. (Hebrews10.25)
2. Stay close to one another.
‘Love one another’. (John 13.34).
‘Be devoted to one another’ (Romans 12.10)
‘Build up one another’ (Romans 14.19; 1 Thessalonians 5.11)
3. Stay close to those whom God places you beside in the week, being salt and light, making a difference. (Matthew 5. 13-16)
If we do these three, we are church. Be encouraged!
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15. 13)
With my love and prayers.
God bless.
Kip
27th June:
You can find last week’s letter from Kip to the St Peter’s church family here!
25th June:
Here’s a thankyou message from Julia:
“I would like to say thank you to everyone from St. Peter’s who contributed to the large collection of food and other gifts which welcomed me upon my arrival in Woolton. It was such a lovely thing to arrive and to be met with such kindness.
It has also been wonderful to receive cards, visits (to the doorstep) and gifts from a number of people. Along with the welcome I have received from my neighbours, it has certainly made me feel at home here in Woolton, so thank you.
I am now fully unpacked, have ventured out to do some gardening, and look forward to starting my ministry at St. Peter’s on Sunday 28th June. I hope to be able to meet many from the parish over the coming weeks, be that virtually, or in person as I walk around the parish. If you see me around and recognise me, please do introduce yourselves.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful welcome to St. Peter’s.”
13th June:
This week’s letter from Kip has a page of its own: Appeal 2020
28th May:
World Environment Day is the United Nations’ day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. It falls on June 5th each year and this year’s theme is ‘biodiversity’. As part of St Peter’s journey towards becoming an Eco Church, Kip and the Eco Crew are challenging us all to think about how each of our carbon footprints is affecting the world environment and its biodiversity and how this fits with our mission as a church. This Carbon Footprint Challenge has been put together to help us do this. It contains links to further information and a carbon calculator to help you take your first steps. Contact the Eco Crew through [email protected] if you need help or more information.
15th May:
Here’s a message from our Churchwardens, Brian and Terry:
Letter to parishioners
together with a presentation from the PCC for your information :
Accounts for the Year Ending 31st December 2019
6th May:
By popular demand, we thought ewe’d enjoy this slideshow of illustrations from Kip’s recent talk on The Lost Sheep!
27th April:
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 – which is available 24 hours a day on 0800 804 8044 – has been set up particularly with those unable to join online church services during the period of restrictions in mind.
Find out more by following this link.
Archive messages:
Suggestions for Prayer
Easter encouragement and news
Remember that we have a number you can dial to hear a recording of each Sunday’s service for the cost of a local call. We hope this may be particularly helpful for people not able to access the YouTube service. Dial 0151 329 2942, wait a few seconds and the recording will start. Please tell anyone you think may be interested.
For those working in frontline services
If you are not receiving weekly messages by email, it means that we don’t have a current email address for you. Contact us at [email protected] to join or unsubscribe from our mailing list.