From the York South Circuit
© Rachel Wood
On 21 June 2009, ten local congregations of Acomb joined together to share in an open-air service. Over 300
Methodists, Anglicans, Catholics, Baptists, Quakers, together with the Gateway and Ark churches, as well as local residents, put aside worship differences to unite in a time of worship, prayer and fellowship on a scorching hot Summer's day.
Worship was led by Godfrey Birtill, a musician, song writer and worship leader and the preacher was the
Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. Following the service everyone enjoyed a barbeque and activities were arranged for the children.
Steve Redman of the Ark Church, one of the main organisers, said after the event: "The day was met by fantastic local support and public response and this is the first time in history these ten churches have stopped their meetings and all come together - and to such a fantastic result. The crowd loved Archbishop Sentamu - he really is popular and lots of people say they like to see him in person. He got everyone involved and spirits were really high. It was meant to be a one-off event but afterwards I was inundated with people coming up to me saying "Right Steve, let's plan next year", so it definitely looks like this could be an annual event."
E-mail contact : - Revd Rachel Wood rachelyorksouth@aol.com
Phone contact: 01904 784545
From the Bristol and South Gloucestershire Circuit
Staple Hill Methodist Church is a suburban church with a mainly elderly congregation, in an area with a changing population, including a growing number of asylum seekers.
Two years ago Roselyne started attending church with her baby daughter and her mother. Roselyne's mother had already been accepted as a refugee from the Republic of Congo but Roselyne, who had suffered the same persecution, had failed. Since becoming a member of the church she and her baby have twice been detained at Yarlswood Detention Centre - there is still a judicial review pending about her treatment there. But on 21
August, at her appeal against another refusal by the Home Office, the judge ruled that there was an overwhelming case for them to stay in the UK.
Twenty six members of the church attended the hearing and broke into applause at the verdict. 2,800 signatures were presented in a petition and 47 individual letters had been written by members of the congregation. On the following Sunday a service of thanksgiving and reflection was held in which many smiles and tears were to be seen.

Minister of Staple Hill Church, the Revd Richard Barrett, said: "We have learned a lot from this experience - about being a caring church, about a shadowy side of our society where people's rights can be trampled on, about working together to fight injustice in a bureaucratic system that often seems uncaring and hostile, and about what faith in a God of justice can mean to those who are helpless and vulnerable. It was a victory - the system worked in the end, but how many others out there have no-one to support them?"
E-mail contact - Revd Richard Barrett richard.barrett2@homecall.co.uk
Phone contact : 01454 614166
From the Middlesborough and Eston Circuit
The congregation at Grove Hill Methodist Church returned to their beautiful newly refurbished church in March after spending eight months worshipping at a local Anglican church. Upon their return a substantial amount of money had still to be found and so the fundraising continues. Dave Elliott came up with a novel idea and decided to do a sponsored circuit walk which, to his knowledge, had never been done before.
On August 3 a small group of walkers set off from Grove Hill to complete the walk, taking in every Methodist church in the circuit.
A group of friends decided to keep Dave company, including one person in her 70s and one member of the Sunday School who is 12 years old. They were joined by friends from other churches in the circuit and also a member from the local
Roman Catholic church, making it a truly united group of Christians.
The weather for the walk was perfect and the majority of churches opened their doors providing typical Methodist hospitality of food, drinks and fellowship. A distance of 21 miles was walked, covering a variety of terrains and visiting many diverse areas of the circuit. At the end of the walk there was a real sense of achieveme nt and around £100 was raised.
“So what next?” asks Dave. “Well we thought about a walk around the circuit as it would have been in the 1930s, discovering some long since closed churches and remembering their witness and service. One very ambitious plan suggested by a group member towards the end of our walk, is to visit, on foot, one church in every circuit in the Darlington District, but that will be next year….maybe!"
E-mail contact: - Dave Elliott davelliott@talktalk.net
From The Shildon Circuit

'An hilarious evening with Jimmy Cricket' was held at Neville
Parade Methodist Church, Shildon. The evening was billed as being 'an action packed show exploding with comedy, faith and fun.' And so it was. Jimmy spent the first part of the evening sharing his comedy routine, telling stories and jokes and making the church resound with laughter. "There are enough long faces in the world, and I don't plan to become one of them!" he said.
Chris Gidney from Christians in Entertainment then spent time interviewing Jimmy, talking about his faith and finding out how God and laughter fit together in Jimmy's professional and personal life.
© Shorehill Arts
This was a wonderful, 'non-cringe' event to which church members were encouraged by reasonably priced tickets to bring along family, friends and neighbours who wouldn't normally attend church. A wonderful light-hearted evening that had everyone rolling in the aisles with a very special message of God's love at its heart.
Jimmy was booked through Shorehill Arts www.shorehillarts.co.uk who have a number of
Christian performers available to share their faith.
E-mail contact : - Revd Graham Morgan graham.morgan@methodist.org.uk
Phone contact: 01388 772898