Exciting Churches: Wollaston Methodist

A few weeks go I wrote 42: Exciting Churches: Raunds Methodist. One reaction was from David Matthias in The Road to "Elder" ado: Exciting Churches in which he wrote

Dave Warnock is excited about his Church, which is great to see.

Of course Raunds is only one of the Churches for which I have pastoral charge (Methodist speak for being the minister). So, being a pedantic person - when it suits me :-) - I wanted to point out that a) no Church is "my" Church in a possesive way and b) "my" other 4 Churches (Irthlingborough, Old Weston, Thrapston and Wollaston) are also exciting. So I guess I get five times more excitement than David does.

In fact I could even argue that as Methodist Ministers are appointed to Circuits (in my case the Nene Valley Circuit) not specific Churches that I get either 12 or 15 times more excitement (the difference depends on whether you count Churches or distinct congregations).

Anyway, enough randon rambling.

Today I want to share some of the excitement of a small village chapel. Now I know that many people do not think that a small village chapel can be exciting. So let me tell you about Wollaston Chapel.

Wollaston is a village just south of Wellingborough, there are four Church traditions in the village (Baptist, CoE & Salvation Army as well as the Methodist). They all work closely together and have different strengths.

When I say that Wollaston Methodist Chapel is pretty traditional in Worship style and in the rest of it's life many will dismiss it as boring, irrelevant or dying. In fact it is none of things. Instead it has chosen to be unfashionable in order to serve people in the village that might otherwise be missed.

So Wollaston Methodist Church has deliberately chosen to serve the elderly of the village. It has done a lot of preparation for this over the years. For example in making the premises attractive, safe and easy to access for the elderly (and in the process made them very effective for others too such as the uniformed organisations who use them regularly). But this is not a Church that understands mission as providing a building. Instead they are incredibly active in all aspects of the Methodist calling : Worship, Evangelism, Learning & Caring, and Service.

Beyond the Sunday worship there is a large Wesley Guild meeting every Monday evening (well over 40 when I was there last). On Tuesdays there is a Bible Study group and on Thursdays the Church is open for quiet prayer followed by either a lunch or a Womens Fellowship (alternate weeks).

Then there is the long list of events, most of which are carefully tailored to the target age range.

For example tonight there was a tea at 4pm followed by a concert. There were over 90 guests at the tea plus the "staff". The numbers were made manageable by setting a minimum age of 70 (there is a repeat on Monday night for anyone younger).  So far as I could see it would have been pretty much impossible to fit any more in the hall. The team were clearly well practiced at serving and clearing away with no fuss and great speed.

One tea was over most guests went downstairs to the chapel to sing their favourite hymns while the team cleared away all the tables, set out the chairs, built the stage (it needed to be folded away to fit so many in for tea) and then got into their costumes - all done amazingly quickly, downstairs we were still in full swing with favourite hymns when all was ready. (Note that depite having an upstairs and downstairs we also have level access to front and rear depending on whether you enter from the High Street or College Street).

The concert itself was ideally suited to the audience, there were loads of songs they knew. Plus a comedy duo (certain Church Stewards were seen in a very new light) and a set of songs from Oliver performed by children (children playing the childrens roles is what I mean). Afterwards the Church organised lifts home for anyone who wanted one.

Over the next few weeks it seems that barely a week goes by without a special event for the community organised by Wollaston Methodist Church, in them all they make sure that the good news is proclaimed and lived out.

Beyond all this the Chapel is also very active in world mission with collections for many places, plus a team goes to Croatia every year (late Nov/early Dec). They also make sure to invite speakers and preachers from a wide range of mission agencies to learn and offer prayer and practical support.

So in the morning when I am leading traditional worship and preaching at Wollaston I will do so as someone who is excited to be part of this Christian community living the gospel in the village of Wollaston.

Comments

[Olive Morgan]

Thanks, Dave. What a lesson for the church here, which is a much larger suburban church, where a few of its leaders keep saying that 'this church will be dead in 10 years' (because the majority of its congregation are elderly like me). But that's where they stop!

I shall quote Wollaston this afternoon when we are having an afternoon session, with a former Vice-President of Conference, to discuss 'After the Centenary, what about the next 100 years?'

[Dave]

Thanks Olive.

Say hi to Richard for me. We were at Manchester University at the same time and met through the Methsoc.

Sure there are challenges about sustainability when a Church chooses to serve older members of the community. But isn't the need to focus on mission rather than on survival?

[Richard Hall]

Thanks for sharing that, Dave. I'm pleased to hear that Wollaston are doing well. I preached there once, I think it was a harvest festival, c.1988. I'm pretty sure I was still "on trial", so of course my being there would have been against the rules. Glad it hasn't done them any harm!

Of course, Wollaston is home to Scott Bader, that shining example of industrial common ownership. Have you ever visited there?

[Dave]

Richard,

I have seen the scars from your harvest festival, it is still a
frequently mentioned hurt from the past. However, they are strong
people and have survived reasonably well, although the councelling
bill was pretty ruinous.

I have cycled and driven past Scott Bader many times but did not know
about their ownership. Will try to find out more as that sounds
exciting.

At5 this mornings service one of the very long standing members,
Stella, produced a copy of the "Pictorial History of Wollaston" with
several pictures of the chapel plus a photo from 1926 of the 1st Tea
and Concert for the over 70's - still going strong today :-)

This morning reminded me of an issue with busy small chapels - the
notices take a long time to read and I worry that people may have used
all availabe capacity to memorise them rather than my sermon!

[Olive Morgan]

It wasn't Richard Vautrey whom we had yesterday, but former Vice-President, John Bell, who gave us a very stimulating and challenging day.

[Richard Hall]

You didn't know about Scott Bader's ownership?!

I feel deeply ashamed for not mentioning it sooner!

[Dave]

Richard,

The list of things that I don't know is so long that it would not be
possible to even start to list them.

[Methodist Preacher]

Dave,

I am interested to know whether this is simply a matter of the congregation growing old together or whether they actively seek out and recruit people who are entering their 50s or 60s.

If so, how do they go about it?

A few years ago I went to a university reunion weekend and was asked to lead worship in the chapel. I was astonished at the large number who turned out and I know weren't in the CU or SCM thirty years before.

So much evangelistic training and programmes are aimed at the teens and twenties, how do we get the gospel over to the baby boomer generation. I really don't know even though I'm from that generation.

Just one other point: obviously lots of activity, much of it social and some amatuer entertainment. Could you elaborate a bit more on the spiritual temperature.

[Dave]

MP,

Sorry for the slow reply. Had a few days away and then catch up time.

I suppose part of the answer is that Wollaston have been doing this event annually since 1926, so nobody who does it now was doing it when it first started.

It was clear that some people had changed roles since last year due to age and that younger people had taken over.

There were also quite a few children taking part which is also something that has been part of the tradition.

As for reaching people I don't yet know enough to be sure but I suspect part of it is excellence in community stuff. Not maybe very sexy but very significant in a tight village community (I mean funerals, weddings, baptisms etc).

As for the spiritual temp it may not be charismatic but there is a lot of depth in the programme see Wesley Guild, Bible Studies, prayer time etc