By Jenny Walker
In these extraordinary and unprecedented times sadly our church building has had to close but the church in Scaynes Hill continues to be alive and active and ready to provide help to anyone in need. At the moment St Augustine’s is in a vacancy but our Assistant Priest, Lucy Hollingsworth, together with the rest of our ministry team and the Parish Administrator, are working hard to ensure that church life is maintained.
Our services have moved online to our YouTube channel and are being viewed by almost the whole congregation. Steps are being taken to try to set up technology for those who are not currently online. We are gathering in a virtual setting to worship together using liturgy, music, readings, preaching and intercessions that have been recorded in people’s homes. Service sheets are included in the Church Newsletter which is circulated in advance via email so people can join in with the responses and hymns. It is a different way of being a church and is being much appreciated by the congregation especially over Holy Week and Easter. We are also able to do “virtual coffee” after church via BlueJeans and Home Groups are also operating in this way. The Church Newsletter is packed with useful information as well as interesting and fun things to do including weekly competitions to take part in during this stay at home time. Using her creative talents our Youth and Children’s Worker is producing wonderful colouring sheets which appeal to all ages and a range of resources for children and families to use.
At this difficult time pastoral care is of vital importance and we as a church community hope that we are good at supporting each other. In the current crisis we are making every effort to reach out not only to church members but to the wider community including those who normally visit the church coffee shop. The Pastoral Care Team and other volunteers are keeping in touch particularly with those who are self-isolating and those being shielded. A friendly chat on the phone and words of encouragement are much welcomed and practical help such as shopping and picking up prescriptions is provided where needed. A group of local residents is also offering help to members of the Scaynes Hill community and we are in contact with these volunteers so that hopefully no one will fall through the net. We are thankful for all those, known and unknown to us, who are serving the needs of the community during these challenging times.