Bradford North Circuit

The Christian Way 3 - Stepping Up Service sheet (pdf) Welcome  Hello and welcome to worship from Bradford North Methodist circuit. my name is Peter and Baildon is my home church. Today the subject for worship is "Stepping up" - the 3rd in our series of 7 Explorations of The Christian Way - where we look at the life, teaching and example of Jesus to help us as we address life’s challenges. - so far we have thought about hardship and how the young, unmarried pregnant, Mary coped with unimaginable hardship as the mother of the Son of God. and last week we looked at STEPPING DOWN - that time when it is right that we pass the torch to someone else - is this an admission of defeat - will my successor be as good as me....(bit of the sin of Pride creeping in there!) and we were reminded that Jesus became the SERVANT - not the source of POWER. There is a booklet to help you with your personal thinking and Prayer. Today’s subject - STEPPING UP - how do we gain confidence to tak

Dear Friends As we enter the New Year, we will be aware that the situation we find ourselves in (regarding the coronavirus epidemic) will continue for some time to come. There is some good news with the increasing availability of the vaccines which are now being distributed, and by the time you read this letter some of you may have been the recipient of a dose. In other ways, there is still much uncertainty, and we write this letter on the back of the changed arrangements around Christmas, which we know will have probably affected you just as it has affected us. In the midst of all this difficulty we have celebrated a message of hope, of light that comes into the darkness, and of God’s coming into a world of need. As Christians, we seek to live by the hope and truth that God is with us in Jesus Christ. In our churches and Circuit, we continue to share in the Christian life, building on ways of keeping in touch and witnessing to God’s Word that we have developed through periods of lockd

The Christian Way: Week 2 – Step Down Service Sheet (pdf) Welcome.  Welcome to worship today with the Bradford North Methodist Circuit. In our service, we are continuing with the series begun last Sunday on ‘An Exploration of The Christian Way’, and our theme for today is ‘Step Down’ as we explore what it means to let go of something that we have held on to and sustained for a period of time. Also as part of our service today, I will be inviting you to join in with the words of the Methodist covenant promise. The Covenant Service – a tradition which goes back to the earliest days of the Methodist movement in the eighteenth century - marks an important part of the Methodist calendar, and usually takes place at the start of the New Year in early January, although some churches like to use the start of the Church Year in September instead. The words of the covenant promise act as a reminder of our Christian commitment to continue in Christ’s way through the bad and the good. And so, thes

The Christian Way… Dealing with hardship Service Sheet (pdf) Introduction Welcome to our worship this morning from Bradford North. My name is Mervyn Flecknoe, I am one of the Lay Pastors at Baildon Methodist Church. Welcome, wherever you are, near or distant. We know that we have worshipping friends with us as far away as Kent and Cornwall this morning. This is the first of seven Sunday Worship sessions entitled “The Christian Way”. If you would like a booklet that covers this series and you have not got one yet, please send an email to laypastors@baildonmethodists.org and we will make sure you get one. The subtitle of the series is: “Learning lessons from the life, teaching, and example of Jesus, about how we can meet life’s challenges.” This first service is about dealing with hardship, and we shall be using the story of Mary as a starting point for our thoughts, so our first musical contribution is from the lockdown carols recorded in Baildon Methodist Church: Music The Ange

Just when you thought it was safe to go back... A lower R number, easing restrictions, vaccine(s) rolling out, surely a little light at the end of our long dark tunnel... and then a new rampant c-v strain, and the portcullis slams down once more.  Hopes dashed, plans ruined, livelihoods threatened or axed.  For how long, how long...? But that question “How long?” rings a Bible bell.  Haven’t we heard it in the Psalms, from people going through the wringer in their day?  Yes, I checked, and it’s at least fourteen times (eg, Ps 13), and for good measure once also in Revelation from martyrs awaiting God’s justice (6:10) – all addressed to God in heartfelt longing, just like us. And yet, even asking that question of God (or shouting it at him in protest) indicates some sort of trust: that he is there, and can be approached; that he does know our condition, and our future; and that he can act, however trying his timescale.  And from that realisation flows a sort of peace, because it dawns o

  Service Sheet (pdf) Welcome Hello and welcome to our Sunday worship today.  I’m Deacon Merry Evans one of the ministers working with Methodist churches, people and projects across the North of Bradford.   As the Covid19 restrictions have been eased to allow limited gathering of families and friends during this period I hope you all have been able to find safe ways to mark and celebrate Christmas in a meaningful way, hopefully in the company of some you know and love. There can be few of you who will be having anything like a ‘normal’ Christmas- and for those of you struggling or grieving at this time we offer our prayers and ask you to contact a pastoral visitor or minister if you find you have the need for extra support or a listening ear over the days ahead.  Call to worship  We start our worship for this first Sunday after Christmas by listening to our Sisters and Brothers in Victoria Methodist Church in Bristol singing “We see the eyes of Mary shine” – number 219 in Singing the