St David Childwall

St David’s is an active parish church that seeks to offer a warm, welcoming, and safe environment, where all are valued and nurtured in faith and life.

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Covid July 2021 Update

5th September 2020 by admin

Update: Wednesday 21 July 2021 

With almost all legislation having been removed by the Government in Step 4 on 19 July 2021, it is now for individuals to act responsibly instead of government rules or laws. However, with the increasing prevalence of Coronavirus cases, we must be cautious and aware of the heightened anxiety of individuals in our congregations.

Our Church Council (PCC) met last week and discussed updating our Coronavirus guidance. PCC agreed that for the time being we should continue to stay as we have been for the last few months. The following was agreed:

  • We request that you sign-in or scan the Track & Trace QR code – although we cannot insist on it.
  • We ask you to wear a face covering whilst standing or moving about the building. However, it is acceptable to remove a face covering whilst sitting during the service. Again, we cannot insist you wear a face covering.
  • Use hand sanitizer wherever, and whenever, possible.
  • Use the church entrances and exits as directed and as they have been since re-opening.
  • Leave the building promptly at the end of the service and talk to each other outside. At present, we do not feel that it is safe to serve tea and coffee after the service, but this will be reviewed in the coming weeks.
  • We ask that you still wave to each other to Share the Peace rather than with a physical hug or handshake.
  • Only the priest will drink from the chalice on behalf of us all. Drinking from a shared cup still carries a high risk of cross contamination. Therefore, we will continue to receive Communion in ‘one kind’ – the wafer of bread only as previously requested by Bishop Paul.
  • One thing we all want to do is sing! So being cautious, we have decided to sing only one hymn for the time being. The hymn will be sung before the gospel reading. However, for your protection and those around you please wear your face covering whilst singing.

In summary, although we are now limited in what we can enforce by law, we will continue with all previous measures on a voluntary basis except for the addition of singing one hymn whilst wearing a face covering.

With the increasing numbers of infections, we should be careful. Bishop Paul’s watchwords are local decisions for local situations within the law, and safety and assurance first.

As the situation improves, we can relax or remove some or all the above restrictions. We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.


Update: Tuesday 5 January 2021 

Suspension of Public Worship Services

Unfortunately, because of the new January 2021 Coronavirus lockdown measures the Bishop of Liverpool has requested the immediate suspension to Sunday Services until further notice.


Update: Thursday 3 December 2020 

From Sunday 6 December our 10.30am service will recommence. Strict Covid mitigation remains in place requiring face covering, signing in for Track and Trace purposes, the use of hand sanitiser, and 2m social distancing at all times except where you are part of the same ‘bubble’.


Update: Thursday 5 November 2020 

Due to the second period of national lockdown, no public services will take place until after 2 December 2020.

We are still allowed to hold funerals in church and the usual means of contacting us are still available.

We hope that our services will resume from Sunday 6 December 2020.


Sunday Church Services -10.30am
We are now open again for Sunday services at 10.30am every Sunday.

Entrance will be through the Rocky Lane entrance, where hand sanitiser is available.

We ask everyone over 12 years old to wear masks and to sit apart from those not in your household.

Please pick up a service sheet when you come into the church and take it home with you at the end of the service.

Your Collection offerings will be collected via a lined bucket.

Exit will be through the hall into the car park.

We look forward to welcoming you back in church.


Other Service times
Unfortunately, we cannot yet open for an 8am service or the 7.30pm service on Wednesdays.


Sunday Club
Sunday Club hopes to start meeting again from Sunday 6 December 2020.


Arrangement of Occasional Services
If you wish to arrange Weddings, Bans of Marriage, Baptisms, or Funerals, please leave a message on the church answer phone. The number is 0151 722 4549.


Friday Café
We are unable to operate the Friday Café at the present time.


Church Finances
As for many people and organisations, the last six months have been a very difficult period for our Church finances. We have been without the normal Sunday collections, Hall rental income, and unable to organise any fundraising events.

Our income has been a fraction of normal whilst our expenditure has remained almost the same as normal. Not least the payment of our Parish Share to the Diocese of Liverpool; that alone amounts to £1,126 per week!

We pray that you will review your giving for the work of St David in the Parish of Childwall. We have a lot of work to make our finances sound again.


Interregnum
The church of St David Childwall is at present in Interregnum. This is church speak for the time between one Vicar leaving and a new Vicar appointed. Once we have more news we will published it.

Filed Under: Cafe, Messenger, News

New Beginnings

14th March 2020 by admin

As I write I am sitting at the kitchen table in the vicarage and marveling at the beautiful sunshine streaming through the window; it seems that at last Spring may be here, well that is until you venture outside and discover a bitterly cold wind! Nonetheless, March 1st has not just brought us St David’s Day but also some much needed sunshine, a new month and new beginnings.

Just this morning in church I spoke about all of the good things that happen at St David’s and the surrounding areas. If you are not already involved in the life of St David’s, it’s never too late to join the good people here. Believe it or not church folk are not as scary as we sometimes may seem and being part of church is much like being part of a family; there are happy times and not so happy times, there may sometimes be fall outs but underneath all of that we are a bunch of human beings who care.

I am presently contemplating new beginnings as come Easter Sunday, I will be saying farewell to St David’s and moving on to pastures new. A new beginning for me and my new parish; also for the people of the parish of St David’s as they contemplate what lies ahead for this church.

Personally I find new beginnings quite exciting; we had another new beginning last week as on Ash Wednesday we once again entered the season of Lent. Lent is a time for reflection and for some inward looking. It is a time when Christians and none Christians can do some reflection on our life journey so far and a bit like the church of St David’s reflect upon what the future may look like: Those of us who have faith in God will call upon Him in our prayers as we reflect, and the people of St David’s will be praying for all who live in our parish.

If you are one of the folk who get this Messenger through your door every two months then you are being prayed for. Lent is an important time in our spiritual growth and of course it leads us through to another new beginning: That of Easter time; the great Sunday the third day after the unjust crucifixion of Jesus; Easter morning when several of Jesus’s female followers found that Jesus was no longer in the tomb where He had been laid and who, according to the gospel of St Matthew, were told by an angel of God:

“He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.”

And sure enough Jesus did appear to His followers in Galilee and there was another new beginning, the birth of the Christian faith.

If you are unsure about faith matters, unsure what you think about God, whether He exists or not, then why not try something new this Lent, this coming Easter time. Find a church where you feel comfortable (I can heartily recommend the big red brick one on the corner of Queens Drive and Rocky Lane!!) and see what you make of it.

I am here at St David’s until Easter so please do come along to say hello, and farewell to your current vicar, it will be great to see you. As I contemplate this latest new beginning in my life I will leave behind this parish with my warmest regard for the people here and my blessings and prayers for all the people of the parish of St David’s.

Rev Peter F. Smyth
Vicar@StDavid’s

Filed Under: Messenger, News

The Messenger – January 2020

10th January 2020 by admin

All of us at St. David’s wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.

This coming year we face great challenges.

On Sunday 8th December our vicar the Rev. Peter Smyth announced he was leaving us to be vicar at Holy Spirit Church in Dovecot, a church he had worshipped at before he was ordained and where he had been helping out during their interregnum – the term used for when one vicar leaves and another is appointed, but when he applied for this vacancy he thought he was leaving us in the capable hands of our Ordained Local Minister the Reverend Sheila Jennifer Gillies. Tragically less than a week later we received the news that Sheila had died after a short illness.

Sheila was one of us, having attended our church in her youth. Then like so many went away to college to train as a teacher and then went on to teach in a British Army School in Germany where she made many lifelong friends.

When she returned from Germany she taught in primary schools in Liverpool but by the turn of the century her hearing problems made life difficult to hear her pupils and she reluctantly had to take early retirement. At the age of fifty she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she faced the problem with positivity. After treatment she went on to train as a Church of England Reader. This involves reading, but also taking funerals, leading Services and preaching. Then with the development of science she had an implant and after a couple of months had the latest hearing aid fitted. She was amazed to find when driving home from the hospital that cars made different noises when you accelerated and braked and that when she turned off the gas fire it also made strange noises.

After much soul searching she applied to the Church of England to become a priest, but because of her early retirement on health grounds they would only accept her as a Non-Stipendiary Priest. That meant she would not be paid but would continue to serve in her own parish of St. David’s.

The Bishop of Warrington ordained Sheila deacon in her own church, and as we waited to process into church I looked up and on the church bell tower I saw two white doves, the symbol of St. David. It seemed he was giving her his blessing. A year later she was priested in the Anglican Cathedral just days after the Rev. Robert Williams had been inducted as our new vicar. Not many new vicars would welcome saying that there would be no service on the their first Sunday as most of us were going to the Cathedral to support Sheila. There then followed ten years of happy partnership between Sheila and Rob.

Sheila was involved in all aspects of church life, leading a house group where she challenged her group but her quirky sense of humour always came to the fore. On Mondays she would be helping at the lunch club, often washing the dishes and then sweeping the floors. She also helped run the babes and toddlers group on Tuesdays and on Fridays would be helping in the café.

She loved taking baptisms and weddings with her own individual style. When she took funerals she brought comfort to the bereaved. She helped the chaplain at Broadgreen Hospital and if anyone was ill she would be visiting them at home or in hospital.

In spite of many health problems Sheila would be always laughing and joking, even as she left the health centre the day before she died. We are all going to miss her greatly, I count it a privilege to have been her friend for nearly a quarter of a century. We send our condolences to all her family.

Sheila passed away in Fazakerley Hospital on 13th December and her Funeral took place on 8th January at St David’s.

Cynthia, PCC Secretary

Filed Under: Messenger, News

Remembrance

2nd November 2019 by admin

Many years ago, I visited the war cemetery at Oosterbeck just outside of Arnhem in the Netherlands with a group of school children, I was amazed at how peaceful it was. It was certainly a well kept and cared for cemetery. I could not help but feel sadness as many graves were simply engraved…

“Soldier, Name unknown. Known to God.“

We came across one grave of a seventeen years old boy. One of the children said,…

“He was only seven years older than me!“

This year we commemorated the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, when 35,000 British, Polish and American parachute and glider troops dropped into the Netherlands in order to secure key bridges across the River Rhine. It was a daring but ultimately doomed attempt to shorten the war.

I read an article in one of the papers how Willemien Rieken has laid flowers for 75 years on the grave of Trooper William Edmand as he was one of those who had made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for our freedom. The article also told how Willemien, as a young girl, had been forced to hide in a small cellar underneath her father’s cake shop. The family was discovered by the Germans who interrogated them before setting them free. The family then found the bodies of four dead British soldiers in their garden.

Most of us have no personal experience of war. Certainly, when I was a young child no-one talked about war. I only learned about some of my father’s experiences after his death. Today, we are more aware of the consequences of war which actually happen before our eyes on television. We can easily condemn all wars. Some people would debate that they are justified. It does seem tragic that so many people, often very young, have made that ultimate sacrifice.

November is the month of Remembrance when we give thanks to all those who have died to protect us. In the bible we read how Jesus died making the sacrifice so our sins can be forgiven and to give us the hope of eternal life. St John’s Gospel states…

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.“

Indeed, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

May the Peace of the Lord be always with you and your loved ones.

Sheila

Filed Under: Messenger

Time for Reflection

1st September 2019 by admin

Here we are at the end of August and at last our summer seems to have arrived! We are basking in blazing sunshine and enjoying time with family and friends outdoors. September will soon be here and will bring the autumn equinox, a day of equal light and darkness. This is a balance that happens only twice a year. September is a time of change as children start or return back to school. Many of us are returning from summer holidays spent at home or abroad and I can’t believe that someone mentioned to me very recently that there are only about 18 weeks until Christmas!

We will soon see autumn change the glorious green of summer into the blazing red, gold and bronze of this season. It is at this time of year that we celebrate the Harvest Festival, a time when we should give thanks for the bounty we are receiving as the farmers gather in their crops. I recently spent some time in Cambridgeshire and saw the tireless efforts of farmers working day and night to bring in their crops. We have a lot to be thankful for in our lives and as Christians we thank God for our daily treasures. Our prayers do not only have to be said in church – we can pray anywhere at any time. We can pray to give thanks, to seek guidance, to ask for strength, wisdom and for the gift of unwavering faith. We can pray in our homes, on the street, up a mountain, in the woods or on the beach. God doesn’t care where and He will always answer us. Sometimes He will say “yes, sometimes He will say “no” and sometimes He will say “wait”.

So, as the summer draws to an end and the long days of autumn and winter approach let us be always thankful for the gifts we receive, for the strength we have to endure difficult times and for the eternal promise that God is beside us.

Blessings to you all, Adrian and Jo

Filed Under: Messenger

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Covid July 2021 Update

Update: Wednesday 21 July 2021  With almost all legislation having been removed by the Government … [Read More...]

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Contact Us

St David’s Church
Rocky Lane
Childwall
Liverpool
L16 1JA

0151 722 4549

vestry@StDavidChildwall.org.uk

Vestry Hour

Bookings for Weddings and Baptisms will be taken between 12pm – 1pm each Sunday after the main morning service at 10:30am; you are very welcome to come along to both.

Safeguarding

St David’s Church Childwall takes its duty and obligation to protect all extremely seriously. We have adopted the national Church of England’s robust procedures and guidelines. You can find out more about the national policies and procedures at www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding. If you have any safeguarding concerns or issues on a safeguarding matter then you can find useful contact information at www.liverpool.anglican.org/safeguarding

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