Coronavirus advice
Get our latest advice, updates and resources on the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Recent updates
Advice and guidance
Safeguarding advice
A quick guide: Covid-19 and Safeguarding - advice on safeguarding during the pandemic.
Ordinations and Inductions of Elders during the Covid-19 restrictions
Ordinations and Inductions of Elders during the Covid-19 restrictions - read guidance from the Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç (December 2020)
Emerging into the New Normal
Read the latest advice from the United Reformed Church,ÌýEmerging into the New Normal (PDF | 970kb). This resource provides the basis for further local discussion and some clear church policy. Download the new Personal Risk Assessment (PDF | 156kb) mentioned in the document. Download an example of the Personal Risk Assessment (PDF | 136kb).
Resources for churches and individuals
Signs, banners, badges, labels and posters
The Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç has produced a range of practical resources for churches and individuals to use during the Coronavirus pandemic.
- °Õ³ó±ðÌýÌýhas signs, banners, badges and floor tape you can buy to remind people to keep to social distance rules and to watch their hands
Church guides
Church guidesÌýThe Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç has produced a series of free guides with advice for churches and church organisations to help them stay in contact with and support their local community during and after lockdown. From a guide to Zoom etiquette to information about online and contactless givingÌý - there are more than 20 resources available for you to read or download.
Guidance on getting your church online
Free resources to help you get your church online and stay in contact with your congregation and the local community using social media. The guides cover a wealth of topics - from livestreaming church services to using social media to connect with people and much more.
- Digital churchÌý-Ìý from advice on using Zoom, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook to a guide to livestreaming your church service, the Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç has published numerousÌýfreeÌýresources to help your church on its digital journey
- ¶Ù´Ç·É²Ô±ô´Ç²¹»åÌý²¹ hints and tips infographic from Matt Collins (JPG | 205kb) about how to get the best results when filming sermons. There is also an illustrated hints and tips guide about using Zoom for meetings (JPG | 182) from Naomi RW
Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç Zoom background images
If you're using Zoom for church purposes, and would like others to stop looking at the walls behind your head, why not use these backgrounds instead? Optimised for Zoom, there is a plain background with a Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç logo, or a background with multiple Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç logos, in either JPG or PNG formats:
- Plain background -ÌýJPG formatÌý´¥ÌýPNG format
- Multiple logos -ÌýJPG formatÌý´¥ÌýPNG format
Risk assessment resources
A range of risk assessments and risk assessment advice for you and your church.
- Protect yourself and others.ÌýÌýfrom the Revd Angela Rigby. The full version includes messages before and after the risk assessment questions, or there is a version withÌý. Essential viewing before you return to your church building
- Download a Personal Risk Assessment (PDF | 156kb). Download an example of the Personal Risk Assessment (PDF | 129kb)
- Download a blankÌýCovid-19 Risk Assessment (PDF | 634kb) or use the editable version Covid-19 Risk Assessment (Xls | 86kb).
- Download aÌýCovid-19 Secure Disclaimer poster (Word | 29kb), to be displayed once a Risk Assessment has been completed and it is safe for the building to reopen
Health and wellbeing for ministers
- The Methodist Church has produced a much needed resource,Ìý
- The Joint Public Issues Team has produced a list of resources to helpÌý
Worship, prayers, hymns and reflections
Worship with us online
A regularly updated list of churches offering live streamed services, sermons as podcasts, recorded services on YouTube, Facebook and Zoom, audio files of services, sermons and other worship and Bible study resources.
You can also find out how you can add your church activities to the list.
Families on Faith Adventures at Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç
Families on Faith Adventures at Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç is aÌýfreeÌýresource to help families worship and pray together and develop their faithÌýduring lockdown and beyond.
There are plenty of resources on the internet to support faith at home, but we wanted to provide something specifically Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç in nature.ÌýThese resources draw on the materials from Pilots and Friends on Faith Adventures as a starting point and are a 'pick and mix' selection of activities, prayers and challenges based around a different Bible reading each week.
Prayers for children and young people
- Download and print off aÌýleaflet about prayer for children (PDF | 303kb), written by the Revd Jenny Mills. If you're a bit older and would like a similar leaflet, download this daily prayer cycle (PDF | 107kb) from the Revds Ian Fosten and Phil Nevard
Prayers for the dying, bereaved and those who cannot attend funerals
- Our friends with the team behind the Methodist Church's hymn bookÌýSinging the FaithÌýhave produced a new resource:Ìý.
- The Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç has also producedÌýVirtual funerals liturgies and words for our digital world
A prayer for uncertain times
- A prayer for uncertain times – in March 2020, the then Moderators of the General Assembly offered this prayer as the UK and the rest of the world began dealing with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic
Reflections
Here are a selection of reflections to help you through the pandemic.
- Catch a glimpse of God's light this ChristmasÌýThe Revd Dr John Bradbury, General Secretary of the United Reformed Church, compares the change in Mary and Joseph’s plan for their firstborn to the havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, and God’s presence through it all in this reflection for Christmas day
- Christmas Eve: what's the point?ÌýAs the wait for Christmas reaches its end, Simon Peters, Project Manager forÌýWalking the Way – the Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç's focus on lifelong, missional discipleship – considers what we have to look forward to during, what for many will be, a very strange Christmas
- Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç Minister the Revd Carla Grosch-Miller, who is involved in theÌýÌýproject, has written a blog on the Coronavirus pandemic:ÌýAre we there yet?Ìý(Word document)
- Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç Minister the Revd Carla Grosch-Miller, who is involved in theÌýÌýproject, has written a new downloadable reflection on the Coronavirus pandemic:ÌýEasing out of lockdown - what next?Ìý(Word document)
- Church Related Community Worker Jo Patterson's reflection reminds us that as we embrace technology to reach out to people during lockdown, we must be careful not to exclude those who don’t have access to technology. Read Jo's reflection and advice
Thoughts on Holy Communion
- ¸é±ð²¹»åÌýCovid 19, the Church and Holy Communion - 15 Theses: United and Reformed (PDF | 46kb ), some personal thoughts from the Revd Dr John Bradbury
- Read theÌýVirtual Communion in the Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç? (PDF | 33kb) paper from the Faith and Order Committee and the General Secretary
Prayers during the pandemic
Prayers during the pandemic from the United Reformed Church to help bring you comfort and spiritual support during the Coronavirus pandemic. Please use these devotions in your private prayers, prayer groups or sermons
Helping the community
Your local church and community engagement during the pandemic
Here are some additional materials which might be useful to you and your local church as you explore mission and community engagement in light of the pandemic:
- (PDF) – A practical document from think tank , stemming from theÌýÌýwhich can help your church grapple with the challenges of connecting with your neighbourhood in meaningful ways.
- – A helpful resource fromÌýÌýfor organising effective partnerships with other churches, denominations and organisations which can be applied to partnerships for mission in your local neighbourhood.
- Organisations recommended by the CRCW network – A list of organisations and agencies, recommended by the Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç’s Church Related Community Work network, with resources and support for mission in your local neighbourhood.
YourNeighbour.org
°Õ³ó±ðÌýÌýwebsite aims to support the work that churches are doing to be good neighbours in communities across the UK during the coronavirus crisis. ItÌýaims to offer support via a coordinated national response.
New Reality, Same Mission
New Reality, Same Mission
New Reality, Same Mission began as an initiative in response to the Covid pandemic, but it is being broadened to include responses to other issues, including the cost of living crisis.
Give thanks for your vaccine campaign
Give thanks for our vaccines by donating to the Õ¬Äи£ÀûÉç's fudraising campaign with Christian Aid and help vulnerable communities around the world who don't access to the healthcare they need to protect themselves from the COV-19 virus.
Supporting your local community
The Joint Public Issues Team has produced a list of the different waysÌýÌýduring the Coronavirus crisis.