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).

We now aim to open Little Fishes every Thursday throughout the year when Café Mosaic is open - including school holidays, but not Christmas/New Year.

Future worship and recorded services are on this page.

10.30am Holy Communion - Rev Wes Hampton

A Reflection from Kim Tame

Dear Friends

On a recent visit to London, I discovered the Leake Street arches and tunnel. Formerly a road for the Eurostar train services, the tunnel under Waterloo Station became a dynamic art space, featuring legal graffiti.  Street art can be messy, annoying or stunningly beautiful; all types are represented in the tunnel, and perhaps not for long; except for a small number of protected pieces, any part can be painted over. 

On the day of my visit, there were cartoon characters, political statements, flowers, animals, poetry, rude words - and a declaration of faith, which I thought I would share.

Kim Tame

from Rev Wes Hampton

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is held annually from 18 to 25 January, and I am delighted that this year, through Churches Together in Wokingham, there are opportunities for Christians across the town to come together to pray.

This year, churches in Armenia have chosen “One Body, One Spirit” as our theme, taking the words from Ephesians 4:4.  The importance of the unity which this verse speaks of is especially relevant to a people who have suffered dispersal from their homeland and ethnic cleansing.  Today there are many more Armenian people living outside of Armenia than within the country.  Consequently, Armenian people see at first hand other conflicts as well as the troubles of their own country: Armenians can be found in both Russia and Ukraine, and across the Middle East.

It is right for us to hear the challenge of such a people to exhibit the unity for which Jesus prayed.  It is easy for churches to let each other get on with whatever it is that the other is doing, without any sense that we are part of a whole.  Yet we know that this is not what a body should be like.  Our Methodist system of a connexion of churches, circuits, and districts, is intended to emphasise the unity of the body of Christ, as part of which no church is truly ‘independent’.

This year, I do hope that you will take extra time to pray for the unity of Christ’s Church.  If you do so on your own, that is great; if you can do so with others, so much the better.  If you wish to use the themes that others around the world will be using this week, you can find more information on the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland website - https://ctbi.org.uk/resources/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2026/  And if you aren’t sure where it is, do find Armenia on a map!

Wes

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.