On Sunday we wanted to say a heartfelt thank you on behalf of Dave and all the leaders at NLC for the support and encouragement that has been evident in our church community during and since the lockdowns. For a bit of fun we had an awards ceremony celebrating some of the ‘highlights’ of the pandemic season.

• Joy H for her enthusiastic support of just about everything but particularly for being so quick of the mark to produce the video of her ‘Happy Dance’.

• ‘Beautiful Garden’ award to Sylvia W whose garden truly is a labour of love and a great tribute to her husband Rae who would have been so proud.

• ‘Evangelism ‘ award to Bev & Nick L for the many events they have helped to organise on their street, making friends of neighbours and brightening the dull days of lockdown with music and smiles.

• ‘Pastoral’ award to all the small (and not so small) group leaders for maintaining communication links with everyone, meeting needs as they arose, for loving and caring for those in their groups. Special mention to Jayne J whose group commended her for going above and beyond the call of duty!

• ‘Worship’ award to all those who led us in worship on zoom from their homes so that, although apart physically, we could praise and worship together. For their courage and openness to be led by the Holy Spirit and to bring us into that special place of worship and so delight the heart of God. (Wilf & Gail R, George & Jane B, Chris & Emily H, Richard & Jilly K)

• ‘Techno’ award to George B, Ben B & Adam R for taking on the task of getting us up to speed with the new technologies available and for their patience in dealing with all our technophobes! For their kindness and generosity with their time to make sure everyone had they access they wanted.

• ‘Creative’ award to Gail for coming up with the idea for ‘Zoom at 2’ ensuring there was something to look forward to and join in with every weekday at 2pm. Thanks also to Nick for his guest appearance as chef of the day and Bev L, Irene N, Cath D, Joy H and Jane B for taking their turn as guest speaker.

• ‘For being George & Jane’ award to George and Jane B who have taken on so much amidst all kinds of upheaval in the family - setting up zoom meetings, leading worship, supporting a large care group, sorting Dave out with his technology, with Gussie’s Kitchen delivering emergency food parcels, continuing with outreach into the local community around the Hub at Grangewood including Christmas, Valentines and Easter gifts, carol singing etc

Media chat has been about church being closed during the lockdowns but we have proof that although the buildings may have been closed the church has been open and active. If anything, we believe that relationships have been built and strengthened both between Christians and with God. We have reached people online who might never have come through our doors in person.

We have begun meeting together taking every care to ensure that we keep each other safe. Keep an eye on this website for details of our meetings and venues for Sunday mornings in Chesterfield, Alfreton & Clay Cross.