In New South Wales, Australia churches are permitted to gather for meetings of 50 from Monday, but are not permitted to have communal singing.  Rob Smith, Curtis Smith & Dr Charlotte Hespe discuss. 

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant says, "Communal singing and chanting should not occur because of the high risk of transmission of the virus. Instead, measures such as one singer standing at least three metres away from others would be safer.” 

In a special edition of The Pastor’s Heart we talk about the future of singing in church with Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Council Member, and Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame, Doctor Charlotte Hespe, Songwriter and author of ‘Come, Let us Sing’  Rob Smith and Music Director of Church by the Bridge and St. Augustine's Anglican Church, Neutral Bay, Curtis Smith.

Some of our questions we consider are: 

• Why singing matters for personal health / why singing together matters for church health.

• What does the science say about singing and the risks of droplet spread?

• What if it’s not safe to sing together? – greater good ethical dilemmas

• What if we’re prohibited from singing together? – thinking through our response

• Is singing with masks on an option?

• Reconceiving church in the short to medium term

• Singing privately / singing in families

• How do we navigate a way forward as churches?

NSW Government health department checklist:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/industry-guidelines/places-of-worship

Neil Foster’s helpful blogpost.
https://lawandreligionaustralia.blog/2020/05/30/worship-in-coronavirus-time-the-latest-nsw-rules/

Here's the NSW government's official media release:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/changes-for-worship-weddings-and-funerals

Here are the NSW health department rules.
https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/_emergency/Public%20Health%20(COVID-19%20Restrictions%20on%20Gathering%20and%20Movement)%20Order%20(No%203)%202020.pdf

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