Because of government legislation, services will be different to what we are used to, but we are sure that God’s presence with us will enable us to adapt and both honour and glorify Him when we gather together. Please note the following changes which we are required to make.

1. We request that you do not attend services if you are ill or showing symptoms of Covid-19 (including a high temperature, persistent dry cough and loss of taste or smell.) We will have to keep a record of those attending each service for 21 days and you should notify us if, after attending a service, you become ill with symptoms of Covid-19 so that others can be notified. Anyone showing symptoms of Covid-19 is advised to contact the NHS Test & Trace service. If we have confirmed cases of Covid-19, it is recommended that contacts self-isolate for 14 days and it is possible services will have to stop at that point to minimise the spread of the virus.

2. Social distancing measures will be in place and we ask you to observe these both inside and outside the building. This will mean only 1 person in the corridor or in each toilet and we have arranged chairs individually and in family groups in the Worship Room at distances of 2 metres to facilitate social distancing.

3. We have installed hand sanitiser dispensers at entrances and hand sanitiser is available outside toilets as well. You are strongly advised by the government to use hand sanitiser or to wash your hands on arriving and on leaving the building. We have also installed paper towel dispensers and pedal bins in each toilet to allow you to wash and dry your hands thoroughly.

4. We have removed communal objects such as toys to avoid cross-contamination. Parents are asked to bring their own toys/ books for their children to use during services. The foyer area is recommended for families with children. Church Bibles can be used, but must be left on chairs after use so that these can then be isolated for 48 hours as stipulated in the regulations.

5. We have revised our cleaning protocols to include colour-coded cloths to avoid cross-contamination and will be cleaning more regularly, especially before and after services. Cleaning wipes will be on chairs so that members can wipe down chairs after each service to help with cleaning issues. We will also be wedging doors open to avoid having to touch handles.

6. We will not be serving refreshments after services at present to avoid cross-contamination.

7. We would request that members do not use other rooms in the building to avoid having to clean other areas.

8. Members are asked to bring their own bread and juice for Holy Communion to avoid cross-contamination. Holy Communion will form a part of services each Sunday morning and on the 2^nd Sunday evening of each month.

9. A number of individually packaged face coverings will be available for use by members. Please leave these after services so they can be washed. It is not mandatory to wear face coverings, which is why we have retained social distancing at 2 metres.

10. We will not be passing around the offering bag, but will have a receptacle and jar for the Compassion children on the table in the foyer for you to leave your tithes and offerings. If you are able to give using online banking, please ask us for bank details to help you do this.

11. Congregations are advised not to sing, chant or shout during services. We are investigating ways of using music in our services, including recorded music, for we recognise the vital part singing and music play in our usual services.

We know that the above measures look daunting and will certainly have an impact on our services at first. But we believe that as we gather together to worship, pray and hear from God’s word, God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. (Eph 3:20) Let’s keep asking God to move in our area, to change this situation and to help us to go forward as His people with courage, faith and love.

We are planning to reopen the building on Market Street for services again on Sunday 2^nd August 2020. This is later than originally intended, but we have taken time to review government guidance and HSE guidance and consult with other local ministers, and we feel this opening date gives all those who are presently shielding until 1^st August the opportunity to gather with us if they so wish as well as giving us time to monitor how the easing of lockdown measures is affecting the spread of the virus in our local area.

We recognise that there will be a range of opinions on meeting again in person and that not everyone will feel comfortable doing so at this present time. Nonetheless, even with the current restrictions in place from the government which do have an impact on how services will be run, we feel it is an important Biblical principle to gather together (Hebrews 10:25) and want to give people the opportunity to do this. We will continue to livestream Sunday services on Facebook Live so that all who do not feel able to attend can still participate in our meetings and as an additional means of outreach. We recognise that we are the body of Christ and will continue to seek to minister to all within our congregation and community.

Services will be held each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. At the present time, we are not able to re-start our community groups (youth club, Parent & Toddler group, family fun days run in cooperation with Dearne Churches Together) because of the restrictions, particularly regarding social distancing and children. We are praying that these vital ministries to our community will soon be able to re-start and will be reviewing this decision frequently. We ask for your continued prayers that we will be able to both resume these activities and will find new and innovative ways to be ‘with God in the community, with God for the community’, which is our heart’s desire and mission.

The book of Acts gives us stories of many people being converted: turning from one way of life to eternal life in Jesus. Conversion is a turning point, that moment when we repent of our sins and turn in trust towards God, believing that Jesus’s death and resurrection are the way we are reconciled to God. All of us must undergo conversion if we are to become children of God and become adopted into God’s family, but the way this happens will, despite many common points, be unique to us.

So far in Acts, we have seen:

• someone actively hostile to Jesus and a persecutor of Christians become converted thanks to a vision from heaven (Saul of Tarsus, now spreading the message of Jesus Christ to the wider world!)

• an Ethiopian government minister converted through utterly miraculous if bizarre circumstances with a decidedly human agent (Philip)

• a Gentile centurion (Cornelius) converted by means of a vision to both him and Peter

• many unnamed people converted through listening to the preaching of both apostles and ‘ordinary’ Christians.

In Acts 16, we see again the variety of means by which people are saved: Lydia’s heart was opened as she listened to Paul’s message; the Philippian jailer is converted when he witnesses a miraculous earthquake while guarding these awkward Christian preachers! Lydia is described as a ‘God worshipper’, someone who was presumably already seeking God (and is therefore found by Him – see Jer 29:13), whereas the Philippian jailer seems not to have been seeking God but was definitely found by Him! All this goes to show how amazing God is to know each one of us by name and to know the most meaningful and appropriate way of reaching us!

In our journey through the book of Acts, we have reached Philippi, where Paul’s preaching established a church in that Roman colony and to which he later wrote one of the most encouraging letters in the New Testament. (Acts 16:11-40) There, we see Paul and his companions initially preaching to a group of women who gathered by the river to pray and we are told that one of them (a dealer in purple cloth named Lydia from Thyatira) responded to Paul’s message because ‘the Lord opened her heart.’ (Acts 16:24)

We all need God to open our hearts, minds and understanding if we are to respond to His words. Paul talks of the god of this age blinding the minds of unbelievers (2 Cor 4:4); we need God’s light to ‘shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.’ (2 Cor 4:4) To the Ephesians, he said, ‘I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.’ (Eph 1:18-19) Jesus gave a very vivid picture of opened hearts when He spoke to the church at Laodicea and said, ‘I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.’ (Rev 3:20)

To open our hearts to God means to receive His words gladly and to act on them: Jesus said, ‘everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.’ (Matt 7:24) James reiterated this when he wrote, ‘Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.’ (James 1:22-25) To open our hearts to God means we submit to His word and receive His commandments gladly. Opened hearts are sensitive to God and will therefore be able to respond to what God says. We all need opened (and open) hearts if we are to grow spiritually.

Acts 16:6-10 is, for me, a challenging and (dare I say it?!) infuriating portion of Scripture. It challenges me because it shows me a level of guidance which does not always make sense to my rational mind and leaves me dangling (which infuriates me, as I’m the kind of person who likes neat endings, with all the loose ends tied up!) I don’t know how the Spirit of God prevented Paul and his companions from preaching the word in the province of Asia and how the Spirit of Jesus prevented them from going to Bithynia, nor do I know why He did this. And, more often than not, I don’t know why God prevents me from doing certain things in life and I find it difficult at times to judge whether He wants me to press on in faith or draw back. Circumstances which slot nicely together are a useful way of following God, but what do we do when those circumstances seem unfavourable or we just don’t know which way to turn?

The combination of prevention and a vision which offers a new direction ultimately clarified the position for Paul and his companions. They ‘concluded’ or ‘became convinced’ that this was what God wanted them to do. They weighed up all the facts and decided to go to Macedonia; they used inference from all the facts they had to reach a positive conclusion. ‘All the pieces had come together. We knew now for sure that God had called us to preach the good news to the Europeans.’ (The Message) I often think the Israelites had it easy in the wilderness, with a cloud or pillar of fire to guide them; they had the luxury of a visible sign of God’s presence! It can be much harder for us, even with God’s Spirit guiding us, to be sure that we are doing the right thing, but this is where faith and trust are proved. We are called to live and walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7) At times, that will feel very uncomfortable and even frightening, but we have to learn to let go of our obstinate need for control and surrender to God’s leading.

The Bible has much to say about God’s guidance, making it plain that God leads and guides His people (Ps 23:2-3, 2 Cor 2:14, John 16:13, Ps 25:5), but it’s the ‘how?’ of divine guidance that often confuses us. There are times when God’s word seems to tell us directly what to do, times when a word of prophecy comes to us with startling clarity, but there are also many occasions when we feel torn and do not know which way to go, and we feel then that our Christian journey is rather like ‘plaiting fog’, as the idiom goes.

In Acts 16:6-10, we see something of the difficulties involved in guidance. Paul and his companions had clear plans as to where they should go; it made sense to continue in the direction they were heading to preach in the province of Asia, but they were ‘kept by the Holy Spirit’ from doing that (Acts 16:6). They then intended to enter Bithynia, ‘but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.’ (Acts 16:7) These phrases do not give us perhaps the fulness of answers we would like (how did the Holy Spirit do this? – through circumstances, illness, opposition or what?!) Nonetheless, it was only when Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man begging for help that they moved on to the province of Macedonia. (Acts 16:9-10)

Perhaps what we see here is what A. T. Pierson dubbed ‘double guidance’ or ‘permission and constraint, prohibition and restraint.’ Sometimes, we feel unease or disquiet in our spirits, which can be God warning us not to do something, even though (to all intents and purposes) that seems the best thing to do. On other occasions, we feel the nudge (and even the shove!) of the Spirit, pushing us into new territories or unfamiliar places.

Nicky Gumbel writes of five compelling signs of God’s guidance, talking about commanding Scripture, the compelling Spirit, the counsel of the saints, common sense, and circumstantial signs. Certainly we see that guidance is perhaps not as clear-cut as we would always like it to be, but these verses remind us that God is an expert at both opening and closing doors (Rev 3:7) and as God’s flock, we need to be attentively listening for the Shepherd’s voice. (John 10:3-5, Is 30:21)