A church response to Coronavirus — UCAN | UK Church Administrator Network

The impact of coronavirus is hard to miss whenever you watch the news or open an app, or increasingly as you go about your normal life whether commuting or shopping in a supermarket. I noticed a marked lack of frozen veg, pesto and toilet paper in Waitrose this weekend! So how should this affect our operation as church? The NHS and UK government are continually releasing guidance and it is important to follow this, as well as keeping in check with any denominational guidance that may be appropriate to you (some links below).

Here are a few pointers for your consideration though, which may be a sensible and pragmatic course of action, irrespective of the threat of COVID-19. Just as the introduction of GDPR provided the catalyst for implementing already warranted good practice for data protection, the guidance below are good and necessary steps for church operations, whatever the conditions.

So let’s Keep Calm and…

Call out:

As Ephesians 6:18 reminds us to do, we should pray at all times and the presence of the virus is no exception. As leadership, staff, church family and followers of Jesus, let’s be diligent in praying for our world, governments, healthcare professionals and individuals, that the spread of the virus would halt and that the loss of life would be minimal.

‘Call-it’:

Whose call is it? How will any decisions be taken? Don’t wait until a decision needs to be taken urgently. Put in place a process by which the necessary people with authority can reach consensus through a conference call or otherwise, to avoid uncertainty or conjecture.

Contain it:

Perform a risk assessment on your church activities and make any adjustments which would help keep people well, whether in response to this specific or any seasonal health concerns. It may be sensible to celebrate the peace in a verbal way only and to switch the format for communion distribution from shared vessel/bread to individual portions. When greeting people on a Sunday, a smile and a nice cup of coffee may have to suffice instead of a handshake. Be explicit with guidance to your congregation about the responsible steps to take as a community to keep the situation from getting worse. If someone has been asked to self-isolate by a medical professional, ensure that this is followed, but take helpful steps to avoid the person feeling cut off from community, (see below).

Clean up:

Depending on the size of your congregation and the number of services held each Sunday, it may be sensible to improve your hygiene procedures. Do you have sufficient processes in place for disposable tissues to be available, bins to be regularly emptied, hand wash to be refilled and WCs to be cleaned between gatherings? Think about food distribution and try to limit self-service access for refreshments. Have your volunteers been instructed to stay home if unwell?

Communicate:

Establish robust processes for urgent communication. If you had to close the church at short notice (due to a health concern, government guidance, snow, a gas leak, meteor impact or otherwise) how would you do this? Can your website be updated remotely and who can post to social media channels? Can you send a group text message from your church management system? Is there a phone chain in operation and whose responsibility is it to update noticeboards and put a sign on the church door? Would your congregation know where to get a definitive answer when asking ‘Is church on?’

Care:

There is nothing like the church when the church is working well. Are you ready to offer pastoral care and compassion to those who may be affected by the outbreak or who are self-isolating? Who needs practical support or encouragement at the moment? Who will coordinate the response, keep track of needs and demonstrate love in a practical and sensible way? How can you help people feel known, valued and loved and part of your church community when otherwise isolated?

Carry On:

If at any point the church can’t meet on a Sunday, or the office needs to close, are you prepared to continue? Consider other methods of being church whether using podcasts, streamed video content (your own or others?), worship playlists, daily reflections, WhatsApp groups, pastoral mailings or small group notes. If the office is out of action, are you set up to utilise cloud technology, video conferencing, team apps and church management systems to keep your staff team operational?