Lockdown special: A parish response

In addition to the large number of churches conducting online worship during the Coronavirus Covid-19 lockdown, and supporting local foodbanks, Thomas Baldwin rounds up some of the responses of churches throughout Scotland which are continuing to meet and serve their communities in a series of imaginative ways.

The churches in Lanark, South Lanarkshire – Greyfriars Parish Church and St Nicholas Parish Church – have helped set up Lanark Helps, a voluntary telephone support helpline for vulnerable people in the area. Volunteers for the scheme (among other things) deliver prescriptions, top up energy meters and shop for people who are vulnerable or isolating. The service is available for people in Lanark and surrounding villages, and can be called on 01555 437051

Barclay Viewforth Church in Edinburgh introduced a helpline for the local community, picking up groceries and prescriptions. The main users of the service have been people in a nearby sheltered housing complex. The helpline number is 07902 965 522

New Laigh Kirk in Kilmarnock holds an online coffee catch-up every Tuesday morning at the church’s Facebook page.

Junior members of Kinross Parish Church worked individually at home to create a huge rainbow which is displayed in the church windows as part of the Easter celebrations. The Rev Alan Reid, minister at Kinross said: “There is hope! Well done and thank you to everyone who took part.”

Members of Pitlochry Church of Scotland, as well as people of all ages across their local community, have been busy producing drawstring laundry bags for local NHS Tayside staff to put their uniforms in. The project co-ordinator, Rachael Wood, got the idea for the bags from Facebook. “Pitlochry Church of Scotland knew that lots of our ladies like to sew and are very talented but are isolated at home with time on their hands,” she said. “We put out a call for help through our church Facebook page and volunteers started to come forward immediately.”

St Cuthbert’s Church in Edinburgh city centre hosts 80 homeless guests every Sunday with a hot three-course ‘grab and go’ meal cooked in the church kitchen with charity outreach partner Steps To Hope.

RockSolid Dundee, a youth charity set up by Douglas and Mid Craigie Church, with the support of other city organisations, is distributing around 200 lunches per day to local families, as well as delivering food parcels to people who cannot leave their homes.

This article appears in the June 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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