COMMENT / The Rt Revd Libby Lane, Bishop of Stockport on Towards a Safer Church: resources for prayer and reflection in worship

Churches offering services from the Book of Common Prayer are seeing unprecedented engagement with hundreds choosing to ‘tune in’ to more traditional offerings. 

Since the government announced that public worship in churches could restart after more than three months of lockdown, churches have been taking innovative steps to help keep their congregations as safe as possible:

A prayer ahead of Racial Justice Sunday this week written by Revd Dr Anderson Jeremiah, a member of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce.

An online Community of Prayer is to be launched after a cathedral saw digital worship numbers soar after Covid-19 restrictions came into force.

The churches of St Peter’s and St Philip’s in Highfields and Evington in Leicester began livestreaming services on Facebook and YouTube from the start of the first lockdown last year.

A prayer to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Stephen Lawrence Day.

Prayer services dating back to the early days of Christianity have enjoyed a big revival at a Middlesex church during the pandemic.

An outdoor prayer service started under lockdown at an Oxfordshire church has attracted more than 100 people and revived interest in a rural church.

A programme of public events that began with mini golf has led to an increase in the numbers attending Sunday worship at Rochester Cathedral.