This is a crisis moment unlike anything any of us have ever experienced before. Any time of extraordinary change or disruption reveals what we are made of. As Peter says,

…though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The choice in front of us is this: if the church is a gathering and a community, do we now fade into irrelevance as all of our relationships are massively disrupted, or do we double down and run towards God and the church family with renewed zeal?

We believe moments like this are unique for Christians. The church is different from the world around us in just about every way that matters, and so we have an opportunity to live out the call of God. Our experience of community, of mutual support, and of love, can make a profound difference to our sense of joy and wellbeing.

In order for us to continue to worship as one people, we are putting in place a plan for the coming days.

Worship

Instead of gathering together in one place, we will make use of the tools at our disposal by broadcasting our church services online, every Sunday at 11am. It will be a bare bones setup, but the core elements of worship and listening to God in his word will be present.

Community

Our Life Groups are the backbone of the church, and we want this to continue. If anything, they seem to me to be more important at a time like this. While we can’t gather in homes, we will be moving across to an online video conferencing platform called Zoom. Your Life Group leader will simply send you an invitation – no need to create a login. If you are not in a Life Group and would like to join one, please let us know.

Discipleship

For a long time now, we have had a dream of organising the church into triplets – small, single-sex groups of three or four friends who can help one another grow in their faith. It has never felt like the right time to do this, until now. Since the opportunity for deep relationships will be somewhat hindered by our physical separation, we want to facilitate these smaller groups in order to help us feel encouraged and supported. We will be in touch in the coming days to offer guidance in getting these groups set up.

You can go to our new page grace.london/online which will be updated as needed.