Blandford Forum Parish Church

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As you are aware the scaffolding is going up around the church, and getting higher week by week. The scaffolders are also due to start work putting scaffolding down the side aisles inside for the next month. Soon the work on getting the roof watertight will begin!

As we’ve been looking at the various practical arrangements for running church services each week alongside the building works, it has become clear that we can’t operate in the building safely, due to lack of adequate fire exits. As a standing committee (The wardens, myself and reps of PCC), last night we took the decision to move our Sunday worship up to the parish centre for the duration of the time the work is being undertaken.

From Sunday 13th February we will be meeting for Sunday services in the Parish Centre for the duration of the works.

This was not an easy decision to take as we know many of you love the building, and want to continue worshipping in it, especially after the enforced absence of COVID. Similarly, this is less than ideal timing for me as it’s only my third week in post. We apologise for the short notice – it needed to be discussed and agreed by the standing committee before we communicated to you.

I know that for some, this move will cause certain fears that we may never go back. I want to assure you that this is definitely not the case. A word that keeps cropping up in reference to the building is “beacon” – the building is a beacon of hope within the town. I think there’s something of the Lord’s voice in this. My personal conviction is that the church building is a key asset in our mission to Blandford Forum and beyond, and we therefore have to utilise it to its full potential.

The intention is that we will return to a watertight building after the summer, and celebrate together all that God has done and will continue to do through the Parish Church building with a recommissioning service to which we’ll invite various VIP’s etc. Hopefully we’ll have a refreshed vision to launch then as well – which feels like the Lord’s timing.

It’s worth saying that “The Church” is not a building, but a gathering of God’s people worshipping, praying, being encouraged, and sent out into the world declaring God’s love. We can be the church wherever we meet.

As we meet together in the Parish Centre over the next few months, our pattern of services will continue and we are hoping to re-establish some form of children’s provision, enabling us to welcome new families to our community. We will be making sure that everyone is as safe as possible, so we encourage you to wear masks, hand sanitise and take LFT’s where possible. We recognise that we have limited capacity in the hall – and so we will adjust arrangements if we feel that are outgrowing the space.

Over this next season I want to encourage us all to continue gathering together each Sunday, so that when we are able to return to the church building, we are stronger, more united and filled with hope and a vision for the future.

Many Blessings

Chris

Revd Chris Beaumont

Blandford Forum Parish Church

Blandford Forum Parish Church

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Tina Stanley

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Blandford Parish Church is on the move...