Bradford North Circuit

Asking in faith A thing that has bothered me for many years is why Jesus didn’t explain his parables to the crowds when he spoke, but only later to his disciples (when they asked: Mt 13:36; 15:15; Lk 8:8). Was he leaving the stories to do their own work with most people in some way? Did they have to ponder them to get the full meaning? Or perhaps, as I heard a story teller once say, even if people don’t ponder them, or actually forget them, the stories they hear can be exploded into life at the right moment by the Holy Spirit, the meaning and application suddenly made clear, and all the more powerfully for the wait. But without denying either of those reasons, I wonder if there was another possible thread as well: the disciples were ready for the explanations. They had committed themselves to follow Jesus in faith, and so they were prepared to accept his teaching – and that made all the difference, because obviously not everyone was in that relationship with him. So commitmen...

The Story of Light Advent Candles & Christingle – Bradford Methodist Circuits, North and South. This year during December we'd like to invite you to pray for a little light in our city.  During our services through advent some of our churches are handing out candles (well, battery powered LED tea lights to be more precise), to each person present as a sign of God’s light, for them and their community.     As we give them out to people in our congregations or at our Christmas fairs or Carol services we invite people to pray for the City of Bradford. We are also inviting people to bring their tea light into a special Story of Light Christingle service at 3pm on Christmas Eve in The Wild Woods (the former M&S building on Darley Street). After a 30 minute service we can either make our way down to the mirror pool and stretch out our lights around its perimeter, adding our lights to the lights of the city, or head back to add our lights...