To our wonderful Grace Church family-

We're sure you'll have guessed by now that we won't be able to gather and meet on Sundays or in our normal mid-week groups and activities, for what may well be a fair number of weeks.

It has been with a genuine sadness that we've been processing this news, yet we're encouraged that who we are as church family can continue in many meaningful ways.

We express our GC Vision as "Love God, Love People, Love Life". This commission and call from Father God continues, and so we're not stopping, closing or shutting! We're pushing forward, sticking together and finding new and different ways to be family, to worship, to pray and to do mission.

I've found myself asking: What if our prayer and praying increased in these days? What if the way we show the kindness and love of God went far wider than it ever has before? What if the depth of our relationship and connection with one another got closer? What if GC people went deeper and deeper in their discipleship? Please join me in praying for this to be the case as the days ahead unfold.

We have some plans and ideas for how to do Sundays, mid-week activities and to continue to keep connection and friendship:

Sundays

Our plan for Sundays is to send out (via these MailChimp emails) a "set menu" for people to enjoy and work through. Our suggestion is to gather with family or one or two friends (as appropriate) at around 10.30am.

The email will lead us through some scripture, prayer, some worship (via links to YouTube) and a short pre-recorded talk. We'll include some updates/announcements and family news too.

Finally the email will end with a link and invitation to join-in with an online video chat and hangout. We're going to attempt to do this via "Zoom". You can access Zoom on a phone, tablet or laptop and it's very easy to operate so please give that a go! If you simply follow the link we send out, it will lead you down all the steps you'll need to follow, but if you prefer to get setup with Zoom beforehand that may make things slightly easier.

We want as many people as possible to receive these emails and join in on Sunday morning, so please reach out to others to make sure they're getting these emails and they feel included and invited to join in.

Mid-Week

We're wanting to roll out a few options mid-week, the majority of which will also be online. We'll share more detail about these on Sunday, but our intention is to try and run one or two discipleship courses, continue our Alpha Community, and create one or two social gatherings. We'd also love to do something for youth and kids, and provide some opportunities to pray.

Again, our intention is to experiment using Zoom. We might find better ways in future weeks, but this is how we plan to start - please bear with us as we iron out some of the finer details.

We also plan to arrange phone calls and other ways of connection with people who aren't able to connect online.

A two-way conversation

We're very aware of the need for this to be more than just "stuff" thrown at people. It needs to be a conversation and genuine connection. That's why we're trying our hardest to find ways for people to really interact. 

With this in mind, we want to ask you to stay in touch, to reach out and to share news, needs and also stories of all you see and sense God doing.

We're praying for an outpouring of "Creative Kindness" and so if you have ideas or opportunities or testimony, please let us know about them so we can share, mobilise and give glory to God.

Lastly, we're very concerned to know if we can help and support people in any way. Many people will be struggling practically, mentally and emotionally, and so if we don't get to you first, please get in touch. We love you and want to serve you as best as we possibly can.

With this last and very important point in mind, we plan to bring forward an idea that was already in the pipeline, called "Grace Church CONNECT". This will be a simple and light-touch way of keeping people connected and in-the-loop as a family and so watch this space for someone to get in touch with you regarding that in the next couple of weeks.

Grace church we love you. We're so grateful to Jesus - for joining us together and, most of all, for joining us to Himself! He brings peace and comfort. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He is our living hope. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Let's fix our gaze on Him!

With much love

Tim, Jon and James