A message from the Manse –
Revd. Stephen & Heather Radford.
Hello from the Manse,
It’s amazing how quickly a year goes by, Heather and I moved in to No 12 on 18th August 2009, what a lot has happened since
then, from our Welcome Service with Christine Fallows, led by David King. It
has been a pleasure and a blessing to get to know the members and friends of
the circuit. We have had the opening of Kearsley Mount after refurbishment, the
growth of the 7pm Thursday evening service at St Catherine’s. The safeguarding
training, including Module A. A growth in membership over many churches
including Boothstown, Trinity and
Please pray for the Leadership team at the beginning of this
new and exciting year. It begins with this circuit hosting the District Synod
on Saturday 4th September including a visit by Rev Dr Mark Wakelin.
In October (22nd-24th) the Methodist President Rev Alison
Tomlin will be visiting the District and our circuit, to St Andrew’s School,
Boothstown in the morning of the 22nd and Walkden Church in the evening for a district
meal. The Rev A Tomlin will be leading a ‘quiet day’ at
We will be running the
Worship Leaders Course, (Ian Humphreys and Stephen Radford) starting Saturday 25th September
at 10.30am at Trinity, if you want to try it out please come along!
Conference 2010 at
In regard to discipleship John Wesley wrote:
“By Methodists, I mean a people who profess to pursue
holiness …. Of heart and life, inward and outward conformity in all things to
the revealed will of God; who
Place religion in a uniform resemblance of the great object
of it (God); in a steady imitation of Him they worship … particularly in
justice, mercy and truth, or universal love filling heart and governing the
life.”
Forgive the old fashioned wording but John Wesley clearly
expected the people called Methodists to be fired by a love of God which drove
them to acts of service, inspired by God’s mercy and love revealed in Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer, Saviour and Lord and whose life is to be a template for
our own. Methodists are people of God’s Word, with a ‘divine disquiet’, a
common condition of followers of Jesus, a longing to become better disciples,
faithful in prayer, immersed in God’s living Word. Do you experience a Holy
yearning?
When Methodists met together in 2009 at Swanwick at a
gathering entitled Holiness and Risk to discern what God was saying to them as
Christians in Methodism they penned the following:
· A
desire to be bolder and more courageous about being Methodist disciples in
today’s context. No more apologising for being Methodist.
· A
bolder witness characterised by grace & humility, through reliance &
confidence in the love of God in Christ Jesus.
· A
belief that God is not finished with Methodism, that we are to take Godly risks
for the sake of the Kingdom!
· To
accept the challenge of moving our ‘Churches’ culture from despair to God given
hope, a purposeful action led by God’s Spirit.
· We
are a rich church called to share our faith and the unfolding story of God’s
faithfulness and leading.
· The
commitment to discipleship – being better disciples of Christ … making
disciples of Christ, whose desire is to pray and work for the transformation of
the world led by the Holy Spirit.
This is God’s call to us, Romans 8 v18 states:- We are heirs
of God and co heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order
that we may also share in ‘His Glory!’
If God is for us? If?
Surely God is for us! Let us trust and serve Him throughout
this coming year.
Love from
Rev. Stephen and Heather
