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 Morning Worship - Mrs Doreen Murgatroyd

Church Annual General Meeting, following a shortened morning service

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

There is a plastic flower in the church.  The people who were beaten by the Half Marathon last Sunday may not yet know, but the plant is there, at the foot of the cross.  It does not look like it belongs, but that is deliberate.  Every week through Lent we shall add another symbol, each an ordinary object which can represent something that we are called to give up.  Sunday by Sunday our liturgy points to something that limits us, but also to the life-giving alternative which we should take on instead.  “Let go of idols, make room for God” and “Let go of the form, embrace the spirit” are the headlines for the first and second Sundays in Lent, with more of the “Let go of …, embrace …” ideas to come.

At Easter we shall celebrate the triumph of life over death, so it is appropriate that in Lent we recognize what we need to leave behind on our journey to the life that Christ has promised.  To think of Lent as a time of giving things up is to see only half of the picture.  As the daffodils and crocuses have opened up, to reveal the colour within, so we too are in the process of being transformed into something truly vibrant.  By abstaining from those things that obscure God’s work in our lives, we make room for his Spirit to work in and through us.

It will be good to take the time to ask ourselves about the things that we should leave behind, but also about the attitudes which will grow life within us.

Wes

from Rosi MorganBarry

Dear Friends,

Charity, it is said, begins at home with family, friends and neighbours.  Think of our real neighbours, those who live next door, over the road, down the street.  How well do we know them?  Have we any idea what they might need?  In material terms maybe not a lot.  This is Wokingham after all.  But then maybe at times they do need help.  How might we know?  What might we do?  Perhaps just provide a friendly smile, a word, a scrap of conversation in the street, over the fence, down the garden.  And if we keep aware of how they look, what they say, perhaps what they don’t say, then who knows where that might lead?

In Luke 10. 29 – 37, Jesus answers the question: ‘who is my neighbour?’ with a story of a stranger’s kindness.  This leads to thinking of neighbours in a wider sense: neighbours across the town, across the country, across the world.  Here, the opportunities may be wide-ranging, and our neighbourliness will depend on our circumstances and the means we have at our disposal.  Charity may begin at home, but it doesn’t end there: we are called to respond as best we can to the needs of the world.  That’s a tough call, and one we can only answer with prayer.

Rosi MorganBarry

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.