From 13 May 2020 in England the government advised workers who cannot work from home that they may travel to work if their workplace is open. This means that building sites can now be open for work and therefore church building projects are restarting. There are two aspects to this that you need to consider. The first relates to your church employees and volunteers, and the second to the contractors, delivery people and others visiting your site.

If you as a church have employees and volunteers you should be taking responsibility for them and ensuring that their activities are risk assessed. You may already have risk assessments. These should be updated in light of the current additional risks with COVID-19. As well as carrying out risk assessments, you should also discuss with your employees and volunteers the risks and actions you are taking (or proposing to take). You also have a duty of care to contractors that are working on your property. This should include not asking them to carry out anything that would put them at risk.

Under the CDM regulations, where building work is taking place, you as the client are considered to be the “principal designer”, unless you have formally (in writing) delegated this responsibility to someone else (e.g. your architect). The principal designer is responsible for ensuring that the building is designed and constructed and can be subsequently used and maintained in safety. The risks to health and safety not only affect the construction workers themselves, but also members of the public who may be in close vicinity during building works, and those who may continue to use a building during alterations or extensions.

Contractors are responsible for their employees and subcontractors and have a duty of care to you to ensure they are not putting you or your employees, volunteers or visitors at risk. They should be carrying out risk assessments on the work methods they are using and should ensure that all workers comply with the agreed protocols.

It is key that you and your contractors agree on who is taking responsibility for different services and facilities on site and who is responsible for setting out procedures and enforcing safety measures on different parts of the site and project. This is normally set out in writing and can be included in the contract for the construction project.

You will need to risk assess the following:

·         Travel to and from work, as well as driving at work

·         Site access and exits

·         Meetings

·         Facilities on site including hand washing, keeping your workplace clean, toilets, rest areas and other communal areas, and first aid, emergency service response, accidents and security.

·         Working on site, including social distancing, planning work to avoid close working and additional precautions where social distancing is not possible.

We have produced a briefing paper, which gives more details of the government guideline. It will help you think through the issues that you have to risk assess and how you are to practically work with contractors, staff and volunteers on your building project.

We are exhorted in Hebrews 10:25 to: 

“Not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

The Coronavirus situation has meant that all churches in the UK have been unable to physically meet to encourage one another since the Prime Minister declared lockdown on Monday 23 March.  This is an almost unprecedented situation and the last time churches were unable to meet was between March 1208 and May 1213 when King John refused to accept Pope Innocent’s appointee, Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury.  Pope Innocent responded by placing England under an interdict, meaning that the clergy were prevented from celebrating the sacramentsⁱ. 

The growing use of the internet has meant it has been possible for a number of years to “virtually” attend live streamed church services of many of the world’s larger churches via YouTube and social media. 

The recent Coronavirus crisis has meant that the UK churches have had to reconsider how they stay in touch and continue to communicate with each other and teach their congregations, when the opportunity to physically meet up has been removed for a season.  The use of smart phones and tablets has meant that staying in touch “virtually” is much easier than ever before, and although it cannot replace physically meeting together, it does mean that church congregations are able to maintain contact. 

Here are a few suggestions: 

WhatsApp is a useful way of setting up ‘groups’ to send messages, pictures, video links and typed prayers, and to keep in touch with each other.  You can use this platform for video phone calls with up to eight people at one time – www.whatsapp.com 

Messenger is a good way of connecting with a smaller group of people and you can use this platform for video phone calls with up to 50 people at one time, which may be a useful resource for smaller discipleship groups and prayer meetings – www.messenger.com 

Zoom is a video conference facility which allows larger groups (up to 100) to meet virtually at the same time and is a useful platform to use for house group type meetings, prayer meetings and church business meetings –  https://zoom.us/  

Many churches are recording a church service and then uploading this onto YouTube –https://www.youtube.com/?gl=GB&hl=en-GB  

The Evangelical Alliance has a dedicated page by Mark Crosby which contains many useful hints and tips for staying connected during this season and beyond – https://www.eauk.org/news-and-views/top-tips-for-doing-church-digitally 

Although this is a challenging season for many churches, it also presents an exciting step-change for churches to utilise the internet to reach members of the public, who might not ordinarily physically step inside a church building, with the Gospel; one example being Alpha, who have produced a digital format for churches to host Alpha completely online – https://www.alpha.org/alpha-online/.  

Also, there is the opportunity to provide additional platforms for church congregations to meet, pray and encourage one another easily during this time, which for many may continue to be a useful resource once the current lockdown situation has ended. 

These are unusual times, but also times for us to be effective in our witness and to grow in our relationship with the Lord.  There are many places for you to obtain information that can help you during the Coronavirus shutdown.  We would like to share some of these with you.

Insurance Matters

Ansvar, one of the main church insurers, has issued a helpful update for churches insured by them.  This gives guidance on what to do now that physical meetings cannot take place in your church building.  It is practical and should answer most of your questions.  These include regular inspections, either draining down or keeping the heating on to stop pipes freezing and removing any perishable food stored in the property.  Click here [https://www.ansvar.co.uk/covid-19-updates/covid-19-news/] for more information.

Funerals

Weddings, baptisms and church meetings, large and small, are now not permitted.  Funerals are however allowed, but they may now only happen at the crematorium or at the graveside. Only members of the deceased person’s household or close family members should attend funerals. Any individual displaying symptoms of Covid-19 should not attend. Those who do attend will need to adhere to social distancing at all times, including when travelling to and from the funeral.  It is possible in many cases to use technology to capture the event for those who are unable to be there in person, either by recording it or by live streaming it to those remaining at home.  Government guidelines can be found here [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-advice-for-safe-funerals-after-discussions-with-faith-leaders].

Staying connected in this time of isolation

A great resource from Partnership [https://partnershipuk.org/covid19/] has been put together to help churches during the Coronavirus situation. Material includes practical tips to help local churches to continue their work and advice on pastoral care during lockdown.  Ranging from getting children to write letters to elderly members to planning your daily exercise to pass the window of church members in order to wave and smile as you pass.

Church Growth Trust’s new Property Administrator Elaine Roberts and CGT’s designer Tom Nicholson, who both lead in local Vineyard churches have come up with some practical ideas of using technology to keep connected.  This is an opportunity to discover new ways of connecting with each other and caring in practical ways for our church family and others in our community (fulfilling the royal law of James 2:8 by loving your neighbour as yourself).  It is also an opportunity to spend more time reconnecting with God and enjoying our closet time with Him.  See their thoughts in more details……[click here for article]

Evangelical Alliance

The Evangelical Alliance has set up a Coronavirus Hub on their website full of information just for churches.  Why not put a link on your church website, so all your members can have access?
[https://www.eauk.org/coronavirus?ref=top]

Financial issues

Stewardship has put together a financial guide [https://www.stewardship.org.uk/information/covid-page-2] for any questions that your church may currently be struggling with.  There is also on their website advice on using charity reserves and making decisions as trustees.

Legal matters

Anthony Collins solicitors have provided a briefing on some of the current legal issues [https://www.anthonycollins.com/media/3894/coronavirus-ebriefing-for-churches-updated-31-march.pdf]. If there is anything else Church Growth Trust can help you with, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01536 201339 or enquiries@churchgrowth.org.uk.

Now that physical meetings cannot take place in your church building, consider a few things that you need to do.  Where you are able to do so safely and within the current government guidelines, we and insurers recommend that you do the following:

• An authorised person should inspect your building internally and externally once a week to check the security and general condition of the premises.

• Clear all waste, perishable food, refuse and other disused combustible materials from the building and any grounds adjacent to it.

• Securely lock all external doors and close all opening windows (locking them where fitted with locking devices).

• To prevent burst pipes from freezing (the nights are still very cold) and heating systems leaking, drain down all tanks and pipes and, when you are able to do this, turn off all taps, stopcocks and mains supply valves.  If this is not possible, because you need to maintain a central heating system, a minimum temperature of 7°C must be maintained.

• Switch off gas supplies unless needed to maintain a central heating system.

• Switch off electricity supplies unless needed to maintain a central heating system or existing intruder alarm systems, fire protection systems, CCTV, security lighting or sprinkler systems. 

• Keep in full and effective operation at all times existing physical devices for securing, or preventing access to, the buildings and remove all keys from the locks, keeping them in a secure place away from the premises.

Whilst you may not be able to complete all of the items listed above, either partially or in their entirety, you are encouraged to consider anything you can do to reduce the risk of damage or loss, particularly through escaping water from heating systems and security of the premises generally.

It may also be useful to keep the church notice board (as well as your website) up to date with details of how the church is meeting virtually for services and small meetings, as well as providing contact numbers for people to call for prayer, to connect with the church, enquire about the Gospel and ask for other help.