OPENING DOORS FOR EASTER
For many churches, being able to keep their doors freely open is a challenge in this day and age, but this Easter, a Cleckheaton church has decided to throw caution to the wind and open for a full 24 hours.
St John the Evangelist will open from sunrise on Saturday 4 April until sunrise on Easter Sunday and visitors can choose when to come and for how long.
And alongside this open door, the church has organised a range of community events leading up to Easter Saturday and will set up different prayer stations around the church to try and meet every visitors’ need – from quiet and reflective to communal.
Sue Shaw of St John’s explained: “We would all love to keep our churches open all day, but we know that is not possible but at the same time we don’t want just to open on Sunday and compound the public perception that that is all church is.
“So we decided to take steps to make our church more accessible and let visitors decide for themselves when they would like to come into the church to pray and we thought we’d start with the Easter weekend,” she said.
During the 24 hours that the church is open it will be divided into ten different types of prayer zones. There will be areas to suit each person’s comfort and fit with their preferences and style of prayer from quiet and reflective, to activity based and communal and to suit all ages.
Then as sunrises on Easter Sunday (around 06.30am ) there will be a short informal service of dedication and celebration in the grounds of St. John’s Church followed by a community breakfast.
For further information contact Revd. Brunel James on 07811 195280 or email: bruneljames@icloud.com