We will continue to post updates here, on our Twitter account and on our Facebook page.
June 24th
As a church we welcome the news that from Saturday July 4 places of worship will be able to reopen for services for a limited and managed number of people while observing social distancing.
This is particularly significant news for those planning weddings, and those who until recently have been unable to hold funerals for loved-ones in the church building.
We anticipate further guidance from the government, the Church of England and the Diocese of Rochester in the coming days, This will hugely assist and clarify our thinking and planning.
That said, we have already been planning and thinking about this time, as we have also carefully considered how to open safely for private prayer. Whilst being together again will bring us great joy, we are in no rush to get back into the building. It will not be possible to return to the way things were before the pandemic. We need to take our time, and take great care, in our decision-making. When we do reopen it is likely that worship will look and feel very different to our experience prior to the pandemic.
We also want to ensure we continue to place our love for God, our love for ourselves, and our love for each other at the heart of all our decisions – and that may mean that we delay reopening for Sunday worship until it is safe and possible for more of our church family to gather together.
The PCC will be meeting on 15th July to discuss things further, but we will be continuing with our online worship for the immediate future. Even once the church building is reopened on a Sunday morning we hope it will be possible for online worship to continue to enable as many as possible to take part.This will be a central part of our thinking and reflecting.
We appreciate your support, patience and your prayers at this time.
June 21st
This Saturday would have been our Summer Fete in usual times, so in lieu of that we will be having another online coffee morning! Not quite the same, but it will be good to see each other and catch up.
So, join us on Saturday 27th June at 10:30am.
For the link and instructions of how to join, just email Sharon Jarvis at christchurchdartford@hotmail.co.uk.
Come with a coffee or tea and have a chat with your church family and friends. There will be a ‘families with children’ breakout room where fun and games are to be the order of the day.
Some people (Richard! and maybe others) will be wearing of silly hats/jumpers so do feel free to join in on that one!
June 11th 2020
After the changes in national Church of England guidelines outlined here, we now have the opportunity to open the church for Private Prayer commencing 15th June.
We as a church are considering these changes and discussing how we open the building going forward so we will not be opening immediately but will look to do so when the time is right. Please do continue to check back for updates, either on this website or on our Facebook or Twitter pages.
Thank You
If you would like to colour the Dove and Flame picture Ricard referred to during the Pentecost service, you can find them here –JPG – PDF – please print them out, colour them in and put them in your window!
Newsletter from Richard – 21st May 2020
Thy Kingdom Come – Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray for more people to come to know Jesus, with prayers and other resources for the period between Ascension Day and Pentecost (21st – 31st May 2020).
Faith @ Home – Faith at Home is a national campaign from the Church of England that builds on the work of Growing Faith and Everyday Faith to support the faith development and pastoral care of children and young people. There are resources and videos for parents and families at the link above.
Why not download and print this picture of praying hands and put it up in your window to let your neighbours, and those who pass by your home, know that you are praying at this critical time.
It’s way of expressing the hope we have in God, but it will also encourage others as they pray, perhaps for the first time.
You can find the poster (and other versions of it) here
May 10th – 16th
It’s Christian Aid week and obviously we will have to do things a little differently this year.
Here we have some resources, initially from last year, to do for you and your little ones to get the week in your mind. Christian Aid Resources
13th-17th April
The fantastic resources usually reserved for those that travel to a Butlins resort are being made available by Spring Harvest to EVERYONE from tomorrow for Spring Harvest Home.
Click the link in the post to find out more and how to subscribe.
And please do share with those who may benefit from this or you think may not see this before the morning comes round.
The link to take you directly to the Spring Harvest Youtube channel is #SpringHarvestHome
5th – 12th April
Our Palm Sunday talk and sung worship, Maundy Thursday reflection and Good Friday Hour at the Cross have been added to the Talks Tab of this website as well as our social media channels. Look out for a final Holy Week upload on Easter Sunday.
And our special Holy Week at Home booklet is now available on the new Worship at Home Tab.
23rd March
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The Leadership of Christ Church have decided to NOT open the church for private prayer.
This has been a difficult decision to make but feels the right thing to do in these ever changing times.
Please continue to check in here or on our Facebbok or Twitter pages for further updates. We will be asking for prayer requests daily so please do let us know of them.
Sunday 22nd March
Happy Mothering Sunday. A strange one certainly. We will worship in different ways. An address from Rev Laura will be added to the ‘Talks’ section of the website very soon, as well as our social media platforms.
We will not be live streaming services at this time (although this mayy or may not change in the future), but we welcome you to participate in live streams done by other churches.
A list can be found on A Church Near You, where you can look locally or for any church nationwide.
19th March 2020
There has been an update from our church wardens which can be found here. This update has also be emailed to those we have a contact for and a posted copy will be with those we don’t very soon, if not already.
This has been shared along with a prayer resource pack which can be found here. This can be viewed, downloaded or printed as you wish.
17 March 2020
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are calling for Church of England churches to put public worship on hold and become a “different sort of church” in the coming months to face the challenge of coronavirus.
See more of their most recent update here.