Welcome to Wokingham Methodist Church

We are now part of the Blackwater Valley Methodist Circuit, formed by the merger of our previous circuit, the Berkshire Surrey Borders Circuit, with the circuit to the south of us, the Hants-Surrey Border Circuit, effective from 1 September 2025.

Our previous minister, Revd Catherine Bowstead, has retired.  We welcome her replacement Rev Wes Hampton, from 1 September 2025.

Starting on Sunday 21^st September, evening service (with Holy Communion) will resume on the third Sunday of each month at the new time of 6.15 pm (new time chosen so you can park in the Rose Street car park without having to pay both an afternoon fee and an evening fee).

Future worship and recorded services are on this page.

10.30am Morning Worship - Mr David Betts

from John Williams

Dear Friends,

“Don’t worry!”  How often do we hear that said, or even say it to ourselves?  It’s so easy to say, but it’s not always very helpful, especially if someone is genuinely worried.  Someone once humorously commented that the things we worry about seldom actually happen – so don’t worry about them.

It has been said: If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry: just spend your energy doing what you can.  If it’s not fixable, then there is no point in worrying: it will achieve nothing.

Jesus tells us not to worry and puts God at the centre.  In the Sermon on the Mount he says “Do not start worrying ‘Where will my food come from? Or my drink? Or my clothes? ……. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things.” (Matt 6:31 - 32)  And surely our Father knows about everything else that we need.

St Paul also puts God at the centre and as a bonus gives us something practical to do.  “Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart. And God’s peace, which is far beyond human understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in union with Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7)  Why the thankful heart?  When we thank God we remember his past faithfulness and are reassured that he will provide in the future.  After all, He does not change.

William Barclay sums up these verses with the words: “The way to peace is to take ourselves and all whom we hold dear, to take all life, and to place them and ourselves and it trustingly in prayer in the hands of God”.

John Williams

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

This weekend sees the annual Heritage Open Days, described by the organizers as “England’s largest festival of history and culture!”  All sorts of places welcome visitors to buildings or behind-the-scenes areas that are not usually open to the public, encouraging us to engage with part of our past.

The word “heritage” is not the same as “history”.  As we note the relationship between “heritage” and “inheritance”, we see that we are thinking about what is passed on from one generation to the next.  Our heritage is not a mere curiosity, to be wondered at but which has no relationship to our present.  Rather, it is what has made our setting what it now is.

For us, even the idea of “heritage” is not enough to understand the meaning of our history.  The Christian faith has certain historical moments as part of its story: Jesus’ life belongs in the annals of history, and moments within that life are of particular significance.  When we share bread and wine together, we do so because of what Jesus did and instructed on a certain evening in a certain place.  We have inherited a tradition – a word which refers to something that has been handed on – but it is more than a remembering of the past.  As our Jewish friends have done in their Passover celebration for centuries, we bring the past into the present, and understand that God is doing something now because of our commitment to share in what he has done before.

Amid all the everyday things that we have to do, we need to acknowledge that we live as we do both because of our inheritance, and because of our commitment to a God who was before time began, and shall be after it has come to its conclusion.  We look both backwards and forwards, because God’s work in our past is for our future also.  May the God who was, and is, and is to come, help us to see from his perspective.

Wes

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.