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So near and yet so far! After putting plans in place to re-open our church this Sunday, the local lockdown announced by the Scottish Government today (5th) has led us to re-think, and pause our scheduled return.
Over the last few weeks we have been preparing to go back by trialing the live-streaming of services from the church, allowing our most vulnerable to continue listening via Zoom. We've also adapted our building to suit, spacing chairs out and introducing a hand-sanitising station at the door. However, we believe in a God who is in control, and who knows all things. We'll continue on Zoom until we can go back, and will make announcements at the Wednesday prayer meetings to keep everyone up to date. We pray you all continue to stay safe and well, and to keep praying that we will be able, in God's time, to return to our churches. With the country still in lockdown, services at GRC continue online and have been a success thus far. We're glad to have linked up with the Beauly congregation in Rosshire, who are led by the Rev. Harry Woods. Rev Woods and our own minister are preaching on alternate weeks, which has been enjoyed by all. We have also had some join from other churches, which has been an encouragement. On a denominational level, the Monday prayer meeting has been a source of blessing and encouragment to all. This week (04/05), we had a wonderful attendance of 187, as you can see from the Zoom screen-shot below. With contributions from the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and the USA, it has been an international affair and all have enjoyed the prayers of our brethren from various parishes worldwide. Our continued crave is that God would hear our prayers and bless His church and our respective nations. To get details of our services, or the Monday prayer meeting, please see the main denominations website here.  .Last Sunday, despite minor technical difficulties, we were able to live-stream our services at 11am and 6pm. We hope to continue this until we are able to resume our sercies. This will be done using Zoom, which has been used successfully worldwide for church services, meetings and other conferences.
If you wish to listen to our services, details will be found on our denominations website, along with that of our sister churches. See link here. We look forward to welcoming you to join in our worship. The last week or so has proved a solemn one for our churches nationally. Our doors are closed, car parks empty, and we are as a people in unchartered territory. God is speaking to us, with a loud voice.
One positive is how technology has enabled many to stay 'connected' to their church, or enabled them to join in with other churches. God has not left his people without the provision of the gospel. For us at GRC, we hope to meet on Wednesday for our prayer meeting via audio conference, and then for Sunday coming, to have sermons uploaded on the church SoundCloud page. Other options will continue to be explored to meet the needs of all our folk. Keep tabs on this News page, or the Home page for links and news. The website of our denomination also gives links to our sister congregations and their worship arrangements. The March Bible Study will meet prior to Sunday Worship on the 8th, giving those who may not be able to make the Friday meeting an opportunity to come. It will also reduce travel when the weather can be unpredictable at this time of year.
We'll continue the study on the 'Living Proof' series, looking at chapters 5 & 6. All are welcome to join us around 4.45pm, and will meet for about an hour. |