Elim at the forefront of response to pandemic

When Covid-19 struck, churches were plunged into an uncharted sea of new legislation. But a background in emergency planning for the NHS meant Elim’s Executive Director Olivia Amartey was ideally placed to guide them through it. She spoke to Chris Rolfe

- Olivia Amartey

“In the NHS you plan for all sorts of contingencies, from the President of the United States visiting and what would happen if he got shot to terrorism and major accident pile-ups,” says Olivia Amartey.

Before becoming Elim’s Executive Director, Olivia was a senior manager in the NHS. Faced with the challenge of ensuring that Elim churches comply with new laws around Covid-19, she attributes success achieved to her experience of emergency planning there.

“The past year has been a rollercoaster, but all that training just kicked into play,” she says. Olivia and Elim’s International Office team leapt into action and formed an emergency response group as the severity of the pandemic became evident.

“We realised we would have to amend the way we do things pretty sharply. The team were absolutely amazing,” she says.

Initially, Olivia says other churches’ responses were instrumental in inspiring Elim’s.

“We recognised that the Methodists and the Church of England were onto it and we thought we could do something just as good, if not better for our ministers. We have been on it 24/7. As soon as news came out, we produced guidance.”

But it’s one thing to publish advice. It’s quite another to persuade 550 churches to follow it.

“The hardest thing was getting everyone to do a risk assessment. Some people just felt it was nonsense.”

The team pressed on, keeping guidance updated and running seminars showing how to do risk assessments.

Olivia was pleased that non-Elim churches were able to benefit from this too.