Welcome to the Wirral Methodist Circuit
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Little Neston members have taken three exciting assemblies into Neston and Woodfall Primary Schools. Each assembly focussed on one of the parables of Jesus. The first one, “The Kind Stranger” told the story of the Good Samaritan. The children particularly enjoyed joining in as the band of robbers and were very enthusiastic about beating up the traveller on the road to Jericho. The bruises went down eventually!
Our second story was “The Two Houses” with the wise man building his house upon the rock. We made the foolish man’s house out of cardboard boxes which we piled as high as possible. They made an amazing crash when they came tumbling down.
Our most recent assembly was on “The Unforgiving Servant” and focussed on Jesus’s story of the servant who was forgiven a huge debt but then sought to extract a small amount from a fellow servant.
We conclude each story with a song and a short meditation and prayer to reinforce the message.
It has been a great pleasure to welcome Celia Kirshen from St Winefride’s to the team. – Mark Thomas
In January this year, Steve Cooper – our Circuit Manager – travelled with a small group from the Liverpool District and beyond to Ghana for 12 days to view a number of churches and mission projects. Here are just a few reflections.
Methodist Rafiki Satellite Village – based around an orphanage of four “houses” of 10 children each, and a school serving the local township. The mother of these triplets had died shortly after giving birth; according to tribal belief they were a bad omen and must be killed to salve the death of the mother. The Methodist Church was able to save their lives and they are now thriving and joyous in their school surroundings.
All too brief a time at Cape Coast Fort, where we were reminded of our connections to the slave trade, 7 million Africans exported through Ghana and its neighbours over the 200 years or so of slavery. But we were reminded too, later in the visit of modern slavery, particularly girls from the northern town traded to become the “pot sellers” – selling wares from pots on their heads in the rush of Ghanaian traffic (at least that was their respectable day job).
Nzulezo, a World Heritage site, a stilted village only accessible by boat on the shores of a lake. It was founded 600 years ago by refugees from the Sahara as a temporary safe space, but the residents still felt the need not to put down roots too deeply for they would be “called” to move on at some point. The Methodist Church had collapsed into the water so they were worshipping in the community hall – perhaps a lesson for us?
We worshipped on the Sunday in churches in Kumasi (the crossroads of Ghana where all major routes from the north (including Burkino Faso and Mali) to the southern ports converge on one huge roundabout –the highways engineers would have an impossible job maintaining the road surface, it looked like they had given up trying! As we were travelling further north that day we went to the early services (typically 7:30am until 9:00am) and where I went there were around 250-300 at that service, which would immediately be followed by Bible Study until the main service around 10:00am (until 1:00pm) where they would expect some 500-600. This was the smaller of the main Methodist churches in Kumasi. And then on to Tamale – 200 miles into sub-Saharan Africa, about 8 hours on a good day!
In Tamale we were hosted by the Diocesan Bishop, Nathan Samwini. Nathan’s son is currently studying at Liverpool John Moores and attends Kensington Methodist Church. Nathan is a wise and wonderful man of God, holding the Methodist Church Ghana to account in its connexionalism – they have the same north/south divide as we do (only more intensely – being stationed for ministry in the north is sometimes openly described as a punishment!).
We encountered reminders of slavery again in Salaga, first at the “last baths” where those captured by their own tribal leaders were able to be washed down, fed and watered to attract a better price in the local slave market.
But we also saw evidence of redemption. In Salaga we assisted in a ground breaking ceremony for a new manse. I even got to wield the pick axe (if somewhat ceremonially – it was about 45 degrees C!), breaking the ground three times; in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was reminiscent of a baptism – giving new purpose to the stained earth,. The challenge was for the church to build the manse (the bags of cement to make the concrete blocks would now be ordered) in good time for the Probationer Minister who is to arrive in Salaga next January. I have no doubt they will succeed.
Wherever we went, we were struck by the welcome we received – the people are so loving and gracious, providing for us in ways that have certainly gone out of fashion, and we were struck that in worship, at times for the offering to be taken up, the people danced to the offering box, genuinely delighted at the privilege of giving to the work of God. Their worship was quite formal, but certainly vibrant and enthusiastic – they hung on the readings of scripture and on the sermon.
Are there lessons we can learn from a church that has been growing at as fast a rate that we have been declining? In truth I’m not sure, their culture is so different from ours and in some ways their worship is structured in a way we gave up some decades ago. But the wonderful Ghanaian folk wear their faith and allegiance to the Methodist Church quite literally on their sleeves.
The Ghanaian Methodists I encountered are engaged in their worship in a way that in truth I rarely see in our churches, they joyously recognise how blessed they are, and genuinely seem to enjoy the privilege of sharing what they have – both financially and materially – in furtherance of God’s kingdom. Perhaps these are lessons enough. – Steve Cooper
Rev Sheila Prest shares about Local Lay Leaders in the Wirral
We are living in challenging times, are we not? Not just in our churches, but in our world. Yet the example of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume was the epitome of extravagance beyond our imagining. She was compelled to offer all she had in that one loving act in response to God’s love towards her. Extravagance and risk-taking and generosity beyond measure is a calling by God.
Our Methodist tradition includes a belief in “the priesthood of all believers”. In other words, our church families are encouraged to enable those lay people within our midst to release those skills and abilities which we inherently have, ofttimes remaining dormant, for use in the furtherance of the kingdom of God. Could you become a missional partner in God’s plan for the Wirral?
Let me explain. It is a fact that the number of presbyters available for service is declining year on year. Wirral is no different from other circuits throughout the connexion in that trained ministers are a not as prevalent as in past decades. How can we best answer the call to serve our communities, continue to be missional, adhere to our Methodist roots and maintain a Christian presence here on Wirral?
Well, here is our opportunity to take a risk and be extravagantly generous. Our churches are all unique and made up of individuals with different skills and calling. I ask the question: Do you feel called to serve in some capacity in your church or area?
Having been encouraged by the response to the Away Day last September regarding local lay leaders and the response to the demands coming from churches for more leadership, the Circuit Leadership Team have made the decision to explore this area of ministry on your behalf and report back with their findings. At the circuit meeting in June, there will be an opportunity to begin to look in more depth as to the direction that this may lead us, as we contemplate our future together as one.
A steering group has been formed to go into detail as to how we might achieve our aims, which are to further our mission working with our church councils and under their authority in order to fulfil our calling.
On your membership ticket is the term “OUR CALLING”. It mentions the areas which underpin what we as Methodists are all about. They are fourfold and read as follows: “Learning and Caring”, “Worship”, “Evangelism” and “Service”. These are all fundamental to our beliefs and enable us to release our talents and inherent God-given gifts for use in God’s service.
The plan is to begin a process in September 2019. It is a process and, all the time, folk who come forward to offer themselves will be supported during their exploration of their calling. This will be a time of discernment on their part, followed by a period of matching their gifts to the wishes and desires of church councils.
It is of utmost importance that this process is carefully and sensitively managed, so we are determined to set this up over a period of time in order to get things right. Appropriate training will be offered throughout and people will be nurtured and guided through the process. We will be involving outside agencies from the Connexion as well as internal training where appropriate.
It could be that by Sept 2020 the Wirral could look like a different place. Planting these seeds in a fertile soil may give us all the opportunity to see new buds forming and new shoots appearing in the future in order to enable the churches on Wirral to flourish and grow in new ways and secure a Christian presence in our neighbourhoods.
Finally, please spread the word, pray, encourage everyone to search their hearts and ask the questions:
“Are you willing to take a risk”,
“Are you willing to follow the call and release those gifts which are individual to you and are God given?”
“Can you offer with extravagant generosity?”
Brass Band concertOn the weekend after Easter, 26th – 28th April, we hosted members of the National Methodist Youth Brass Band. Arriving on Friday evening, they held rehearsals on Saturday morning and afternoon, and on Saturday evening at 7.30 pm they gave a concert in the church. They also assisted at the Morning Service on the Sunday, before we bid them farewell after lunch. We greatly enjoyed their visit.
During the last week of term for Wirral schools, the week beginning 25th March, we welcomed about 300 children from local primary schools to St Andrew’s to “Experience Easter”. Six areas of the church were set up to represent Palm Sunday, Jesus washing His disciples’ feet, the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Cross, and the Tomb and Resurrection. The children in groups of 5 or 6 visit each area to hear from a storyteller and experience the story in active and practical ways. We have been doing this for some years now and it is always much appreciated by the staff of the schools and thoroughly enjoyed by the children and the story tellers. – Sheila Fidler
Cross Factor presentations took place last month in Claremount, Little Sutton, Greasby, Bromborough, Moreton and Trinity with Palm Grove. Many Year 5 students attended these events, at which the story of Easter was powerfully presented.
Why is it that old geezers love dressing up?
Grossus Stomachus (Peter Roche from Moreton) and Maximus Posterior ( Pete Wildman from Little Sutton)
