Welcome to Lifelines Online, our weekly guide to everything that’s happening at New Life in this lockdown season.
The Journey out of Lockdown
You may be aware that last week the government announced the easing of restrictions on places of worship from 4 July. On Monday, the government published more detailed guidelines for places of worship, which we are currently reviewing.
We are looking forward to being able to meet again, and in anticipation of this we have established a working group of elders, staff and church members to help plan the journey out of lockdown. For a church of New Life’s size, it is likely to be somewhat complex and lengthy but we’re excited to be able to begin this journey in the next few weeks.
We know many of you have been asking when we will be able to meet, so we want to give you a brief summary of where we are in this journey out of lockdown. More detailed information will follow.
Sunday Mornings
Our Sunday morning service will be continuing online at 10am for the immediate future. The building will remain closed on Sundays. Although places of worship can now open, there are significant limitations on numbers due to social distancing requirements. There are also a lot of health and safety implications for us to work through. On top of this, corporate singing is not permitted, as singing is considered to increase the risk of the virus transmitting. We are however, working hard to see how we can very gradually begin to gather on a Sunday whilst complying with the government’s guidelines.
Connect Groups, small meetings & prayer meetings
We gradually plan to begin to use the Centre and other open spaces for Connect Groups, small meetings and prayer meetings within the next few weeks. Again, there are significant health and safety implications which will need to be followed, so we won’t be able to hold simultaneous meetings in the centre to begin with. We will be in touch with relevant leaders to explore how their group or meeting can begin to meet. If you are part of a Connect Group, your group leaders will be communicating with you about when and how you can meet up physically, should you wish to do so.
We will keep everyone fully updated with what is happening and we would value your prayers as we begin to journey out of lockdown.
This Sunday
Join us this Sunday at 10am on YouTube for our Sunday morning service where Ian James will be speaking. Immediately after the service there will be an opportunity to catch up with one another on Zoom. Details are in the facebook group.
Midweek Devotional
Next Wednesday, David Lilley will be sharing a word of encouragement entitled ‘Zechariah’s Vision of a Unique Day. You can watch it on our website or on our Facebook group from 6pm on Wednesday.
Staff News
As we journey out of lockdown, a number of our staff have or will be returning from furlough:
Ian James – Pastoral staff
Let Petken – Pastoral staff
Jon Huggett – Facilities team
Christian Sana – Connect groups
Stephen Bryars – Youth team (Returning part time.)
Testimonies & Prayer Request
This week we received this great testimony from Giovanna Nichols:
Our daughter, being pregnant, was suffering with acute nausea. Finding it difficult to eat, even talking, and couldn’t go out of the flat. Mark preached on “His blood speaks a better word”. It became such a reality that Jesus paid not only for our sins but also for our healing.
During the communion Steve and I trusted the Lord for Isabella’s nausea. Two days later we had the good news that the nausea had started to improve two days before. Soon she was back into normal life. Thank you Lord for your intervention.
Please continue to submit your testimonies and prayer requests. Links at the bottom.
Alpha
Alpha online starts on 7 July. This is a great opportunity to introduce people to the gospel, so pray about who you could invite. If you would like to get involved, contact us at hello@newlifecoydon.co.uk.
If you know of anyone who would like to do Alpha online, please send them the link below to sign up.
Online Activities
Our Sunday services take place on YouTube and most of our other meetings and activities take place on Zoom. If you would like to join one of these meetings, please visit the ‘church online’ page of our website where you can find details of each leader to contact.
Prayer Meetings
Thursday Night prayer meeting – 7pm
Saturday Morning prayer meeting – 9am
‘In the Gap’ – Fridays: 6.30am-7.30am, Prayer for our children and young people
Healing in the Church – 27 June, 10am-12noon
Missions prayer meeting – Last Tuesday of every month, 10am-12pm
Kids Events
Kids Hangout – Wednesdays 11am
Kids Connect – Fridays 6pm
Youth Events
Friday Night Zoom (interactive quiz with prizes in the post) – Fridays at 7.30pm
Connect Groups
Apologetics Group – Thursday 9th July 7.30 to 9.00pm: the topic will be ‘Major Biblical truths being challenged by particular sects’
Young Adults Group – Tuesday 7 July at 7.30pm
D4M – Tuesday 14 July. We will be talking about the significance of cultural distinctives for families and churches.
Giving
Thanks for your continuing generosity in this challenging season. We would particularly encourage UK taxpayers to sign up to Gift Aid which increases your gift by at least 25%.
For information on giving and gift aid, or to give online please click below.