Church News
News about recent happenings at Christchurch. This is organised as a blog, with the most recent news at the top.
Living with Covid
Posted on 13th November 2021
We are now learning to live with Covid. Church services on Sunday mornings are almost normal. We have changed the seating to increase social distancing and we ask people to wear face coverings when moving around and when singing. This is not very popular, but the evidence seems to be that singing is likely to spread the virus if someone is carrying it. Tea and coffee are being served after the service, seated, which helps to maintain social distancing (it’s difficult to drink tea wearing a face mask).
Streaming the services on Zoom was started during the lockdown and is being continued. It has been useful for those who can’t get to church. Resource limitations mean that it hasn’t been possible at every service.
Café Church on Sunday evenings haven’t resumed yet as the state of the pandemic is kept under review.
Weekday activities are picking up. The Parent and Toddlers on Tuesday mornings and the Luncheon Club are now running and rooms are available again for lettings.
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Christian Aid Week
Posted on 4th May 2021
Christchurch is hosting a service on 9th May arranged by the local churches for the start of Christian Aid Week (10 – 16 May), when collectors would usually be out putting envelopes through doors and collecting donations. The theme for this year’s service will be the climate emergency. More information is on the Sunday Services page.
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Lent Walks
Posted on 23rd February 2021
Many of us are enjoying a walk as our daily exercise. So, to give your perambulation purpose one of our members has organised this challenge. There are 17 posters to guide your thoughts and encourage reflection, situated in the windows of 15 homes in the Knighton, Stoneygate and Clarendon Park areas, with the 1st and 17th poster being at Christchurch. Detailed directions and maps can be downloaded here:
This walk should be done within Covid guidelines and can be done all in one go or by taking in a few houses each time you venture out. The posters tell a story, so you should aim to visit them in order from number 1 to number 17. The total distance is 6½ miles.
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Christmas is coming
Posted on 5th December 2020
We can’t hold services but we are still celebrating the season of Advent, when we look forward to the birth of Christ on Christmas Day.
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Back in the Worship Centre
Posted on 4th October 2020
This morning we were able to hold a service in the Worship Centre again for the first time. Comfortable seats instead of hard plastic chairs! During September we’ve been holding Sunday services in the hall while some water damage from a leak in the roof was dealt with. The roof has now been repaired, although some re-plastering is still needed inside. Numbers were up slightly at 34, plus a few children. With social distancing we can have about 40 downstairs, with another 10 – 15 in the gallery (a lot more than this actually, but the view of the dais is not very good in much of the gallery). We are looking forward to developing our activities in the era of Covid-19 restrictions.
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Sunday services resume
Posted on 2nd September 2020
After a successful trial run last Sunday, we will be holding a service every Sunday morning again (unless a local lockdown intervenes). The timetable for restarting other activities is still very uncertain but this is a welcome beginning. There is more information about services here.
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Welcome to our new minister
Posted on 2nd September 2020
Our new Methodist minister, Rev Debra Chidakwa Akue, joined us at the beginning of September. Having just returned from abroad she is having to self-isolate. Debra will preach at the Sunday morning service on 6th September by pre-recording a video. We are very much looking forward to being able to greet her properly in a couple of weeks (but a church lunch is not permitted unfortunately).
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Visit Rev John Rackley’s blog
Posted on 12th May 2020
Rev John Rackley, our associate Baptist minister, has re-started his own blog at windingquest.wordpress.com
This is how he introduces himself.
Life is a bridge.
Cross over it
but build no home on it.
Bruce Chatwin Songlines 1982
I grew up in a fishing community in Devon UK from generations of sea-farers going back over 200 years.
I have worked as a bus conductor, secondary school teacher, radio broadcaster and Baptist minister.
I have lived in Leicester, Cardiff, Great Missenden and now in South Leicestershire.
I have travelled in Scandanavia, Hungary, Italy, India, Bangladesh, Israel, Jordan and the West Bank.
I love autumn and the approach of darkening evenings.
[read the full Visit Rev John Rackley’s blog post]
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Worshiping at home
Posted on 22nd March 2020
Like everywhere else, there was no service at Christchurch this morning but the church was open for private prayer and about a dozen people came along. (Some may also have come to get supplies from the Traidcraft stall!) The Methodist Church is streaming services from Wesley’s Chapel in London, and I followed the service this morning at 11 am, which was led by Revd Jennifer Smith, the superintendent there. Before she was ordained Jenny was a lecturer at Leicester University and a member of Christchurch so she is well-known to the longer-standing members. It was a short service based on the liturgy from the Methodist Worship Book.
[read the full Worshiping at home post]
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Sing4Syria raised £630
Posted on 3rd February 2020
The Sing4Syria concert at Christchurch last Thursday raised £630. This was organised by the Leicester Uni branch of UNICEF on Campus with several local choirs taking part. The donations will fund Unicef’s work with children and displaced families in Syria. Many thanks to all who came to the concert and gave donations.
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