Dear Congregation,
On Thursday 9th July, the First Minister announced that it would be safe for places of worship to resume congregational services as of Wednesday 15th July. As such, the Kirk Session of Kinloch Free Church met and agreed to open the Church building for public worship as soon as would be practical after that date.
It was felt that opening the Church for the prayer meeting on Thursday 16th July would not allow sufficient time for preparation. However, we are glad to intimate that we hope to have the Church open for public worship on Lord’s Day 19th July at 12 noon and 6pm. In order to facilitate cleaning requirements, the prayer meeting will be temporarily moved to Wednesday nights at 7.30pm (beginning 22nd July). Other congregational activities, including creche, sabbath school, youth fellowship, WfM, toddler group, Bible studies, etc., remain closed for the time being.
Initially, our services will be slightly different to what has been customary. 2 metre distancing must be maintained inside and outside of the building. There will be no congregational singing. Pew Bibles will not be available so you are advised to bring your own Bible. You will be both seated and led out of the Church at the direction of an office-bearer. Families/bubbles are encouraged to arrive and be seated together in order to save space. Windows will be open to increase ventilation so please dress accordingly.
You are advised to take your own temperature before leaving home to ensure that you do not have a fever. On entering and exiting the Church, you are required to use sanitising hand-wash. Throughout the service, please practice good personal hygiene, especially with regards to sneezing and coughing.The Government is not requiring that face-masks be worn during congregational worship. However, we encourage you to wear one if at all possible. Cleaning between services is an important requirement so we ask you to touch as little as possible while in the building.
At present, the Government is advising that attendances be restricted to 50 people. As such, in order to stop us having to turn people away, we ask that those intending to attend services would let me know in advance which service they hope to attend and, if both, what their preference would be (morning or evening) in the unlikely event of over-subscription. Please let me know by email or phone by Friday night. If you fail to get a hold of me on the phone, please indicate your intention to Donnie Macleod, elder. If you do not have contact details, please respond through the contact page of this website.
Note that the Government is asking us to keep a register of attendees for contact tracing as part of NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect. By stating your intention to attend, you are agreeing to us keeping your details (name, address, contact) on record for 21 days in line with GDPR.
Those who are showing symptoms of COVID-19, as well as those self-isolating, are advised to stay at home. Those who are shielding or in any of the ‘at-risk’ categories are also advised to stay at home. If you begin to feel unwell during a service, you are advised to leave immediately. People from outwith the district of Kinloch are strongly discouraged from attending services at Kinloch Free Church at the present time.
We hope to continue to broadcast services on YouTube in the short-term for those unable to attend at this stage.
A copy of our full Risk Assessment will be made available by request. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with myself or one of the other office-bearers.
Regards,
Rev Paul Murray
Minister