Welcome to
St Jude's Church
Southsea
COVID-19
Updated 27th March 11:41am: New* 11:30am Sunday Children and Families Video & Still Reaching Out
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All normal church services and gatherings are suspended. The church building is now closed.
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Dear Friends,
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You will be aware of the series of steps and measures being taken to manage the Coronavirus - Covid 19 pandemic and we as a church are seeking to respond in line with the advice from our Bishop, the national church, medical authorities, and our government. This letter outlines the way in which St Jude’s Southsea is acting in line with the needs of our nation in these exceptional times.
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The Church Building Is Now Closed
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In line with the advice that we all need to stay at home to prevent overloading the NHS with new cases, we have decided to close the St Jude’s building. This will prevent people from gathering and ensure the safety of our staff and their families.
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Worship Services
With regret, but in line with Diocesan and national advice, we have suspended all normal worship services until the crisis is past. So, we will not be holding our Sunday or weekly services in the normal way. This suspension of services will continue until we receive advice and guidance indicating that permission has been given for services to begin again.
New* However, despite this news, we are still live-streaming our worship services on Sundays at 10:30am. The service will be live-streamed on our Facebook page (with the blue logo) then uploaded onto the website and our new YouTube page. From this Sunday, we are only allowed to stream services from home so they will be simple. This week Neil will end our sermon series in Exodus looking at chapter 33. The plan is that there will then be a video loaded on our church Facebook page at 11.30am for children and families to engage with. We want to keep serving all parts of our church as we go through these next weeks. In the evening there will be a link-up via Zoom for Be Group and Beacons that will be hosted by Dom DeBoo.
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Church Meetings
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All church groups and meetings are also suspended until we receive notification that we can resume these activities. This includes midweek activities, life groups, children and youth groups, events etc. Our staff team are adapting to virtual meetings through our Google accounts and I know that some life Groups have already held meetups online. The app Zoom seems to very helpful and is free to use.
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Pastoral Team
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Our telephone lists are in place to help and support those we know of who are in most immediate need. However, we would love for everyone to be supported all across our church community. Please take time to call those you are connected with or any who might be feeling lonely at this time. This is a real chance for us to build community in the face of this crisis. If there are pastoral situations that you’d like to inform us about please contact:
Pastoral:
Emergency:
Neil: 077 0449 1837
Adam: 079 8574 9804
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New* Still Reaching out
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We are pleased that we have been given permission to continue with Friday Fridge on a takeaway basis each Friday evening from 9-10pm. This will use a minimum of volunteers and keep the very highest levels of hygiene and health safety.
The food bank operating at St Margaret’s Church is also still in action and open from 10am-11am on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to accept donations or distribute food to those in need.
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Prayer
Have a look at this website's new 'Prayer' page. Here you can pray for other people's prayer requests or send in a prayer request of your own. You can also ask that your prayer request is kept private and it will be passed on in confidence to the pastoral team.
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Communication
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You can keep in touch and find out what we're doing here:
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CYF Resources
Please visit our temporary home for CYF Resources !
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Additional Resources
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Angel Radio Sunday Service 9.00am
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Worship is also available via Premier Christian Radio and UCB radio channels which are available via digital television and DAB radio.
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There are also lots of resources, as well as the latest information on the church’s response, on the Church of England website.
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With love and prayers
Neil
Revd Neil Smart
St Jude's is an Anglican Church in the heart of Southsea. We are about 300 people of all ages, so there should be someone similar to you!
At St Jude's we believe that everyone has been made by God to know Him and love Him.
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Our desire is to be an exciting place where we encounter God, see lives transformed and to be a haven in the heart of Southsea, where you can find a safe port in the storms of life, and get rebuilt, re-provisioned, re-equipped and re-commissioned for a new voyage of adventure!
