Skip to main content

Deacon Merry Evans

Image
By

Hello. I’m Deacon Merry Evans. I began working in Bradford North Circuit on September 1st this year – let me introduce myself.

I grew up in Ilford, in the London Borough of Redbridge. I attended Church of England and Congregational churches as I grew up but eventually found my home in Methodism when I was 17. At school I was good at science, but greatly enjoyed music and drama too. I trained as a teacher in Nottingham and while there I met and married Karen. We have three grown up sons.

Since I became a Deacon we have lived and worked in Salford, Stockton-on-Tees, Wakefield, Morley, Sheffield, and Leeds. The work in each of these places has been very different. Deacons are trained and appointed to circuits to further the witness of churches in the community. We are sometimes described as ‘bringing the Church into the World, and the World into the Church’. Much of our focus is on engaging with people ‘on the edge of society’ so sometimes my ministry has been outside of church settings (prisons, mental health units, caring charities and city centre work) and other times very much in church settings (particularly where the shortage of Presbyters have left a gap in the staff team) so I preach and may conduct baptisms, weddings and funerals although not preside at communion. Deacons particularly engage in facilitating churches in pursuing their spirituality and in outreach.

While Deacons are Ordained Ministers of the Church, we are also members of the Methodist Diaconal Order (MDO). This is a Religious Order following a Rule of Life, being committed to prayer and to witness. We are the nearest thing Methodism has to having monks and nuns!

I have been appointed to the circuit half time, and will be spending the ‘other half’ of my time working with other churches or circuits in the District.

I greatly enjoy training and leading groups, and am a trained Group Facilitator and Spiritual Director. I look forward to working with you and your churches, especially in helping you get to grips realising the next step of your church’s vision! Please talk to me if you think I might be able to help.

God Bless!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Virtual Worship - 6 June 2021

By
Parables for Bradford - Week 1 Service Sheet (pdf) Opening Prayers: O God of all, lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth. Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace. Let peace fill our hearts, our world, our universe. Amen . Peace to the nations, to east and to west. Peace to our neighbours, to rich and to poor. Peace to all races, all women, all men. The peace of Christ above all peace. The peace of the Prince of peace, to you and to me. Amen. Song STF 262 All glory, laud, and honour. Address: Mark 4. 34 tells us that Jesus did not speak to the crowds unless he used parables. Matthew 7:28  tells us “ Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching. ” In the gospels, there are at least 9 verses like this, where we hear that the Crowds were astounded at Jesus’s teaching. Much of his teaching was in Parables. In the next few weeks, we will be looking at some of his Parables, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thornton Pantomime (Oh, No it wasn’t!)

By
Thornton Methodist Church produced a Pantomime which was given on two nights (Friday 6th & Saturday 7 th December). The Pantomime was ‘Red Riding Hood and the Magic Wood’ which was written by Sharon Pilkington. All the cast were from our Church and both shows were well attended. It was a modern version of the traditional story which had lots of audience participation and finished with a happy ending. Both the cast and the audiences had a very good time and it was great to have so many people from the village attending along with their children. Very good work by all the cast and the backroom staff too. We are already looking forward to next year’s production Geoff B, Thornton
Post a Comment
Read more

A Salutary Tale...

By
A lady went to her minister and said: “I won’t be coming to church anymore.”  The minister said: “May I ask why?”  She said: “I see people on their mobile phones during the service, some are gossiping, some just aren’t living right. They are all just hypocrites.”  The minister said: “OK. But can I ask you to do something for me, before you make your final decision?”  “What’s that?” she asked.  The minister said: “Take a glass of water and walk round the church with it twice, but don’t let any water spill from the glass."  She said: “Yes, I can do that.”  Afterwards, she came back to him and said: “I have done it.”  The minister asked her three questions:  Did you see anyone on their mobile phone? Did you see anybody gossiping? Was anybody living wrong?  She said: “I didn’t see anything, because I was so focussed on this glass, so the water wouldn’t spill.”  The minister told her: “When you come to church, you should be so focussed o...
Post a Comment
Read more