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.

10.30am Holy Communion - Rev Wes Hampton

Future worship and recorded services are on this page.

Harvest Lunch after the morning service
Booking sheet available in the Foyer

A Reflection from Rosi MorganBarry

Keeping a diary

How many of us keep a diary regularly – on a day-to-day basis? What goes into our diaries? Do we ever refer to previous diaries to find out what we did and when – and possibly why?

My father kept a diary, which he began on Wednesday, April 30th, 1941 - an odd day to start a diary – why not January 1st? He gave his reason at the end of that year:

“I commenced this diary in April 1941 as I believed that we would experience a German invasion during that year. The situation was completely changed by the entry of Russia (when Germany invaded Russia) … I expected to record this and did not think it possible that I would fill this book before the event took place.”

He continued to keep his diary of the war years and beyond – until the last entry in June 1976:

“I can hardly keep going”.  He died three days later.

What did he record of those years? One entry in the war years was his comment on the Christmas cake his wife had made, which due to the difficulty of finding the right ingredients was “a sad disappointment!” But it is also a record of quiet commitment to work; to helping folk in their small community; their regular attendance at Sunday services; family events. In fact - a record of a life well lived.

Mark’s gospel can also be seen as a diary, with the amazing events of Jesus’ life of healing and teaching are set out in a straightforward way. Like my father’s diary, it does not begin at the beginning, but at an important point in Jesus’ life, and ends with the last words of the oldest version of the gospel, where the women:

“… went out and ran away from the tomb, beside themselves with terror. They said nothing to anybody for they were afraid”.  (Mark 16: 8: verses 9 – 16 were thought to have been added later by another writer.)

What do these things tell us? That both my father’s diary and Mark’s gospel tell of the lives of ordinary people living through amazing times; surviving; working; learning, and perhaps without being too aware of it, passing on their knowledge and experience of life. Both end on a sadly reflective note, but both are truly uplifting. We give thanks for all the things that stories such as these can teach us.

Rosi MB

from Rev Wes Hampton

When we move to a new town or area, there are many things to learn.  Perhaps the most obvious and pressing is the need to find out where places are, and how to get to them.  While it seems obvious to everyone else how to get from the library to the supermarket, or the railway station to the medical centre, the recently arrived may begin by working out how such places relate to their new home, and later be surprised to learn how they relate to one another.

Somehow, we manage all this, thanks in part to on-line street maps which know all about roadworks and one-way systems, and often thanks to the wisdom shared by those who know through their own experience.  When we add in market days and special occasions in the local calendar, we might eventually get to know most of the things that people seem to assume we all know intuitively.

The experience of entering into the unknown, however, strikes more than just those who have moved house.  Have you ever been to church while on holiday, and discovered that everyone in the congregation except you knows what to do?  We look around nervously, checking that we are standing/sitting/kneeling at the same time as everyone else, and continually wonder what happens next.

If congregational worship can seem so foreign to us, how much more difficult must it be for people to understand us when we talk about our relationship with God.  Our starting point is so different to that of many others, that we may struggle to make sense.  Yet we must try, for the greatest gift that we have to share is that encounter with the living God which inspires and enlivens us.  Some people have told me what a wonderful place Wokingham is, and I shall get to know it better.  How much more eagerly, therefore, should we be to tell others what a wonderful thing it is to know the love of God.

Wes Hampton

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.