Marlborough churches plan for orange

around requiring vaccination passports.

‘‘That’s not something we’ve made a decision on yet, but we need to consider how we’re going to operate according to our values, and of course absolutely following all the guidelines whichever way we decide,’’ he said.

The official position of the Nelson Anglican diocese was that it would be offering both vaccinated and unvaccinated services, he said.

The local congregation would be following this protocol until it was able to make some decisions around a longterm plan. A service would also be available online.

The Star of the Sea Marlborough Catholic Parish would also be offering services for both groups under the orange light, with normal masses in Blenheim, Seddon, Picton and Kaiko¯ ura for those with a vaccine pass.

Parish pastoral council chairman Greg Stretch said there would also be a Sunday evening service in both Blenheim and Kaiko¯ ura that did not require vaccine passes.

These services would be limited to 50 people each, and those wishing to attend would need to register through the archdiocese website to book their places at those two services.

Wesley Centre Methodist minister Reverend Alofa Asiata said they would be following the ruling of their head office, and as such would be looking at having only vaccinated members through all their buildings and facilities from this weekend.

Oasis Family Church and Elim Christian Centre would both be moving fully online until January, when they would review their positions.

Oasis Family Church senior pastor David Maharey said they would be moving to a production model with a small team and livestreaming services to their website.

‘‘We thought everybody is under the pump, so let’s just give everybody a bit of a break and they can join our online services while we work it out and come back in the new year and work it out from there.’’

Elim Christian Centre senior pastor Tom Hatch said they had likewise felt the need to give their teams a break.

‘‘Churches are incredibly volunteer reliant, so not only at short notice did we need to confirm availability, but we also needed to confirm eligibility with regards to the vaccine,’’ he said.

Moving online gave their congregation certainty that church would continue, and that people could plan their festive season, knowing they could still tune in to church from wherever they were, he said.

‘‘We don’t want anyone to miss out. It also gives an opportunity for people to get used to the traffic light system. People have made choices and now there are consequences for those choices. It’s a difficult season, but I think the whole country is getting good at manoeuvring and adjusting,’’ he said.