Churches Together in Cornwall infoHub

Use this service to create a QR code for display in your venue. Get visitors to scan the QR code when they arrive, using the NHS COVID-19 app. This is to help trace and stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

You should create and display a QR code if you are:

• a business, place of worship or community organisation with a physical location that is open to the public
• an event which is taking place in a physical location

If you have more than one venue, you need to create a separate QR code for each location. You can add multiple locations in the service.

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More tips on creating and displaying the poster are here: https://www.covid19.nhs.uk/information-and-resources.html. Displaying the QR codes means it is easier for customers and visitors to check-in safely and securely on entry to your premises with their smartphones by scanning the code.

Download poster

21 Sep 2020

The Government has announced that certain businesses and community venues will be legally required to collect contact details from customers and retain them for a period of 21 days.  Customers who refuse to provide or give false details can be refused entry.  Businesses will also be required to display QR codes for the new NHS Covid-19 app at their premises by next Thursday, September 24.

This new rule applies to all venues from the following sectors:

• hospitality, including pubs, bars, restaurants and cafés;
• leisure and tourism, including gyms, swimming pools, hotels, museums, cinemas, zoos and theme parks ;
• close contact services, including hairdressers;
• places of worship; and
• local authority venues.

Any physical location that is open to the public is required to comply with this new rule, so village halls, and any other premises that has visitors is included.

To meet the new legal requirement, the Government is asking all such businesses and organisations to download the QR codes to display as a poster at entrances by September 24.

The Government has provided materials to help you create the poster here. More tips on creating and displaying the poster are here.

Displaying the QR codes means it is easier for customers and visitors to check-in safely and securely on entry to your premises with their smartphones by scanning the code.

You’ll find the Government’s announcement from last week here.

For more information on the NHS COVID-19 app, visit covid19.nhs.uk.

It is not stated anywhere on the Government’s website or elsewhere (yet) what venues should do with customers who cannot use the QR code. We presume initiative must be used, and a manual record must be taken. We will keep you posted as information becomes available.

Village Halls are advised to visit the ACRE website for information about how they can apply the ‘Rule of 6’ and more about contact tracing when that is published.

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Latest

Update 22 September 

We are yet to fully establish the impact of recent Government announcements on the life of the Church and of today’s speech from the Prime Minister. The transcript of the speech can be read here.

We will be reviewing our guidelines to reflect any changes that will affect churches and their associated community activities. More detailed guidance will be made available shortly.

The key points are:

• Education establishments to remain open at present (this is assumed to include pre-schools subject to details);
• Community & church cafés should only operate a table service and close by 10pm;
• All staff and customers in community and church cafes, charity shops, etc will now have to wear a face covering (unless seated for eating/drinking where relevant);
• In many sectors, which might include projects run through churches, working to Covid-secure guidelines will now be a legal obligation;
• Weddings will only be able to have a maximum of 15 people (down from 30) attending the service and reception afterwards;
• Funeral numbers allowed to attend remain unchanged at 30 people;
• Currently new shielding measures for those who are more vulnerable remain unchanged at present;
• Places of Worship are allowed to remain open

 The following guides have been updated today:

•  Guide to Using Your Worship Space
•  Guide for Other Community Users
•  Guide for Children’s, Young Person’s and Intergenerational Activities & Worship
•  Guide for Food and Drink in Worship and Non-Worship Settings

These can be found here.

Update 17 September

Our property guidance has now been updated reflecting the implications of the ‘rule of six’. More here.

Update 10 September

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government last night provided us with further clarification on the Government announcement this week of changes to permitted social interaction which come into place on Monday 14 September in England. We understand that the full regulations will be published later this week and we will update our guidance accordingly.

In summary:

• Places of Worship can remain open for services and prayer.  As before, the limit on the number of people is determined by the risk assessment with attendees divided into multiple groups of no more than 6 people.
• Weddings and funerals are still allowed and maximum numbers remain at 30 with people divided into multiple groups of no more than 6.
• Community Halls remain open and activities are allowed as before but within each activity, participants can be in groups that consist of no more than 6 people.

The government has emphasised that venues must be Covid-19 secure and contact details must be left for Test and Trace.  More information can be read here.  

Update 9 September The Archbishop of Canterbury has posted the text below on social media following yesterday’s Government announcement regarding social interactions:

“After contact with Government we hear that there is no change to guidance on places of worship. Worship is the work of God – not a social gathering – and gives the strength to love and serve. The increase in COVID cases is very concerning. We must follow the guidance and take all the necessary measures to keep people safe. And let’s keep praying for everyone who is affected – those who are ill, or whose families are ill, those who are anxious, or struggling with cancelled plans and isolation. We give grateful thanks to God for the NHS and all those who work tirelessly to keep us safe.”
The Archbishop of Canterburywww.facebook.com/archbishopofcanterbury

Update 3 September

Updated with guidance and information on conferring and decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Virtual Global Neighbours Service   

On Sunday 6^th September Christian Aid held an autumn service to launch our autumn appeal. This service (above) is available to watch back and use on Facebook and Youtube. The message by Bob Kikuyu, our Senior Theology Advisor, is available to use in your own church services. 

If you think you may be able to help support our Global Neighbours Autumn Appeal in some way, here’s some resources. To read more about the appeal and the resources please go here. This includes:  

·       Worship resources  

·       School resources  

·       Guide to hosting a Brew and Bake  

·       Angela’s story  

E-Offering 

The e-offering is a simple, virtual way to raise money for our global neighbours at your church/group or with your friends and family. Set up an e-offering and share the link in your church service, via email or on social media, to raise money for our neighbours still facing crisis around the world. Find out more and set up your own e-offering at e-offering.christianaid.org.uk/  

Greeting cards  

Among the resources you can order are greeting cards you can order and send to your neighbours to encourage them to think about their global neighbours and support the appeal.  

Debt Petition  

Stand up for our global neighbours by asking the UK Chancellor to champion debt cancellation for the world’s poorest countries. https://www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/cancel-debt-campaign-hub  

Covid-19 and Church Engagement Survey 

We have created a quick online survey to find out how churches are currently meeting. This will help us know how to best tailor our resources for churches at this time. If you can spare five minutes, please do complete it for us. 

Loving God. Come now and make us into a global neighbourhood, looking out for each other through struggle and crisis, reaching out to strangers who become sisters and brothers, shape us into a caring community, strengthening each other through every challenge, standing together until justice comes for all. In your name we pray. Amen.  

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Joint Press Release No: 20/16
22 September 2020
Brussels

A dozen global and regional religious organisations, including the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) released an advocacy statement on the situation of migrants and refugees in Europe that defines their calling as Christians to “welcome the stranger,” and urges the creation of a world in which “we become human together.”

“Solidarity should be the guiding principle governing migration and particularly refugee reception,” the statement says. “We expect the EU to reject the discourse and politics of fear and deterrence, and to adopt a principled stance and compassionate practice based on the fundamental values on which the EU is founded.”

The consortium presented the statement before the EU Commission on 23 September as the commission presented the new Migration Pact.

“Our organisations represent churches throughout Europe and globally, as well as church-based agencies particularly concerned with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers,” the statement reads. “As Christian organisations we are deeply committed to the inviolable dignity of the human person created in the image of God, as well as to the concepts of the common good, of global solidarity and of the promotion of a society that welcomes strangers, cares for those fleeing danger, and protects the vulnerable.”

The statement refers to the recent fire at the Moria camp, which left 13,000 migrants without a home.

“The events of the night of 8 September 2020 in the Moria camp and during the following days have once again exposed the fundamentally broken state of  European migration and asylum policy and the suffering it has created: the desperation of people seeking protection who have often been forced to live for years in inhumane conditions, the anger and frustration of locals who feel that Europe has left them alone with the challenge of reception and care, that the current response has addressed the symptoms of a greater problem but not the actual cause, and a reaction by the EU which expresses sympathy but shows a profound lack of responsibility and no real commitment to helping those in need of protection, as well as the Greek state and the local population hosting them,” the statement reads.

COVID-19 has exacerbated many already inhumane living conditions for migrants, the statement notes. “COVID-19 and its consequences have in many places rendered even more precarious the already difficult situation in these countries and for the displaced populations they host – be it due to inadequate hygiene in these facilities or the dramatic cuts of food rations and other assistance available to them,” the statement reads. “Widespread restrictions on internal and cross-border movement in the wake of the pandemic have further reduced people’s access to protection. In addition, the economic survival of many people on the move, as well as their hosts, has been imperiled by lockdowns and related measures, which have hit those employed in the informal sector particularly hard, and have had a disproportionate effect on women and their livelihoods.”

In sections subtitled “we see,” “we believe,” and “we commit,” the statement commits to “advocating for a more dignified approach to the reception, protection, and care of people on the move, churches and church-based agencies have been and will be proactive in offering a compassionate welcome, and promoting social integration and a just and peaceful living together, in Greece and the whole of Europe and beyond.”

“Media professionals and journalists must respect the human dignity of migrants and refugees, ensure balanced coverage of their stories, engage with migrants and refugees and enable them to tell their own stories, and to avoid stereotypical, negative expressions, as well as victimization and oversimplification,” the statement notes.

“We also share the conviction that the core values of the European Union regarding human dignity and respect for human rights must be reflected in its day-to-day politics,” the statement says.

Read here “Advocacy statement on situation of migrants and refugees in Europe“

Learn more about our work on Migration and Asylum

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