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.

10.15am Light Breakfast & Café Worship - Local Arrangement

This was our Easter Cross decorated on Easter Day 5 April 2026

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

What does the month of May mean to you?  Is it just a page in the calendar, thirty-one days of springtime, with a couple of bank holidays to get us through to the summer?  Or does it have a character of its own that makes it, in our thinking, somehow different to April or June?

Thomas Hardy, in his poem Afterwards, wrote “… the May month flaps its glad green leaves like wings,/Delicate-filmed as new-spun silk …”.  I cannot say that that is what first comes to my mind at this time of the year, but for Hardy it was important not only that he appreciated the fine details of seasonal changes, but that others recognized his awareness of nature.  This man, who died nearly a century ago, is remembered for his novels and poetry, but he hoped to be known as someone who noticed the seasonal emphasis of nature’s handiwork.

This year, most of May falls in the season of Easter.  We recall the accounts of the risen Christ appearing to his disciples, and of their varied responses.  For the first followers of Jesus, Easter is not a time of automatic and unquestioning faith, but of growing acceptance of the new thing that God had done.  Do we stop to see all this?  There is a danger that we brush past those stories which we have heard so often as easily as we travel oblivious to the “glad green leaves”.

Furthermore, we might well ask, when we do stop to take in the enormity of the Resurrection, and the promise of life that it brings?  Does anyone see that we are touched by all this.  Or, in Hardy’s words, will people say of each of us “He was one who had an eye for such mysteries”?

It is May – a time of verdant growth, and of spiritual life.  Do we notice, and can anyone tell?

Wes

from Malcolm Ray-Smith

Dear friends

Seed time and harvest shall not cease - Genesis 6:22

Every year a task I perform is to sort out my stock of seeds to check which are likely to be fertile and reject any that are past their “use by” date. Then I make a list of items I wish to grow so that I can buy seeds or plants to suit my plans.

Seeds come in a great variety of shapes and sizes but they each have potential to produce plants to feed jus or to provide flowers to please us by their scent and beauty. I still marvel that so much potential is hidden in something that appears lifeless until it is planted in conditions that meet its needs. We have to rely on the skill of nursery men in packing seeds that come true to their description on each packet.

Warmth and moisture are important to encourage the seed to form roots and shoots, but the baby plants may need protection from frosts and food to promote development so that the full potential of each plant is encouraged. Gardening uses skills and perseverance to bring crops to maturity. The patience and dedication that the gardener applies to his plot brings rewards in fresh foods to harvest and the satisfaction that colourful gardens provide and flowers and plants to display indoors.

Judging how many plants of each variety is helpful in avoiding disappointments but can also be affected by the impact of weather or the onset of attacks by insects and other visitors.  It is also a matter of pleasing those who cook our food and wish to avoid waste.

Some trees and shrubs take years to grow to their full potential and some can have very precise needs for shelter and or climate. Selecting specimens that are appropriate to our plot is sometimes essential for success.

The bible reminds us that the marvellous variety of plant life is an important part of God’s plan to meet our needs, because he promises that seed time and harvest will not cease.

Malcolm Ray-Smith

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.