Bradford North Circuit

The Christian Way - Hurt Service sheet (pdf) Today is the final Sunday of our series exploring the Christian Way. Learning lessons from the life, teaching and example of Jesus we have thought about hardship, stepping down and stepping up, parenting, fear, and last week, money. Today we look to Jesus as we reflect on the very human experience of hurt –both receiving it and causing it – and on what it means to be Jesus-shaped in response to hurt. There is a certain irony that this falls exactly on February 14th – St Valentine’s Day! As you remember your teenage self perhaps sending and receiving (or not receiving) Valentine cards, let’s note something important. Our need to be loved, and our experience of being loved, has consequences, and being hurt and causing hurt is one of them. Hurt is not optional. When the old Simeon tells the young mother Mary that, ‘a sword will pierce your own soul too’ or as the Message Bible has it, ‘the pain of a sword-thrust through you’, he is both a...

The Christian Way - Disease of affluence Service sheet (pdf) Welcome Good morning and welcome to our Morning worship from the Bradford North Methodist circuit. I’m Ruth Kerr from Baildon and today our theme is: money. Our preacher will be the Rev. Kerry Tankard, our District Chairman. So, welcome to Kerry. Over the last 7 weeks we have been looking at various challenges in our lives as Christians and how the Bible helps us to cope with them. And all the while, we have this huge challenge of the pandemic to face. Here we are again worshipping in our own homes, separated from one another, confronted each day with the fragility and uncertainty of life. Thank God for Jesus in these dark times. He is always there for us to turn to. A few verses from Psalm 61: Hear my cry, o God, listen to my prayer, From the end of the earth, I call to you, when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your ...

The Christian Way Session 5 “Fear” Service sheet (pdf) Welcome Welcome to our service of worship.  We have been following a series from Jesus Shaped People called An Exploration of the Christian Way, and this week we look at Fear – what it is, how Jesus experienced it and reacted to it, and how we might react in a way that is more helpful to us and more in line with what Jesus did and is doing among us.  Before we look at Fear, let’s look at God and remind ourselves of his greatness and his love for us. Song Our opening song is one of faith and trust in God who is bigger than our fears -  StF 351 / SF 1346 / MP 1072 In Christ alone  Prayer: We praise you, Heavenly Father,  • for your greatness and power, which humbles us;  • for your eternal creativity, which inspires us;  • and for your goodness and holiness, which shames us. But Lord, we also give you thanks  • for your mercy and kindness as well as your might and perfection,  • ...

The Christian Way - Parenting Service Sheet (pdf) Ideas about parents We asked our children what they thought parents are; here are some of their responses; ‘a parent is someone who looks after you and keeps a roof over your head’ ‘a parent is a person who looks after you when you are sad’ ‘they keep you happy and safe’ ‘they are people who help me in times of trouble and help me through life and care for me’ ‘parents are people who keep you safe and are kind’ Welcome Welcome to Baildon Methodist Church. Today's service is the latest in ‘The exploring the Christian Way’ theme and is all about parenting. The service today is led by myself, Amanda, Rachel and Naomi. We certainly are not claiming to be parenting experts – we are just everyday people trying to work it out bringing our children up knowing God and sharing the relationship we have with him. As many parents do, I learnt early on that there is no rule book. I wanted to be ‘mother earth’ from day 1 and have the blooming pre...

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...

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, ...