Dear Cabramatta Anglican Church Family,
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made an announcement today banning all enclosed gatherings of 100 or more people. In light of that, Archbishop Glenn Davies has issued a statement to suspend all public church gatherings until further notice. You can see the statement here.
Our priorities
We are committed to continuing to proclaim Jesus as Lord, trusting in Him and sharing the love He has for us with others. In this challenging season we will continue to grow in God’s word together; sharing our lives with each other and serving those inside and outside the church. With the move to church online the logistics behind how we do so may look differently, but with the help of technology we will still meet with one another to stir up and encourage each other to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:25).
We will continue to monitor the situation and adhere to updated advice issued by our Government and the Anglican Diocese. We have been urged to act now and take social distancing (reducing the rate of physical contact with one another) and hand hygiene seriously to reduce the risk of community transmission. As a church, we want to be proactive in loving our neighbours and adopting the measures we can to slow the transmission, thereby helping to protect the most vulnerable members of the community and reducing the impact on essential, life-saving health services.
What does this mean for our 11am Service?
We will live stream our services online which can be accessed on our website. Our services will be live at 9am (Chinese), 11am (English) on Sundays and a recording will be made available if you cannot join us while we’re live on Sundays.
What does this mean for Access, CACTUS, Creche and Playgroup?
We will put them on hold until we resume normal Sunday services. Our leaders will be in touch with parents to distribute age appropriate resources/activities to assist with reading the Bible. A kids talk will be part of the live stream.
What does this mean for our small groups?
Small groups will be meeting online via conference calling software. You should be contacted by your growth group or other small group gathering leaders to confirm the new arrangement. If you’re not already in a group, please contact Rob on roberty@cabra.church if you would like to join a small group.
Pastoral care
With the shift to church online, we would like to take this opportunity to work together in caring for those without access to the technology many of us take for granted. If you’re able to help please contact us for how we plan to care for those who may be more vulnerable, isolated or have limited mobility in our midst.
Outreach
Our Mobile Community Pantry (MCP) ministry will continue to operate at a reduced capacity adhering to all necessary precautions under the direction of Anglicare until further notice. It has become especially critical at this time in providing affordable pantry items to our community which they may find difficult to access elsewhere.
We are also planning to letterbox drop cards to those in self-isolation in our local community to let them know we are here and available to help (whilst following the necessary health precautions) with gathering urgent supplies, posting/collecting mail, praying/talking through any questions they may have and inviting them to our online services.
We understand that this may be an unsettling time of change and uncertainty for many of us. As followers of Jesus Christ we can trust in His sovereignty and bring our anxieties to Him in prayer and petition. Let us hold out the hope of eternal life we have in Jesus who has conquered death. May we come together in strength and unity, in love and compassionate care for each other and the hurting community around us. If you have any questions or concerns, or need any assistance practically with supplies please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Your brothers in Christ,
Hien, Rob and Will