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Who is my neighbour?

A report from our 23 April online discussions on what it means to be church on the margins during the pandemic.

Who is my neighbour – a walkable parish
(reflection by Chris Lawrence in New York)

How are people staying connected/helping (low-tech)?              

  • Notes through doors, phone calls, WhatsApp groups where possible.
  • Church leaflets/services/prayers through letterboxes
  • URC church sending out letters (?)
  • Toy, book and food boxes on streets
  • Communities that had existing networks are managing to keep in touch with people, communities/churches that did not have contact details for people are struggling to reach people.
  • Making masks and scrubs
  • Pastoral ministry from home
  • Safe contact, e.g. distanced conversations
  • Shopping for people
  • Street art, banners, chalk on pavements

Isolation – trigger for mental health problems

What will you do differently after this?

  • Street party
  • Affordable rent
  • Eat and pray together (rule of life)
  • Make the church a community hub
  • Do church differently
  • The church building does not matter, we need to be engaged in the community / change how we do church. … Being with people, being present where people are, was how Jesus worked.
  • Responding to priorities will, in turn, re-shape the church.
  • Were our ways of doing church before completely wrong?
  • We need to do church differently, and plan for this now.
  • Economics – the situation is going to be difficult after this.
  • Racial justice – BME more affected by COVID 19
  • Grassmarket church – developing friendship pantry.
  • Would communities notice if the church left? Are churches integrated into communities?
  • Will fractured communities be more whole after this?
Research and Information Officer

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system

Say no to these immoral cuts, built on weasel words and spin

Dreams and Realities in our context

How we can radically boost recruitment of working class clergy

Four people at a table in a church hall. One is looking at the camera, the others are chatting. More people are further in the background. Sunshine is hitting the back wall.

The church must be at the heart of the mishmash of local life

An image of a text poster

Urgent: Ask your church to display this poster on Sunday

An aerial view of Reading, with two group photos overlaid. One shows a group of volunteers in a line; the other shows four people around a table smiling.

The town of 250,000 that revolutionised its food system