Normal church services won’t resume for some time, says Bishop of London

It may be 2021 before normal services are
resumed across the Church of England, the
Bishop of London has said.
Public worship has been suspended at
Church of England churches since the start
of the lockdown due to social distancing
measures.
Bishop Sarah Mullally told the BBC that the
pandemic would continue to require
significant changes to key aspects of
Christian worship “for some time”.
What those changes look like will vary
depending on region, she said, before
adding that Holy Communion and singing
during service were among the “very
challenging questions” for the Church.
“I don’t envisage, even up to the end of the
year, we will be back to our normal
services,” she said.
“We’ll have some churches doing things
differently. And of course, this approach
will depend on the part of the country you
are in. Being in Devon is very different to
being in the centre of London. So we need
to approach this based on our local
circumstances.
“There are some very challenging questions
that we’ll have to face, not least about
singing and about the receiving of Holy
Communion. So the future will look
different.
“But we want to continue to support people
in their spiritual journey with their faith.”
Even once church buildings are able to re-
open, social distancing and hygiene
measures will continue to be observed.
“When we open our church buildings, we
will still have to ensure physical
distancing,” she explained.
“We’ll have to make sure people can wash
their hands on the way in and on the way
out. We are likely not to be able to use
hymn books or service sheets or sing.”
With a spike in the number of people
attending services online during the
lockdown, Bishop Mullally said the Church
had a challenge on its hands to answer the
question of why more people access
services online than come to physical
churches.
“How do we enable them to enter into our
community, to be part of our community in
church?” she said.