Churches in England open again for individual prayer

Jun 14, 2020 by Andrew Symes

From Christian Today:

Churches in England are again opening their doors to the public for individual prayer after the Government eased lockdown restrictions for places of worship on Saturday.

The latest guidance from the Government, released on Friday, permits individuals or members of the same household to enter into a church to pray on their own, while social distancing 2m apart from others.

For the time being, led prayer and communal prayer are not permitted.

The changes apply only to England, with churches in Wales and Scotland remaining closed even for individual prayer.

Collective worship is still not permitted in any part of the UK, with the Government saying that larger church gatherings are expected to resume “no earlier than 4 July, subject to further scientific advice”.

The latest guidance advises churches to remove books and communal resources like service sheets, and provide single-use alternatives only as long as they can be taken home by the worshipper.

Read here

See also: Sunday trading liberalised while churches remain restricted, from Christian Concern:

[…] This means that large businesses are trusted to open up for long hours on Sundays, while churches remain highly restricted in what they are allowed to do….Churches are also not permitted to host informal prayer meetings for those who may wish to attend with appropriate social distancing and cleansing. However, hundreds of people will be allowed to visit supermarkets where they will open fridge doors and handle goods which others may have handled very shortly before.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern commented: “This restriction on church ministry is unprecedented. The government should not be criminalising prayer meetings, church services or sacraments.”

And: see Church Times report here