Lockdown III - update

Due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus, as of midnight on Wednesday 6th January, England will enter a third national lockdown.

Attending church is permitted

Following the Prime Minister's announcement on Monday evening, we were pleased to note that unlike in March attending a church service is one of the permitted reasons to leave home, as long as Covid security measures are in place. The Government's guidance is: "You can attend places of worship for a service. However, you must not mingle with anyone outside of your household or support bubble. You should maintain strict social distancing at all times."

One in-person Sunday meeting, 10.30am

We believe that we are able to provide a Covid-secure environment for people to worship appropriately, and hear God's word. We also understand that just seeing some people can be a boost to mental health.

So, we will continue to meet in-person at The Durham Centre - but for one meeting only at 10.30am. We anticipate this will provide sufficient capacity to meet demand and will reduce the pressure and risk to those serving. The prayer meeting beforehand will be at 9.45am.

Online meetings continue

We will also continue to give the choice of worshipping and hearing God's word online via YouTube.

There are dedicated teams that enable all this to happen and we so appreciate their hard work and service.

Ticketing and Test & Trace

We are running a ticketing system to both record your details for Test and Trace and also limit the numbers in the building. Please do not come without a ticket. We have increased the tickets available as we are moving to one meeting.

Please only book a week in advance, and from 11am on the preceding Sunday.

Tickets for this Sunday must be rebooked

If you have booked a ticket for this Sunday (10th January) for 9.30am or 11.15am, those tickets will be cancelled, and you will need to rebook for 10.30am. The link to book is here.

Keep your focus on Jesus

As we were reminded by RayLowe last Sunday, we remain in faith that God is putting on open door before us, even in this season, and we look with anticipation at what He is going to do in and through us at this time.

You will recall also that Fusi Mokoena encouraged us that God is comforting us at this time, restoring what has been lost and filling new wineskins with new wine. Our prayer is that God finds us all willing and open as His presence moves upon us wherever we are.

“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all
now and forevermore."

Returning to The Durham Centre: how to book your place

The Durham Centre (rear) and The Emmanuel Centre (front)

The Durham Centre (rear) and The Emmanuel Centre (front)

We’re very excited to be resuming in-person Sunday services from 6th September.

These will be our first Sunday meetings together since March. It will be great to be together again. But things will be different than before, and will take some getting used to. Thank you for your patience as we make these adjustments.

Booking your place

There will be two meetings, at 9.30am and 11.30am, each of one hour. 

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To collect data from each attendee for NHS Test and Trace and to manage attendance numbers so that we can adhere to social distancing, we will be using the Eventbrite website to book in. Everyone will require a ticket, for either meeting. 

Tickets will be bookable within the following time frame:
9.30am meeting: from 10am on the Sunday before, until 9.30am the day before (Saturday)
11.30am meeting: from 12pm on the Sunday before, until 11.30am on the day before (Saturday)
These opening times allow people not in a specific meeting to have the first chance of booking in for the following week. 

The link to book tickets for the 9.30am meeting is: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/114411241102
The link for the 11.30am meeting is: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/114409748638
Please note: these links will only be open during the times stated above. If you cannot access the links, please try searching Eventbrite for 'Emmanuel Church'. 

We recognise that not everyone may be able to use Eventbrite comfortably. Let's help out those we know who may be in this situation. 

Staying safe

Things will be quite different during our Sunday meetings. Please read the following carefully, to help everyone stay safe. 

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  • All those attending a meeting must wear a face mask (unless exempt), as per national guidelines.

  • Do not attend if you or a person in your household has Covid-19 symptoms.

  • Everyone will be observing social distancing. Hand sanitiser is available.

  • There will be no congregational singing. One person will sing, from behind a plastic screen, supported by a band of musicians.

  • There will be no separate provision for children or young people and no refreshments will be available.

  • Please leave TDC directly as the meeting finishes. 

TDC will be cleaned between the two meetings. If you can help, please contact Alan: alan.bell@thedurhamcentre.co.uk 

With all that said, we are very much looking forward to exploring new ways to worship Jesus together!

Online services

Even when in-person services resume, we will be continuing our online services: at 10.30am each Sunday via our YouTube channel.