The following information is a broad overview so that you have the big picture and further, more specific details, including what this means for the 0-18 groups and activities, will be communicated as and when we know what is going to be possible.
As Ollie mentioned a few weeks back in his email and verbal notice, July is going to be a slightly quieter month as we know that many people will be heading away on holiday but also, we believe it is right to take the foot off the pedal a little bit and allow the staff team some time to pause and take a breath. The staff team have been phenomenal over this past year with so much of their work going unseen, as they have had to continually adapt and remodel how they’re ministry operates.
It is right that they have some time to rest and have a lighter workload in July. However, when they are not on holiday they are still contactable if you need any help or information.
Because of these reasons we will not be running any physical gatherings or midweek activities in July.
We will have our usual online service, starting at 10am for Mighty Mungos followed by the adult service at 1030, so do continue to join us online on a Sunday morning.
As we enter August we are provisionally planning for a return to 10.30am physical gatherings on Sunday mornings, hopefully in Balerno High School and St Margaret’s Academy. Ollie has been in contact with the head teachers at both schools and they are looking forward to welcoming us back in the Autumn term.
The very provisional date Edinburgh council have given for re-opening school lets is the 17th August. If this happens then we will look to meet at 10.30 in Balerno High School on Sunday 22nd August.
The current plan is that we will then alternate physical gatherings between the 2 locations; meeting in Livingston at 10.30am on Sunday 29th August and back in Balerno at 10.30am on Sunday the 5th September – and so on through the rest of the month. The weeks when the service is not in your location, you will be able to join us on YouTube for a live stream of the service.
What this means for our 0-18 groups will be communicated nearer the time, and once we know what we are able to do, and where.
Our hope is that we can get back meeting with regular 10.30am services in Livingston and Balerno from Sunday 3rd October, but it is dependent on multiple factors, many of which are outside of our control, and so this may change.
This is a gradual return, but we believe it right to take our time; to not over-stretch ourselves and the volunteer team and to recognise that for some the thought of meeting back physically together with large numbers of people is going to take some time to get used to again.
We want to use the autumn term to begin to re-establish rhythms – to focus on Sunday services, house groups and prayer cells.
This means we are not planning to run lots of extra courses or events during the term but focussing on these core elements.
We ask that you hold all of these plans lightly as there are so many factors involved which are outside of our control but we want to bring you into the loop at this early planning stage so you can, like us, be praying for the reopening of lets, be praying for the easing of restrictions and for wisdom and insight for the staff team as we make numerous plans based on various scenarios.
We also wanted to give you time to start thinking about what meeting weekly together as a church family looks like for you as we re-emerge from this time of extended separation.
This is a broad overview so that you have the big picture and further details including what this means for the 0-18 groups and activities, will be communicated as and when we know what is possible.
If you’d like to get in touch to talk about anything mentioned here, or have any questions then please do get in contact at david.lyons@stmungos.org