Bradford North Circuit

Dear friends We have been through a lot together over this last 18 months since the pandemic first started, as households, as communities and as the people of the church. At times we have struggled, but we have also recognised the support we can offer one another in times of adversity. When things have been far from normal, we have adapted in new ways to continue the life and mission of the church. In the face of great hurt and great need, we have found the value of faith and hope. Since the summer we have seen signs of hope in the re-opening of buildings and the re-starting of some of our church and community groups. However, recent news of a new variant of the virus has once again raised the level of concern. Clearly, the pandemic is not yet over. Consequently, as I am sure you are already aware, the government has decided that there is a need for greater restrictions to be in place once again - see detailed guidance  dated 8th December. In the light of this, the Methodist Church...

Dear Friends,  The Yorkshire West District of the Methodist Church, of which Bradford North Circuit is a part, has launched an initiative for Pentecost and beyond called REAL LOVE . It is a challenge to all of us to ask how we, as individuals and Churches, can be real love to those around us, in our families, neighbourhoods, communities. In particular, to think about how we can visibly and tangibly express real love to those around us.  The initiative began in the Aire and Calder Circuit, with lots and lots of hearts being knitted and given to people around St Valentine’s Day, as signs of the Church’s and more importantly God’s real love.  At the District Synod last month all kinds of ideas were generated and shared of ways in which we might show real love. Some of those ideas were:  Put a message of thanks on your door for the post people, or give a thank you to other key workers; Organise a community event such as a litter pick;  Pop-up Sunday School, to give ...

Dear Friends Greetings, as we journey through Lent together. Journeys are not things we are familiar with at present. Covid 19 and its consequences have limited me to circular walks, and the odd visit to the supermarket and the Crematorium (not at the same time). Wouldn’t it be lovely to be going to a big city, or the coast, even more to be visiting the wider family – a proper journey, where you packed a bag and planned a route. So, in the absence of travel, I’m thinking about Lent as a journey, with Jesus, to Jerusalem. I’m also conscious that as we entered Lent we were given a kind of roadmap, with steps along the way to the lifting of restrictions. Also, personally, I was called in to receive the vaccine on Shrove Tuesday teatime – so instead of pancakes I had the AstraZeneca jab, without sugar and lemon. With the vaccine comes the sense of setting off on a journey to something new, and that feels quite appropriate for Lent. I do see it as a journey to the new, rather than a return ...

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...

Dear friends, We write in the season of harvest and remembrance, as autumn moves towards winter and the light recedes. We are conscious that for all of us this year has been difficult, and there seems no imminent end in sight to this time of uncertainty. Indeed it seems likely that West Yorkshire will soon join those other regions finding themselves in Tier 3 lockdown, with its increased levels of social distancing and measures to prevent the spread of infection. There are a number of things we want to say. Firstly, it’s okay to feel uneasy, anxious, uncertain about things – we are all feeling something of this. But it’s not okay to bottle it up. One of the things we can offer one another as Christian friends is the space to share how we are feeling. So please feel free to talk, and be ready to listen, whether pastoral visitor, church friend, good neighbour, minister. And be holding in prayer any you know who are struggling. As you pray for them, so someone will be praying for you....

Dear friends, As we draw towards the end of our Methodist church year, I send you greetings (greetings too to our URC and Anglican members at Christchurch, Northcliffe and Wilsden Trinity). I want to highlight a few things coming up as we move into the new year. For the last few years we have had a prayer event on the first Saturday of September. This year this will be incorporated into our Welcome Service for Deacon Merry Evans , who joins our Circuit Team on a half-time basis. This Welcome Service will be on Zoom with a phone in option at 3.00pm on Saturday 5th September .  Our district Chair, Kerry Tankard, is preaching, and Phil Drake will be interviewing Merry by way of introduction.  Also on Zoom (with phone-in option) will be our Circuit Meeting on Tuesday 15th September at 7.30pm . This meeting will be receiving the recommendation from The Circuit Stewards regarding the Rev Phil Drake’s re-invitation (including his taking up Superintendency responsibility in 2021) and ...

Dear friends Welcome to another week’s worth of worship resources. It’s good to know that these are appreciated and used alongside other forms of worship on television and internet. We feel that these resources hold us together as a Circuit at this time, together with all the things individual churches are doing – thank you for every phone call, errand and prayer, as each one means so much. Please be assured that we will carry on sending out these resources for as long as they are needed, and when the time comes for us to worship in churches again, we will continue posting these out to those who do not feel ready to return to our buildings. Please go regularly to the Circuit website if you are able. Here are further resources on the Spirituality page: material for quiet times at home; poems; Phil’s Picture Posts; audio reflections. We keep adding new material and are now adding short stories too so please keep looking. There is also the option of phoning a free Methodist pra...

Dear friends, Thank you to everyone who sent Christine photos of their Easter crosses. There's a lot of talent out there! The crosses are all beautiful, so varied and really creative. They have been put into a slideshow: If you enjoyed being creative for Easter, why not do it again? Rhona North, one of our local preachers, has suggested we do something for Pentecost. How would you depict that? Flames? A dove? Something else? Let your creative juices flow and we’ll see what comes! Looking to Pentecost prompts me to say a word or two about future plans. One or two people have been asking about possible timetables for a return to our buildings and collective worship. The Circuit Leadership Team is currently meeting fortnightly (by Zoom) and giving thought to this. The District Superintendents meet weekly (also by Zoom), which gives us opportunity to hear about life in other circuits during lockdown, and some of the plans being made for the future. The common theme across...

Dear Friends People sometimes wonder which is busier for ministers, Christmas or Easter? Both, of course, have lots of ‘extra’ services, and Advent and Lent groups and meetings in the build-up to the festival. Yet at Christmas it feels more straightforward because it’s all on one theme. Yes there is the waiting, and trying not to push ahead into Christmas too early, but it’s waiting for good news; and if school carol concerts etc come along fairly early in the process, we can cope quite easily with celebrating and then waiting again for that celebration in all its fulness. During Lent and Easter, it’s very different. And during Holy Week there is quite a tension between walking the journey with Jesus and his disciples, and knowing what the end of the story is. We don’t want to rush the journey; we don’t want to be only half-present because we know that everything turns out all right in the end; we want to feel Jesus’ sorrow over Jerusalem; the disciples’ incomprehension; the unbearab...

Dear friends Christ is risen! He is risen indeed – Alleluia! We hope you have been able to celebrate Easter with joy despite the strange circumstances. Thank you to all of you who have been phoning each other and keeping in touch with people, especially those who live alone. These phone calls are much appreciated and help us all feel cared for at this time. Thank you to all of you who have made and displayed Easter crosses in your windows, helping us to witness clearly to our faith in our neighbourhoods. Please email Rev Christine photos of your crosses; a slideshow of these is being prepared. We hope that everyone is receiving orders of service, whether by email or through the post. These have been prepared by Circuit ministers and local preachers, and we are grateful to all those who have helped with these. It has been very moving to join in worship from our various homes, knowing that others are worshipping with us. Many others have enjoyed joining in the services on...

At the Circuit Meeting at Allerton on 6th March I challenged our circuit churches to be honest with themselves about their mission and ministry, and the obstacles and opportunities they face in fulfilling their calling to serve God in today’s world. Two factors led me to do this. Firstly, the fact that a number of our churches are facing difficulties, with various combinations of the following factors making life challenging: ageing congregations and a lack of people able to take on leadership roles; the continuing state of austerity in society, leading to reduction in groups wanting to use our buildings with subsequent loss of income;  changes in demographics, bringing questions of how ministry and mission should be exercised in areas where the majority of residents are Muslims; suites of buildings that are either not fit for purpose or unsustainable financially; a cumulative tiredness in those carrying the burden of leadership.  Secondly, the request from last year...

Dear friends By the time you read this, we will already be a month through this new year. Where does the time go? It really does seem to go by ever more quickly, as each year passes. For children who have returned to school after the Christmas and New Year break, next Christmas will seem an age away. When I started secondary school, I couldn’t imagine getting to the end of school at 18. I worked out that I would be 35 at the turn of the century, but that seemed impossibly far away. So what makes time seem to pass quickly? After all, each week is made up of seven days and each day has 24 hours, whatever our age or stage in life. Responsibilities play a part: there are things we need to do at certain times, and any deadline always makes us aware of time ticking away as we approach it. We accrue responsibilities as we grow older and take on more senior positions at work, or have a family to look after. At church, we ta...

Dear friends, At St Andrew's the other Sunday evening, we spent some time thinking about the letter from Revd Dr Roger Walton, sent on the inauguration of the new Yorkshire West Methodist District for reading in all our churches. The letter explains about the new District (formed by the coming together of 13 circuits from the former Leeds and West Yorkshire districts), and reflects on Acts 2:45-47, a snapshot of life in the early church following Pentecost. As we reflected, we realised we are not so dissimilar from the situation of the early church. Indeed here we were reading together an epistle from a church leader, albeit Roger rather than St Paul, and letting it speak into our common life. The Epistle to Yorkshire West. --> We realised we are a minority group, in a society of many tongues, religions, understandings (and misunderstandings). A society where power is in the hands of the few, with many groups marginalised. The terrible fire a...