Just a week before the lockdown, with increasing pressure to disconnect socially, Rosalind & I set up a WhatsApp group ‘Corona Help!’ for our immediate neighbours.
We already had contact details for several through mutual cat and bin care, we popped a card to a few others offering help, if they were self-isolating; we also gave them the option to join the group. Everyone was enthusiastic to join.
One of the great things is that some neighbours who previously we did not know have joined the group because they had some contact with someone else in the group. It is only a small thing, yet through it we see God building community.
Health needs have been shared (they all know our number now!) and we have been able to pray for them.
In our church family where those who have found it harder to connect physically (distance, work etc) they have been able to engage regularly with our e-groups. I sense that this isn’t just a time ‘to get through', clearly God is actively working to reshape lives and the church. Hopefully this will be the case in the wider community beyond our doors.
