EPC Update 7th February 2021

There are a few reasons we’ve needed to do this quickly:

1) We are right at the edge of our current COVID capacity. This presents a significant challenge as it discourages any potential growth. We want to avoid needing to force people to sit in the hall, or even asking someone to go back home because we cannot fit them in. So we had to do something beyond just having the hall for overflow.

2) After a lot of juggling with Sunday School class groupings, we came to the conclusion that it was too difficult to run our Sunday School programs with the hall being used for overflow. The only practical option was to move back to two services.

3) This will mean re-doing the rosters for Feb-March and it also means we need extra people to help out with these roster duties – including things like helping with prayer, Bible reading, music and tech.

4) While this has a level of administrative difficulty and of adjustment, we ask you all to trust in the Sovereignty of God and accept that under His providence we find ourselves in this position.  Every crisis or unexpected turn, under God’s hand, can lead us to new opportunities.  Pray that God will surprise us. Pray that it might open a door to inviting people who might not normally come to a service because they do other things on a Sunday morning.

5) We would love some of you to prayerfully consider committing to being a small but regular core group of people at the 4pm service, even if from time to time you have roster duties in the morning service. We plan to run Sunday School only at the morning services, and anticipate we will be running the afternoon (4pm) services for the remainder of 2021.

In Christ,

Don Elliott & Andy Buchan on behalf of the EPC Session.

” Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
– Hebrews 10:23