You may be aware that during this lockdown places of worship are permitted to remain open for communal worship. 'Can' does not mean 'must' however. If the national conditions are such that we are being told to stay at home, we do not believe we should be providing opportunities that tempt or encourage people (often vulnerable ones) to act against that advice, and come together. Whilst the protocols we have in place may mitigate the risk to a great extent, they cannot completely remove it. We are therefore not currently gathering congregations for public worship.
We will be continuing the current routines of opening our churches for private prayer (daily 9am-5pm Ripley, 8am-4pm Sundays and Wednesdays at Bishop Thornton, and 12noon-4pm on Wednesdays at Burnt Yates), so if your daily exercise takes you past one you will be able to drop in. (Though do be aware that if the churches are being used to stream a live service they will for that time be unavailable to public access).
We will be continuing to stream our daily morning prayer, as well as our Sunday services, and providing recordings of those events on our catch up phone line (Harrogate 222470) for those without internet access. Zoom morning prayer and discussion will also continue at 9am on Saturdays.
Some people have also found success in phoning their friends without computers, and by putting them on speakerphone allowing them to hear and join in with the services.
The situation remains under review by our PCCs, and we will keep this page updated.
- livestreaming Morning Prayer 9am Mon-Fri on our Facebook page (fb.com/ourfivechurches), and here on our engage page.
- enjoying Morning Prayer with discussion at 9am on Saturdays via zoom.
- On Sunday mornings we have a 10am Communion service livestreamed to our facebook page at 10am, and on the Engage page of this site, and shortly after on our telephone catch up line. It is sadly not possible to attend this service in person at the current time.
- We have a local phone number that can be called to listen to recordings of morning prayer, and communion services - 01423 222470.
- All Saints' Church, Ripley is now open for private prayer through the week.
- St. John's Church, Bishop Thornton, is now open for private prayer on Wednesdays and Sundays 8am-4pm.
- St. Andrew's Burnt Yates is now open for private prayer on Wednesdays from 12 noon to 4pm.
- BBC Radio 4's Sunday Morning Worship, at 8.10am on Sundays;
- BBC's Songs of Praise
- BBC Choral Evensong (BBC Radio 3, 3.30pm on Wednesday and again 3pm Sunday)
- Using the Church of England's Daily Prayer, either from the website (https://www.churchofengland.
org/prayer-and-worship/join- us-service-daily-prayer), or through the app: Android Apple - Subscribing to daily bible study notes - there are many out there. I personally quite like Our Daily Bread www.odb.org, 01539 564149, Android Apple
- There are number of national resources now available on https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-online
- You can also access resources from the Church of England through your smart speaker ("Alexa, open the Church of England" or "Hey Google, talk to the Church of England" to get started)