Being Church during Covid-19 - An Introduction

Home > Parish support > Being Church during Covid-19 - Resources & Advice

A Prayer

Father God, as people and nations of the world, help us to realise our dependence upon one another.

We pray for healing among the sick, wisdom among our leaders, protection and effectiveness for health workers, and responsible behaviour by each of us as individuals.

Most of all, Lord, we pray that you dispel our fears, for you ‘did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline’ (2 Tim 1:7).

For Jesus’s sake. Amen

Where to start

There is a lot of material available to support you and your church during social distancing, much of this can be found on the pages listed below.

To help you effectively reach your church community and maintain the health of your church, we believe the following highlighted pages are a good place to start exploring.

Bishop's Communications - the Bishop's office email frequent updates to support parishes, if you are a member of clergy, LLM or Churchwarden and not receiving these please let us know here.
National Church of England Covid-19 Page - a resource where you will find all the latest guidance and FAQs issued by the Church of England for parishes to adhere to, in-line with the latest government advice.
Safeguarding Guidance - reflecting specific changes to ways of working for the team.
Children, Youth and Families - a great deal of advice for those working in these areas.
Financial Guidance and Resources - Ongoing guidance updates from the Parish resources Team

Printable Version

Communication from the Bishop's Office and links to Church of England guidance First published on: 28th April 2020 The Bishop’s Office issue updated guidance by email directly to the parishes. If you are a member of Clergy, an LLM or Churchwarden and are not receiving these emails please open this page to be directed to how to let us know. This page also directs you to all the latest Church of England guidance documents and FAQs relating to Covid-19 to support your church.

Financial Guidance and Giving First published on: 28th April 2020 Now more than ever is the time to reflect on how well placed your church is to receive online donations. This page provides links and some advice for what your church might be able to explore to support its financial health during this challenging time.

Care of Church buildings and Faculties First published on: 28th April 2020 The guidance on the care of church buildings at this time is changing as government advice changes around the rules on self-isolation. However, materials are available to help support you, which are updated frequently, so please keep an eye on the following websites if you are in a position of supporting your church buildings.

Resources from the Church of England First published on: 28th April 2020 The central Church of England team have provided resources for parishes, clergy and church workers to help support them during this time. This page summarises some of the main elements of this advice.

Being an Online Digital Church First published on: 28th April 2020 This page offers guidance and useful links to support your church to best use the digital tools available to help you reach your worshipping community. This includes practical guidance blogs on how to live-stream services and some FAQs around typical problems you might encounter such as permissions, technology limitations and matters of copyright.

Prayer and Liturgy First published on: 28th April 2020 This page contains links to various Liturgy and Prayer Resources from both the National Church, Diocesan teams and Ely Cathedral. It also provides guidance on where to access prayer and services that might be available through your local church.

Youth, Children and Family Resources First published on: 28th April 2020 This page contains links to a variety of guidance and resources aimed primarily at those working with Children, Young People and Families. This includes links to prayer and liturgy resources, as well as guidance notes on the use of digital communication, social media tools and resources to support your work with young people during times of bereavement.

Safeguarding Guidance First published on: 28th April 2020 This page provides links to safeguarding guidance for particular support during times of social distancing, It also provides links to National Church of England Safeguarding resources and local partnership bodies.

Mental well-being, working from home and self-isolating First published on: 28th April 2020 There are many resources that seek to support those who may now find themselves self-isolating or working from home. This page links to a few of these that you might find helpful. It is not expected that all the guidance is appropriate to you in your current role, simply that you might find elements helpful.

Community Action and your Church First published on: 28th April 2020 This page provides some links and general advice on how your church might support your local community during times of social distancing. It also includes links to FAQs on matters of church hall use for food-banks and donating blood.

Government and NHS Advice First published on: 28th April 2020 This page contains links to the Government and National Health Service advice pages. It also contains links to pages highlighting the government's ongoing plans in relation to Covid-19.

Please tell us about a church project First published on: 6th May 2020 We are really keen to learn about what our church communities are doing to reach people at this time of social distancing.

We pray to be generous and visible people of Jesus Christ

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