Dear Church of Christ Manurewa Family,
Greetings to you in the Name of Christ!
I trust you all are still keeping well and safe as we enter the 7th week of lockdown at levels 4 and 3. Ann and I are doing well and keeping safe and we thank you for your prayers for us.
How I praise Jesus for His keeping power and answering our prayers as we called upon Him to watch over us and preserve us from the coronavirus. Our little children, our families, elderly folk and loved ones.
And as we continue in the weeks ahead to loosen restrictions and get back to what we are now calling a “new normal” whatever that may look like, let us always seek the LORD for strength, wisdom and guidance. How Faithful is our GOD!
Yesterday our Prime Minister made the announcement that this Thursday (14th May) we will move to Level 2 in New Zealand. That means for all of us we are able to open up our bubbles a bit more to visit folk albeit kept within the restriction of 10 people! So generally we get a bit of breathing space! More of you will be able to resume working and by next Monday 18th all the children will be able to go back to school and pre-school.
Here is a brief of what the criteria is for all persons under Level 2:
- have no more than 10 people
- not be longer than 2 hours
- keep high hygiene standards
- contact tracing records
- maintain social distancing
- vital that if you’re feeling sick or are sick..STAY HOME!
Here is briefly what it means for us as a Church:
- Sadly we STILL CANNOT have services in our Church building so we will continue with ONLINE services of our Children’s Church at 9:45am; Sunday 10am Worship; and Thursday 7:30pm Bible Study & Prayer.
- I will endeavour to keep these services under 2 hours 🙂 🙂
- Keep up washing our hands and all contact surfaces.
- ALL church keyholders please still NOT to enter the church! There will be ONLY four of us who will enter the church to enable swift contact tracing. If anything is needed from church please contact caretaker or myself.
- Social distancing to be kept
- So important if feeling sick or are sick to STAY HOME!
With time now being almost two months since we’ve seen each other physically, It is quite possible that even at the end of Level 2 the quantity of people allowed to gather will still not be high enough to enable us to have fellowship in the Sanctuary so our online services could carry on for a while yet.
I pray that you all continue to encourage one another daily with phone calls, texts, emails, facebook, Instagram, twitter, smoke signal or any way possible to make sure we are rejoicing in the LORD!
Let me remind you of the promise scripture I quoted at the beginning of lockdown! 2 Timothy 1v7 “For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
In 1 Thessalonians 1v3 the apostle Paul says ….”remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.”
Hope keeps us patient and helps us persevere! And in this scripture Paul is reminding us that our Hope is in JESUS! So let us keep our eyes on Him as we move into this new Level 2.
May God continue to bless and be with you all!
Love & prayers
Pastor.
