The church building is now open for worship 

_{As we share our building with the Greek Orthodox Community Church following a}

_{vigorous risk assessment, it was decided to avoid any chance of either congregation} 

_{passing on the virus Tapton will meet for worship on Wednesday evenings at} 

_6.30pm.

_{The sermons from the services are being recorded and will be shown on our church blog} 

_{in the short term until people feel it is safe to return to church.}

_{We have a raft of measures in place to prevent spread of the virus to make it as safe as} 

_{possible. Please read the note from Suzanne below.}

Message from the Minister

Dear Friends,

We have resumed worship in the building but on Wednesday evenings at 

6.30pm. I realise that the idea of a midweek service may come as a 

surprise but there are a number of good reasons behind this decision.

Current guidelines recommend 72 hours between people using the 

same space otherwise there needs to be a deep clean. Currently the 

Greek Orthodox Church use our premises who, because of their numbers,

want to meet weekly so that every member of their congregation can 

worship at least once a month. They have more worshippers who attend 

as families and who work so they want to stay on a Sunday. As they are

also providing much needed funds at this time, we felt that moving to a

mid-week service for the time being would be the hospitable, safe and 

sensible thing to do. As Nonconformists we have always been adaptable

and not held tight to sacred spaces or times, instead we have put God 

and care of our fellow human-beings first. This is not a forever decision made

by the Deacons. 

We have real mixture of feelings right now from joy at the thought of 

seeing everyone again to worry about the easing of lockdown and we 

suspect you do too. We have completed a full risk assessment and put

procedures in place.  Some things will look a bit different but rather 

than seeing this as a bad thing, we are seeing it as an opportunity to 

be creative. 

What will we not be doing?

• We need to manage flow into the building and maintain social distancing

      at 2 metres. So, we will have one household coming in the Tapton

 
      Hill Road entrance at a time. To this end the building will be open 

      from 6pm to stagger entry. This may cause a little queue.

• You will need to hand sanitise or wash your hands on entry.

• You’ll be warmly welcomed and shown to a seat that will be 2 metres 

      from another household. Please don’t move seats.

• We will not be singing at this stage.

• There will be a single toilet available, but we are operating a ‘clean as

       you go’ system so you’ll need to wipe the toilet seat and sink after use.

• We will not be passing the offering plate around. Please put your 

       offering in the box on your way in or out. 

• Please be aware that the church has had little income during lockdown

      but still had major outgoings. These will increase as our cleaner 

     

      restarts work and we have John back on the organ.

• You might like to give a larger ‘one off’ gift as a sign of gratitude, 

      give the offering money that you’ve set aside over previous weeks 

      or slightly adjust your weekly amount.

• There will be no refreshments provided and the kitchen will be shut

       even for a glass of water so please bring your own drink.

• We will also manage the flow out of building with one household 

       leaving at a time.

What will be doing?

• We will praise God together in prayer and pray for each other and 

      our world.

• We will be still be sharing our ideas and thoughts about living the 

      Christian life. 

• Suzanne will continue her series on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible

• It will be all-age friendly.

• We will listen to music. John will play an organ voluntary and we 

      might have a go at some sign-language singing.

• Feel free to bring a flask of your own tea/cake or even a piece of cake 

      from home. Obviously, take all washing up home with you. 

• Suzanne is looking forward to using her new flask!

• It will be shorter service around 30 minutes.

BUT…. If you are shielding, we love you too much to risk your health so 

please continue to enjoy what we are putting online. Please don’t come if 

you are showing any Covid-19 symptoms or feel unwell in anyway.

People will emerge at different rates so we completely understand if you 

want to give it a couple of weeks before you re-join us. You are free to wear 

whatever PPE gives you confidence.

Thank you for reading this carefully. We have missed you and look

forward to the day when we can stand together and sing our hearts 

out. Until then we can uplift our hearts in other ways to the God

who has sustained us at this time.  

Please call Suzanne on 0114 2325790 if you have any questions.

Rev Suzanne Nockels x

Rev Suzanne Nockels invites you to link to her latest Sunday reflections:

Sunday 19th July

Song of David

https://youtu.be/3Vy2Bcac_fg

 

Earlier reflections and bible study for discussion are shown on 

the church blog

 

Rev Nell Shallow wrote this prayer.

En-bubble us Lord

Bless those who will hold a newly born child
the grandparent and uncle
the auntie and cousins
may those infant snuggles be a tender restoring

En-bubble us Lord

Bless those whose beloveds live across a border
the partners divided by boundary
the families still separated by geography
may the bittersweet possibility of togetherness bring hope

En-bubble us Lord

Bless those who must make hard choices
the torn and troubled
the conflicted and anguished
may their decisions be met with compassionate understanding

En-bubble us Lord

Bless those who remain alone and lonely
the shielding and unwell
the ones without friend or family
may neighbours notice and offer genuine companionship

En-bubble us Lord

Bless those who rejoice in longed-for togetherness
the grandchildren and siblings
the best friends and lovers
may their hugs and holds be more precious than they imagined

En-bubble us Lord

Bless those whose loneliness can now welcome company
the single and separated
the widow and the mourners
may their hearts be filled with the comforting of presence

En-bubble us Lord we pray.
Amen

 

Who are we?

As a Congregational Church we are independently run by the members through our Church Meetings, where Spirit led we can all have a say in how we feel is the best way to worship 

our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 

(see Church Diary page or Tapton facebook page for details)

Although independent we belong to the Congregational Federation and are part of Churches Together in Hallam who we occasionally join for ecumenical fellowship 

We are pleased to also offer a home to the Greek Orthodox Community Church in Sheffield.

To get a flavour of what we have been doing please read the reports of our Church Secretary and Minister from the Annual General Meeting on the 'About us' web page.

Congratulations Suzanne

We are pleased our own Rev Suzanne Nockels will become the next National 

President of the Congregational Federation. 

This was due to occur at our National Assembly in May this year but has now

been postponed until 2021. Presidential duties will be shared between Rev Dr 

Janet Wootton as Immediate Past President and Suzanne as President Elect.

Children and Young People

Tapton has a Safe from Harm policy and is inspected regularly. To find out more about the various activities please go to our Junior Church page

 

Memorial for victims of conflict

The memorial should have been dedicated on 11th April but this has been 

postponed until the end of the coronavirus crisis.

The bench has been restored and is again available to sit and reflect on beside the memorial.