Return to Church and Covid-19

Please read and understand the information
below before coming to Church for
the first time after lockdown.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians Chapter 4, verses 6-7

Presently we must adhere to the strict 2 metre social distancing rules, and that means a lot of changes including not being able to sit where you used to, and not with the same people. Please bare with us and support the Kirk Session as we try and navigate our way through to the 'new normal'. It will be important to register for each service that you attend, to allow for Track and Tracing should a cluster be identified within the church.

The information given below is to try and protect everyone attending the OC Church to the best of our abilities and is inline with the guidance from all the statuary authorities and has been approved by the Kirk Session as the Trustees of the Church.

While we would like to encourage people to return to worship in the manner that we had before, it is important to recognise and understand that the 'new normal' is very different and a lot of changes have been made within the church. Please heed the instructions from the stewards and understand they are doing what has been asked of them.

Automatic battery operated antiseptic dispensers have been provided at all the doors in the church, and you should use them as you go enter church, and as you leave. Please do not touch the dispenser, and do not crowd them while waiting inline to use them. Instructions are provided on the machines regarding their appropriate use.

If you display any of the symptoms listed below, it is important that you remain at home. For the duration of the pandemic, the church has committed to providing the services online, and on the phone on the same channels that we used before lockdown ended.

According to the NHS, the main symptoms of coronavirus are:
  • a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature)
  • a new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
  • a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste – this means you've noticed you cannot smell or taste anything, or things smell or taste different to normal

The Presbyterian Church in Ireland request that everyone in attendance at a worship service wear a mask during singing and while entering and leaving the building, unless they are medically exempt.

Some worship songs are being re-introduced into the service, but there will be no pressure to join in or even stand during the singing, the Lord will hear your act of worship just as loudly even if you do not sign out loud.

The wearing of gloves is not mandatory within church buildings, but if you feel more comfortable wearing them during the service, we would ask that you put them on after sanitising your hands, and that you would remove them and put them in one of the bins provided before leaving the church property. This is to prevent you from taking home anything that you may have inadvertently picked up in church.

There will be no offering collected during the service, but if you wish to continue giving to the work of the church, please speak with the church Treasurer or member of the Finance team and they will be able to direct you to the most appropriate method to continue your giving. Buckets will be at each exit door for loose offering.

While there will be a Children's Address during the service, children will be asked to remain in their seats, rather than come down to the front of the church.

Only those who intend to sit in the gallery should enter through the main front doors of the church, using the right hand side only to ascend into the gallery. All others will enter the church through the right hand side door, and exit only through the church hall side. Hand sanitisers are provided at both entrance and exit doors along with disposable masks.

At the end of the service, you will be directed to leave in groups, and we would ask that you do not remain outside and gather in groups, but disperse from the site promptly.

Many of the Church organisations are once again meeting, and we are thankful for this return to some normality. Each organisation will have their own safeguarding guidance to limit any further spread of CoronaVirus and we would ask that everyone would adhere to that guidance so we may all safely meet once more in fellowship with each other.