News

Travelling to Vaccination Appointments

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Your church may be a vital conduit of important information at this time. You might want to consider putting the item below from a local NHS briefing in your regular communications.

For some patients, their local vaccination site may be within driving distance. For those who do not have access to a car, Government guidelines state that family and friends of elderly patients are still permitted to take them to their COVID-19 vaccine appointment under the exemption of ‘providing care for the vulnerable’.

If the patient does not have transport in place to attend their vaccination, arrangements will be made on their behalf.

We’re in the process of organising a range of transport options and will be informing you of these plans next week.

Please continue to look at our COVID-19 Vaccination Programme FAQs for up to date information.

Eastbourne Branch of the World Day of Prayer Announce March Online Event

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World Day of Prayer is a women led, global, ecumenical movement and The Day of Prayer is celebrated in over 170 countries. It begins in Samoa and prayer in native languages travels throughout the world – through Asia, Africa, the Middle East Europe and the Americas before finishing in American Samoa 36 hours later.
Women of the Republic of Vanuatu (located in the South Pacific Ocean) have prepared this year’s service.  Women, men and children of all ages are called to ‘Build on a Strong Foundation’ and live in unity, love and peace. We will learn more during the service about their country and the challenges they currently face.
Due to the pandemic, the Eastbourne committee representing several local churches, will not be arranging a church service this year, but we WILL be hosting a Zoom service at 2.15pm on 5th March. Those wishing to join the service will need to contact Margaret Stirmey by phone on 01323 731891 to receive the link, and also the service booklet for them to follow.

Bringing hope to local families – news from Safe Families

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Bringing hope to local families – news from Safe Families

At Safe Families, we know that many churches long to share God’s love, hope and encouragement with people in their local communities. We offer a safe and effective way for churches to do this, especially while so many other activities have had to be suspended.

We are a national Christian charity and have been awarded a contract with East Sussex County Council to support local families who are feeling isolated or are struggling in some way. We help connect volunteers from your congregations with a family that has requested support to help build relationships that bring hope, connection and belonging.

Volunteers are trained and supported by our local team, so no administrative or financial burden is placed on the church.

We’d love to tell you more about how it works and see if we could be part of your mission to bless Eastbourne.  Please visit our website https://safefamilies.uk/church/  or contact Rosie at rosiedracott@safefamilies.uk.

Helping Vaccinate Your Parish or Congregation

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A letter from Renee Dickson regarding the vaccine rollout

Dear colleagues and partners,

I hope that you are keeping safe and well at this difficult time. You are being contacted due to your connection with faith groups in Sussex and in the hope that you can support the Sussex Health and Care Partnership to reach our faith communities with important information. As the NHS rolls out the vaccination programme, we are keen to better understand any issues or concerns that members of our faith groups have about the vaccination.

Please do contact the Sussex Health and Care partnership using this email address sxccg.involvement@nhs.netabout issues that you are hearing from your communities, so that we can support in the best way possible

Join the Bible Society as they host The Bible Course online from 18 January to 1 March 2021

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Thinking particularly of people who would love to do The Bible Course but don’t have a group to do it with, Bible Society are hosting a special opportunity to experience the course. (It would also be a good way of ‘tasting’ the course for use in your church.)  Taking place on Monday evenings from 7.30–9.00 pm, you’ll be able to watch the films, chat to others in small groups and enjoy Q&A sessions with course author Andrew Ollerton – all from the comfort of your own home. There are 85 spaces available on a first come, first served basis. Find out more and sign up.

Local pastor Dave Roberts (Gather Collective) comments: ‘This a great resource for locked down small groups meeting via Zoom or other media. It is visual and avoids jargon. It will really help your congregation get an overview of scripture that is both coherent and deeply encouraging’.

Churches do £12.4 Billion Work in Their Locality

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The Church of England reports that its 16,000 churches were running or supporting 35,000 projects before the Covid-19 pandemic, including 8,000 food banks, 4,000 parent-toddler groups, 5,000 lunch clubs or coffee mornings, 2,700 community cafes, 2,400 night shelters and 2,300 breakfast or holiday clubs for children.

The church has played a vital role in setting up and running food banks.
The church has played a vital role in setting up and running food banks. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer

Now, for the first time, the financial value of the services and support that church buildings provide, and the health and wellbeing they create, has been calculated at £12.4bn a year. The figure comes from an independent study published today, commissioned by the National Churches Trust and carried out by State of Life, an organisation which measures social value.

Read More

Creation Care is Mission

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4th February 2021 – A one-day virtual conference to explore the theology and practice of caring for creation

For mission agencies and churches supporting missions

Morning speakers (10-12am)

Rev. Dr. Chris Wright, International Director, Langham Partnership International
Dr. Rosalee V Ewell, Director of Church Relations for the United Bible Societies
Seth Appiah-Kubi, Director, A Rocha Ghana
Sumayya Sajjad, Project Director for Tearfund, Pakistan

Afternoon (2-4pm): case studies, workshops & discussions on topics including

An in-depth look at eco-theology
Practical advice on greening your mission agency
Embedding creation care in policy and practice
Carbon footprints and what to do about them
Engaging with the next generation
Creation care IS mission!
The EcoChurch toolkit around the world
Supporting environmental missions – a UK church perspective

Important information:

This event costs £10 per person

Find out more here

Prayer for Eastbourne January 23rd 2021

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Churches Together for Eastbourne are planning to hold a ‘Prayer for Eastbourne’ Zoom online prayer event on Saturday 23rd January 2021. It will start at 9am and finish at 1pm. Four Churches will help host the event and contributors will come from several others across the town, with each host church facilitating prayer around the topics shown below.

You can register for the morning of prayer here – this will also  enable you to receive Zoom information if you are not already on our email list and help us plan the overall event.

The  plan for the morning is as follows:

9-10am                      Church and Agencies; hosted by St Johns/St Michaels
10-11am                    Young People and schools; hosted by The Well Community Church
11am-12 midday       Local Government and Agencies; hosted by St Marys Church, Old Town
12-1pm                      Families and the Elderly; hosted by Gateway Church

Kings Church are helping with the technical hosting.

Please reserve the date and promote the event. You can download the artwork above here.  You can register for the morning of prayer here

Dave Roberts
On behalf of the Churches Together Eastbourne Team