Welcome to the Coronavirus Hub at Churches Together in Devon
On this page, and linked pages, useful items will be added as the weeks progress, to help churches throughout Devon and beyond to continue to worship, pray and witness as they deal with social isolation and being church in this time of crisis. Some of the links are embedded in the text – see words and phrases in red and underlined – just click the links.
If you have helpful items to add, please get in touch via our contact form at the foot of this page.
Prayer & Worship
National Call to prayer & action
During the Coronavirus crisis thousands of Christians across Britain are praying together at 7.00 pm every Sunday evening.
This began on Sunday 22 March after the Presidents of Churches Together in England issued a joint call to prayer. The response was phenomenal.
To keep the prayer going, Churches Together in England is offering a poster to encourage #PrayersOfHope.
St Paul tells us to pray continually. However, it helps to know that others are also praying at a specific time, so we encourage you to pray at 7.00 pm on Sunday evening. If you want to join in online prayer, there are two options of which we are aware:
• Premier radio: Prayers of Hope service at 7.00 pm on Sundays
• Baptists Together are broadcasting at 7.00 pm on Sundays (and Wednesdays)
Other links to Diocese of Exeter
The United Reformed Church
Full services will be available from the URC’s Daily Devotions website each Sunday. The Daily Devotions offers a daily Bible reading, reflection and prayer. Visit the website to read or listen to today’s devotion, and to subscribe to them if you would like them sent by email.
A comprehensive list of United Reformed Churches around the country offering live streamed services, sermons as podcasts, recorded services on YouTube, audio files of services and sermons and other resources has now been published.
Social Media guidance
Visit the information guides page on the URC website for guidance about using WhatsApp, to keep in touch with members and friends of your church, the recording of podcasts and using Facebook Live, YouTube and Zoom for recording and broadcasting.
South West Baptist Association
The advice page of the South West Baptist Association
A message from one of the Regional Ministers
Online Family Worship – Nick & Becky Drake have led Family Worship at Spring Harvest and alongside their family are live-streaming worship for families including action songs, all age bible teaching, and lots of fun! Join in live on Wednesdays and Saturdays 4pm (FBlive – find their page here)
The Methodist Church
Coronavirus Guidance from the Methodist Church
General Advice
The latest advice from the NHS can be found on its website. If you feel or become unwell, always seek the advice of your GP or call the NHS Helpline on 111 from landlines or mobiles.
The BBC has produced a step by step guide to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Ecumenical
The Joint Public Issues Team is building up an online hub for the sharing of needs, opportunities and stories of good practice. This has started with a guide to supporting foodbanks.
Digital Tools for Churches
Digital Tools for churches during the Coronavirus
A crowdsourced index of useful digital communication tools for church leaders, communications teams and church staff to refer to during the coronavirus outbreak. Follow the link here to a GoogleDocs Document
Streaming Church
Rev Paul Stokes – Plymstock United Church – gives advice and ideas on a great way to live-stream a service using a simple tool. The full article is here.