C7 Church Production Team Leader, Heather Pomphrett, is adamant that the Glasgow based church remains a secure environment despite maximum capacity rules in Scottish churches as of the 26th of April.
Ms Pomphrett said: “We’ve been doing this now since August, we go through the guidelines on a weekly basis, we update our risk assessment and from a policy point of view we do everything as per the guidelines.”
She commented that on a personal level, even with the increase in visitors, she feels completely safe as everyone must still follow restrictions; such as the wearing of face masks and keeping a two metre distance.
A survey that had 900 churches across the UK taking part found that there were some benefits to online services. The research found that more people were looking to attend church as a result of them.
She believes it is very important for people to attend church in person, for believers to be able to practice their faith and despite a clear positive link with online services, she believes that being in the building is unmatched.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction to be able to allow people to gather together to practice their faith. Nothing beats the gathering of the church and it’s part of the commandment of Christianity to gather together as God’s church.”
She remains hopeful that the next step is ‘full on normality’ as the restrictions continue to ease.
“We want to be able to have as many people in as possible, we want to be able to hug each other and speak to each other without a mask in front so we cannot wait to get rid of masks when it is safe to do so. You can’t see peoples facial expressions properly, you can’t engage properly. It’s a barrier we want to try and break down.”
Relevant sources:
The Hummingbird Journal 