The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, in telling churches to put public worship on hold, called for the Church of England to become a \u201cdifferent sort of church\u201d in the coming months to face the challenge of coronavirus. Justin Welby and John Sentamu said that far from having to \u201cshut up shop\u201d, it must face the challenge by becoming a radically different church, rooted in prayer and serving others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They expressed the desire that church buildings may, where practical, remain open as places of prayer but that is not now possible; St Chad\u2019s is closed for the duration. And they urged congregations to be in the forefront of providing practical care and support for the most poor and the most vulnerable during the crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is certainly happening in Pattingham. A group, Pattingham Friends, has organised volunteers to cover the entire village to help those in need, whether they be the elderly, the lonely, the infirm or in any other way needing help in these very difficult times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group has divided the village into a number of zones and a complete list of contacts<\/a>, with telephone numbers, for each zone is given on the centre pages of this magazine. The volunteers are there to help you: do not hesitate to call one of them covering your zone \u2014 and they will be only too pleased to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n