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.

• 7.30pm at Woosehill Church  A service of Holy Communion to commemorate this most special of nights led by Rev Wes Hampton, preacher Rev'd Cara Smart.

Join us for a silent walk of witness through town, with hymns and readings ‑ Churches Together in Wokingham

• 11:50am  Leave from Salvation Army (Sturges Road)
• 12 noon  Gather in the Market Place for a short act of witness
• Walk to the Baptist Church (Milton Road) for closing reflections and hot cross buns
• Join us for all or part of this special event to mark Good Friday

Future worship and recorded services are on this page.

10.30am Holy Communion - Rev Wes Hampton

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

Easter is at the heart of the Christian story.  The resurrection of Jesus enabled people to understand his teaching and death, and to recognize his continuing presence with them.  It brought the Holy Spirit into their lives, empowering them to proclaim good news in the face of apparent defeat.  Without Easter there would have been no recollection of the ministry of Jesus, and no sharing of his Good News.  With Easter, we have all this and so much more.

Easter is at the heart of our stories.  Christ’s resurrection gives us confidence in his claim to have come “that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10 NRSV)  Such life begins with a group of disciples encountering the risen Christ, who are then transformed from a cowardly huddle into an evangelistic team.  Like the two who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus, Jesus’ followers turned their focus from the sorrow of Jesus’ death to the joy of his new life.  Life experienced “abundantly” is rooted and bears fruit in the present. It also goes further to a relationship with the risen and exalted Christ in his kingdom.

Is such abundant life visible in our lives?  And, since life involves growth, do we see this life that Jesus has inaugurated spreading in this world?  Almost certainly, we shall feel that the answer is “Yes and No”:  there are signs of life if we look hard enough for them, but we sense that there could and should be more.  What needs to be invigorated in our own lives?  Not every change needs to be dramatic – with Easter the regular day of worship moved from Saturday to Sunday, which is hardly earth-shattering – but if our relationship with God seems stale, if our inclination to pray or to worship has declined, if we expect little of life, then we might need to allow the Good News of Easter to stir us up once again.  Easter roused a small group of people: now their message has reached every continent.

Wes

from Rev Wes Hampton

Dear Friends,

Over these last four weeks, we have heard some of the great encounters with Jesus that people have in John’s Gospel.  In their own ways they have each approached the subject of the life that Jesus would offer his followers.  This week, however, we begin Holy Week, where Jesus’ impending suffering and death overshadow the events of these last days.

In John’s Gospel, the six days from Palm Sunday to Good Friday take up just over a third of the entire book, and more than half of this section tells the story of the day we call Maundy Thursday.  As important as all the meetings and teaching are, the writer puts enormous focus on this one week and this one evening.  Clearly, it is not to be passed over quickly.

We cannot do justice to this crucial period if we pass straight from Palm Sunday to Easter Day.  The Passion of Jesus deserves our time and attention, as we read or listen again to these events which help to form our understanding of why Jesus died in the way that he did.  Some of this great story will form our focus when we come together to worship this coming week, especially on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.  Some of it we can read and reflect upon for ourselves, as we look at the Gospel accounts of the Passion.

Although the story may be old and very familiar to us, its significance is ever new and worthy of our contemplation.  Let us all find the opportunities to recall and to journey with Jesus.  Only by entering into this week shall we be ready for the new week, and the new life, to come.

Wes

Some previous Pastoral Letters are available here.