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 - Mrs Kim Tame

Company and Fun  2pm-4pm  more details here

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

“Light rain and a moderate breeze” says the weather forecast.  Doesn’t that sound wonderful?  We have had weeks of heatwaves, we have hosepipe bans in place, and a large part of the country is officially in drought.  Yet we do not need the official designations to tell us that the weather has been hot and dry: we have felt it all too keenly for ourselves.  We have approached the point where mad dogs and Englishmen might be said to go out in the ‘late morning to mid-afternoon sun’, or something like that.

For some, “light rain and a moderate breeze” is nothing like enough.  For those who manage our water supplies, this will not replenish the reservoirs.  For our farmers, this sounds like too little, and far, far too late.  For most of us, however, we do not want so much rain that we need to build arks, nor wind strong enough to make a dry channel appear in the sea.  We prefer to be comfortable, and generally that means moderation.  We even quote the saying “moderation in all things” as if it were a self-evident truth, though whether it is appropriate to have moderation in moderation is another question (I shall leave that for you.)

The demands of our faith, however, are often given in very immoderate ways: Jesus called his followers to take up their cross, he told a rich young ruler to give away all his wealth and follow Jesus, and commended the actions of a widow who donated every penny she had to the Temple treasury.  In Revelation, we even read of a church that the Son of Man will spit out because it is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.  Immoderate language for moderate behaviour!

Neither extremism nor moderation is a sufficient way to view our discipleship.  We cannot all give up everything, nor should we all be content with a life that knows no challenge and challenges no-one.  Somehow, we need to work out what ‘balance’ in these things means.  We cannot, however, do all that now: “light rain and moderate breeze” sounds good.

Wes

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

“A voice says ‘Cry out!’

And I said ‘What shall I cry?’”  (Isaiah 40:6 NRSV)

I have received a helpful reminder that it is my turn to write the pastoral letter.  It feels a bit like the challenge to the prophet, and the response fits well.  Staring at a computer screen does not bring instant inspiration: what shall I cry?

Of course, if we ask someone else what we should say, we might not like the answer.  The prophet is told to say that people are like grass and flowers, in that their lives are short and easily forgotten.  That might not be a particularly encouraging message for us, but the word given to the prophet is insistent: “surely the people are grass.” (verse 7)

Thanks to our recent heatwaves, we can see clearly the fragility of the life of grass.  Our yellow lawns and parks show that the natural world is interrelated, and the statistical concentration of the hottest years in the most recent time suggest that human activity is taking its toll on creation.  The wildfires in this country and other parts of Europe have brought vast tracts of grass to an even quicker end, and have caused devastation to people and animals alike.  “The grass withers, the flower fades …” (verse 8) in a good year, but this is not a good year.

The prophet’s message, however, was one of hope in the midst of the brevity of human life: it promised that God’s word would last forever, and that God himself would come to shepherd his people.  The limitations of our lives provide a contrast to the limitless grace of God.  That abundant grace is what we should cry out about.  It is easy to complain about what is wrong, but we, like the prophet, are called to proclaim good news.

Wes

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.