Last updated Wed 16 Feb 2022 at 16.02
After careful consideration we have decided to gradually reduce our Covid control protocol over the coming weeks. We have decided that an incremental approach is the most helpful to ensure people have time to think through and prepare for changes.
From Sun 20 Feb
Current restrictions and advice remain the same for public worship
From Sun 27 Feb
During public worship gatherings masks may be removed whilst seated and listening
Masks to be worn whilst singing and moving around
All other restrictions and advice remain
This protocol will apply for two weeks
From Sun 13 Mar
Masks will be optional in all gatherings
There will be dedicated space under the gallery in the Main Worship Area where masks must be worn
Masks optional for 0 – 18’s leaders, Toddlers and all other groups
This protocol will apply for two weeks
From Sun 27 Mar
All rules as of Sun 13 Mar
Plus after service refreshments introduced at 6pm dependant on volunteers
From Sun 3 Apr
All rules as of Sun 27 Mar
Plus after service refreshments introduced at 10am dependant on volunteers
We would love to start refreshments as above, but in order to do so we need new volunteers to serve on teams. This is a great way for a small group to serve and volunteer together as well as individual people.
Please fill in our ‘Join a Team’ form if you would like to volunteer.
Dear Friends,
We are so looking forward to welcoming you to St John’s this Christmastime.
We know now that the Omicron variant is spreading rapidly, and we wish to do all we can to provide a safe an environment as possible. Throughout the pandemic we have sought to give clear guidelines which reflect Government & Church of England guidance as well as expert medical advice that best protect a large congregation. We are so aware that there are many different views about risk, but we must do all we can to protect one another, especially those most vulnerable and at risk.
Christmas and the promise of Immanuel – God with us it a most wonderful time of year and it is in that spirit of hope and love that we ask you to adhere to the following guidelines.
GUIDELINES FOR SERVICES AT ST JOHN’S HARBORNE
1. We strongly encourage everyone eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible
2. If you have not been vaccinated, other than for non-medical reasons, please consider very carefully whether you should attend
3. If you have been part of the shielding group before, do consider carefully whether you should attend
4. Please take a Lateral Flow Test before attending a service
5. Please do not attend a service if you have had a positive result from a Lateral Flow Test, or are displaying any symptoms of Covid-19
6. Please do not attend a service if you have been in close contact with some who has had Covid-19 symptoms in the last 10 days
7. Please wear a mask at all times, unless you have a medical exemption. Only those leading the service will remove masks when necessary
8. Please make sure you sanitise your hands on entry
9. Please refrain from close contact with others (hugs/handshakes), and as far as possible maintain some social distance
10. Please leave the building as promptly as possible at the end of the service
With every good wish and blessings for the season,
Leonard Browne
Vicar
Rededication of the Building
On 5 September at 10.00am we will be welcoming Bishop David to be with us to preach and help us rededicate our newly built and refurbished church building. It will be both an exciting and a significant gathering for the family of St John’s.
We agreed a September date almost a year ago in the hope the that Covid-19 pandemic would be largely a thing of the past; yet while we have been seeking to move forward as the various lockdown restrictions have been lifted, we will still not be in a position come 5 September to fill the church to the brim with people as we had hoped. So with the need to continue to gather together safely, our numbers for the service will have to be limited, and that being the case, people seeking to attend will need to obtain a ticket. We will seek to fit as many people in as we can whilst maintaining some social distance. What this will mean essentially is that there will remain more space between rows, but there will not be gaps between different groups of people in each row. We will still be asking everyone to continue to wear a mask, sanitise their hands on entry, and carry out a Lateral Flow Test the day before the service (and let us know if they have a positive test ,and then not attend). If these arrangements leave you feeling uncertain as to your safety, then you may decide not to apply for a ticket. As has been the case since we began in-person services, we will of course be live-streaming the service for those not in the building.
Information regarding how to book your ticket will be coming out next week, so please do look out for details in the Round Up and Website. We are still looking at the feasibility of serving refreshments after the service and will update you as soon as we can.
Finally, we hope and pray that the service on 5 September will be followed, later in the autumn, by various events which will allow the wider community the opportunity to see and enjoy the building.’ Do please be praying for all the above – service and subsequent events.
With warmest Christian greetings,
Leonard Browne
Update given on Thurs 5 Aug
St John’s Roadmap through the Pandemic from 19 July 2021
As you know, many of the current restrictions around Covid-19 are set to change after 19 July 2021. At St John’s we have been holding discussions with senior medical advisers, our church wardens and relevant staff team members, whilst monitoring the various Church of England guidance documents, as we seek prayerfully to navigate our way forward. Our desire is to set a course which enables us to build on what is currently possible, whilst seeking to maintain as safe an environment as possible. In what follows our hope and prayer is that the church family will respond as positively as they can to what we set out, motivated by a mutual commitment to the common good. As with all such things, the need to set aside personal preferences, and understand that others may have a different perspective on all this, will be a vital display of a grace-filled commitment to community. As you will appreciate there will need to be flexibility to change things if it proves necessary, and we will seek to update everyone as quickly as possible if that is needed. The opening up of other ministries and meetings will begin to accelerate as well. Details will follow in due course.
It will be best to set things out by way of bullet points. Do feel free to contact the Church Office if you need further clarification. These changes will come into effect from Sunday 25 July 2021
· We strongly encourage all those who are able to be vaccinated if they are not already, to do so as soon as possible. This will help protect you and others, including when we gather in church.
· We will be stopping the need to book in for the Sunday service, and the Welcome Team will be directing you to fill up the Main Worship Area from the front, with a gap of one seat between groups or individuals. We will continue to request that people do not mingle before or after the service indoors, but meet outside to catch up.
· We request that if at all possible those intending to come to church carry out a Lateral Flow Test in advance of attending, and do not come to church if you gain a positive (i.e. likely to be infected) result. In addition if your test is negative, but you are not well, or have symptoms, you should NOT attend as sometimes you can get falsely negative results. In this case you should still isolate (and should book a PCR test).
· Although there is no legal requirement we still strongly encourage you to check in using the NHS app or leave your contact details. This will enable you to be contacted in the event of someone testing positive and overall help to minimise the spread of the virus.
· We will continue to require masks to be worn inside the buildings, and will be asking people to continue to sanitise their hands on entry.
· Singing will be permitted
· At some stage we hope to be able to offer liquid refreshments outdoors to begin with. This will dependent on being able to resource it and realistically the weather. More details will follow but the expectation is that as with our time at Lordswood School, people will bring their own cups.
· We will continue to limit numbers at the midweek services in July, and some restrictions will remain in place. There will be no Midweek services in August. They will resume on Thursday 2 September when we hope to lift the number restrictions.
· On Sunday 5 September, there will be an official service of rededication for the buildings, followed by refreshments. As things stand it is likely that this will need to be a ticketed event. We will try and accommodate everyone who wants to attend, but we will be guided by what we can safely do. Details will follow as to how we will progress things for this event.
· From Sunday 12 September we hope to begin our Sunday Children’s groups again, and start our Evening Service back up.
· We will continue to livestream all of our 10.00 gatherings for the foreseeable future.
· As previously stated, the above changes may have to be altered if the state of the pandemic warrants it.
· Finally, please pray for grace and understanding, for health and protection, and above all else, for our encounter with and response to the manifest presence of God as we gather together as the family of God at St John’s, readied for faithful missional living for the rest of the week.
For more information on in-person services, click here.
Update given on Thurs 15 Jul
Dear Friends,
We have now been holding services on Thursdays and Sundays for the last three weeks and it has been absolutely fantastic to see people in the building, albeit with all the restrictions in place. There have also been other activities happening with Youth, Toddlers and Children too.
We, along with the rest of the country await further information about easing for restrictions from 21 June and how that will impact what we are doing. Whilst there is uncertainty about whether all restrictions will lift or some will remain it is hard to imagine that it will be ‘business as usual’ from 22 June onwards. Worshipping communities across the country will be waiting to see what happens and as part of the Church of England, St John’s will be waiting for guidelines that they will issue shortly afterwards.
Once these have been issued and we have had chance understand the content we will then respond with our own plans and interpretation. It may well be that some churches might be doing more, whilst others may indeed be doing less. We appreciate that for some the restrictions will be frustrating, but for others it may still raise anxiety to think about joining with others in the building. St John’s journey out of lockdown will be personal and bespoke to us, we want to listen to God and be sensitive to our own congregation. As soon as plans are agreed then we will communicate with everybody as quickly as we can.
In the meantime we would love you to be praying for wisdom and discernment, that we will be able to move forwards in unity and togetherness, keeping each other safe whilst also exploring meaningful ways of gathering to worship the God.
Yours in Christ,
Steve and Jon
Update given on Thurs 10 Jun
Dear Friends,
I am guessing that most of you listened to the announcement by the government yesterday, and would have been disappointed and frustrated with the news that, for many people, Christmas plans have been thrown into disarray. Perhaps for you, the thought of seeing dearly loved family members and friends over the Christmas period was one of the things keeping you going through such a challenging time these past few weeks. To be limited to one day here in the West Midlands, and for millions of people in tier 4 to have no chance to see anyone at all, is really difficult for many - even heartbreaking for those now facing a Christmas on their own.
Our theme for our Christmas services - ‘An Unexpected Christmas’ - has never felt so apt. I am reminded that those living out the events of that first Christmas, would also have been aware of shifting sands and seemingly unpredictable, ever-changing circumstances. As we will reflect on in our Christmas services, the “Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”. Light wins. Jesus wins. And even though the darkness may do its worst, when it feels like the storms of this life have triumphed, and all hope seems lost - all we can sometimes do is hold onto that simple truth, follow the story of this child, and see that the darkness can never overcome the eternal light of Christ. As has been noted before - ‘corona’ means ‘crown’ - and even with this difficult change of circumstances for us all - nothing can steal the crown that this child was born to wear.
In one of Jon’s favourite films, The Count of Monte Cristo, one character says to another - “Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.” What will we do when the storms of unpredictability and challenge come? Will we fall to our knees in worship and in need of Him - turning to the one true light that this world has ever known and will ever know? ‘What makes us’ is what we do when that storm comes. Will we become a place, not of easy answers and trite, simplistic platitudes, but where the light comes and takes residence in our hearts - where the light shines in us, and through us, into the darkness of this world?
You may find yourself struggling for words to say, prayers to pray, or simply how to respond. So I encourage you, this Christmas, to worship like never before. Let us be people that fall to our knees in adoration. Let us sing all the louder in our homes as we join together at our Christmas services. Let us be people who allow the light of Christ to burn even more fiercely than ever before. And let our worship extend to looking around us to those who need that light right now - those who may be on their own this Christmas as a result of enforced changed plans. Those who may need a meal cooked, or a comforting conversation on the phone. As Jesus tells his followers in Matthew 5:16 - “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
May each of you know the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus this Christmas time. May you know His presence - Emmanuel, God with us. The light of the world has come. May He take special residence in your lives, and the lives of those you love, this Christmas and always.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Leonard & Jon
Dear Friends,
The Church of England has now provided some further guidelines, following the further easing of Lockdown due 4 July, and I have spoken this week with our Archdeacon. In essence the advice is for us to respond to our particular circumstances, making sure that peoples’ safety is the first priority. This is why our midweek service, even if our venue were to be available, is unlikely to take place for the foreseeable future. Also, as already stated, the fact that we currently have no church building, (and with Lordswood unavailable), means that the logistics of any Sunday gatherings is not something we can even look at currently. To date we have found no alternative Sunday locations that could even begin to meet our needs (regarding both numbers and safety). This leaves the question regarding smaller gatherings. Currently in order to comply with the latest guidelines, only members of one other family can meet with the occupants of a home in their home; and garden gatherings are still restricted to only 6 people – fewer than the numbers than almost all our small groups. So for the time being, we are holding the line on no official church meetings in gardens, while leaving what people do informally, within the guidelines, up to individuals. Looking ahead to September, if the guidelines remain essentially the same, we will look at the possibility of using other churches’ premises, and/or other suitable spaces in the vicinity, to hold smaller gatherings. There is of course no guarantee that there will be suitable locations, but it will certainly be worth pursuing.
Leonard Browne
Update given on Wed 1 July
Dear Friends
As Lockdown has begun to be eased, I wanted to be in touch to bring everyone connected with St John’s up to date on what the immediate future is likely to look like for us as a church community. We have all been so aware of how unusual and challenging the last weeks have been for everyone, even with the unforeseen opportunities to show the love of God to those around us, as well as the unexpected blessings for many of being able to hold services online. The question already formed in most of our minds is the very obvious one: how long is this disrupted church existence likely to continue for St John’s?
How Long, O Lord?
Firstly, and clearly, because our church building is currently closed as it is extended and refurbished, we have no decision to make in response to the possibility of our opening up for private prayer, or limited gatherings, as the government has just indicated. More than this, however, is the recent news that Lordswood Girls’ School, where we had been meeting until lockdown, has decided not to allow any hiring of its premises until November at the earliest. While not entirely surprising for obvious reasons, it does leave us again with no decision to make about the possibility of beginning to hold services again. We have of course approached some of our neighbouring churches to ask what their hiring / sharing policy might be. Understandably, they can’t even begin to consider that, while they are themselves grappling with how they might start meeting again; so I think it highly unlikely that we would in reality be able to have church gatherings in other premises for the foreseeable future.
While the possibility of other churches beginning to meet, while we could not, would come as a disappointment for us, as I have prayed and reflected on it, I’ve come to see that our powerlessness in all this actually has removed what would have been some genuine and prayerful agonising for us. As a large multi- generational church, the prospect of deciding if we should try to start meeting again, and if so how to do so safely, would have been a real challenge. Quite apart from trying to re-assemble a set -up and set – down team, and work out if we could carry out what is needed safely, we all know that the biggest risk for the spread of Covid-19, is people meeting together indoors for a prolonged period of time. If you add in the low ceiling at Lordswood, and our large church family, the medical advice we have received, alongside government regulations, all indicate that it would be both difficult and highly risky to have tried to start up services again, whilst the virus is still (albeit in lower numbers) in the community at large. What we might be able to do in smaller groups (whether in gardens, homes or buildings, with Toddlers, Children, Youth or Adults) will become clear as things unfold, and the most recent announcements have been reflected on.
The question remains as to what might happen come November, if Lordswood changes its approach and the possibility of meeting there becomes a live option? I believe we will only be in a position to respond properly nearer the time. I think two factors will play a large part in our decision-making. The first will again be the safety/risk factor: could we meet at Lordswood safely? The second will be how near we will then be to coming back into our own building, no doubt with its own challenges on the safety/risk front, but with us totally in control of our environment. My sense is that it will not be profitable to speculate much beyond what has already been said; but of course we will seek to keep everyone up to date, as the situation develops.
As for Now…
All this leads even more understandably to the question of the immediate (and probably medium-term) future. I want to encourage us not to be drawn into a mentality of ‘what are we to do in the meantime (i.e. until we can start meeting properly; until we are back in our own building; until things return to something much more like what we have been used to)?’ Such an approach, which I know I have been tempted to have, misses the God-given possibilities for the present, for the here and right now. Our loving Heavenly Father has plans and purposes for us today, and tomorrow, even in the midst of this challenging pandemic, and I want to encourage us not to miss out on what that is. Let me outline briefly what I believe the coming days and weeks could and should hold for us:
1. Keep showing God’s love to those around us in practical ‘Kingdom - pointing ways.’
I know the Lord has opened up our contacts with family friends and neighbours in all sorts of new ways; and He has challenged us afresh as to what it will mean by way of action for St John’s to be a truly integrated fellowship, counting everyone equal regardless of race, gender, background or age. He has presented us both personally and corporately with opportunities to engage with our church community, and the community at large in a way we may never have done before this dreadful pandemic. Let’s redouble our efforts in the Spirit’s power, to serve those around us, both within and beyond the church. (James 2:14-26)
2. Keep being open to be equipped to share the Gospel with those around us.
Having spoken many times that our ‘Building for Mission’ vision is much more than a (significant and costly) building project - being an all-embracing call to go out with the life-transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ- we are going to put our words, and our vision into action. Following on from John McGinley’s inspiring sermon in late April (please do watch it if you haven’t already), come September we are proceeding with the running of a ‘Mission Shaped Living’ course (devised by John). We are calling the whole church family to commit to this, and it will be run through our small groups (both those already existing and hopefully some set up specially), and accompanied by a sermon series on the same themes. Its aim is simple: to inspire, encourage and equip us to be those who under God help fulfil the Great Commission, and make disciples. Let’s be praying about how we can engage with, be equipped by, and put into practice what God will seeking to do amongst us in the autumn! (1 Peter 3:15)
3. Keep seeking God for ministry through our new building and for church planting.
We all know that if we wait for people to come to our church building before we share God’s love with them, we might be waiting for some time! Nevertheless, from the new contacts that we have been making (as well as existing ones) there will be trusting relationships being established, which we can build on and hopefully have something appropriate to invite people to, when our building is up and running. Likewise, as our heart to share the Good News grows, this will motivate some of us to take what we have been feely given by God’s grace and share it beyond our parish boundaries by way of a church plant. Let’s keep looking to God to see what He has for us by way of ministries in, and mission beyond our church and parish. (Acts 2:46-47; 13:2)
4. Keep keeping God at the centre of our lives both personally and corporately
This is the absolute key for us, in good times and in challenging times, when things are going really well, and when life seems very hard. We are to seek God: His heart, His Kingdom; His plans and purposes; His Spirit’s empowering sustaining presence. We are to do this in praise and in prayer; through God’s Word and with God’s people, whether face to face or via on -line gatherings. Let’s keep cultivating a heart for God, our city, and the nations. (Matthew 6:33)
From St John’s Senior Leadership Team
Communication originally sent Tues 23 Jun
Dear Friends
I’m writing to inform you that we are suspending our Sunday worship gatherings along with all our other medium and small sized gatherings, with immediate effect and until further notice.
The decision has not been taken lightly; the senior leadership team and churchwardens have been in touch throughout the day considering the right way ahead. Leonard has also been in touch with the Archdeacon, who understands our particular situation and is supportive of our decision. It may seem slightly premature to take this action, but, having weighed all the information available, we decided that though this was the cautious approach, it is the right and responsible action to take. Our expert medical advice was to act sooner rather than later, this also appears to be endorsed by the actions of the Republic of Ireland to close schools and colleges and also that indoor gatherings of more than 100 people should be cancelled as of tomorrow. It is vitally important that we do all we can to slow the spread of this virus and protect, as far as is possible, the health of ourselves and those around us.
We wanted to let you know as soon as possible about this decision. The leaders of other St John’s ministries and activities will be in touch shortly to let you know what is happening.
We are still planning and working out the details on how we can best support our community during this period. One of these will be to provide resources for prayer, but in the meantime, continue to pray for our leaders, health care professionals and all at the frontline in managing this crisis.
Updated information can be found on the government website. St John’s will continue to monitor the situation closely and make appropriate adjustments and decisions as necessary.
From St John’s Senior Leadership Team
Communication originally sent Thu 12 Mar