Welcome
Welcome to the Website for Chorley and Leyland Methodist Circuit.
We are proud to be Members of the METHODIST CHURCH in Great Britain. OUR CALLING was re-affirmed in 2018 and is expressed in the following 4 areas:
Worship Learning Service Evangelism
Not only does this website inform you about who we are and what we do, it also provides links to the Lancashire District, Partner Organisations and the wider community.
We are also now on Facebook 
, click the logo to visit.
The Three Priorities of our Circuit
Early in 2017, the Leadership Team of the Circuit discerned the following as God’s Priorities for the work we are called to. They continue to inform the use of our energies and other resources.
Members of the Methodist Church are disciples of Christ and we are almost a thousand strong in the Chorley & Leyland Circuit! Together we are called to many tasks and need to be encouraged and resourced in this work. Our “Growing Leaders” course is just one way that people are being empowered, but other wider initiatives are in the pipeline.
The Circuit, with District help, are funding a 5 year appointment of a Pioneer Ministry Enabler on Buckshaw from 2018. This is an exciting new work with ecumenical partners.
But we hope the creative exploration of such ministry will be catching and all our local churches will be inspired for new initiatives.
Our ongoing Schools worker project expresses our commitment to working with children. This Schools Plus Priority seeks to expand & integrate work in schools with the important children’s work in churches, including Messy Church. We aim to strengthen existing church/school links through school “Champions" & establish new links with community schools.
Warm Hubs
Interest in offering ‘warm spaces’ as a response to the cost-of-living
crisis is increasing. In the past few days, more and more locations have signed
up with the Warm Welcome Campaign.
The campaign was started by the ChurchWorks Commission working with key
partners to support and champion the community response to the cost-of-living
crisis. Already over 3,000 organisations have registered their premises,
generating an easy-to-navigate map of locations. Churches Together in
Lancashire is encouraging all churches who provide any sort of public provision
to register their details at the warmwelcome.uk site – it’s a very simple
process.
The site has a list of resources that might be useful, such as food safety
guidance and working with volunteers. Some denominations (Methodist, URC) are
offering small grants to locations who register. If developing some
provision is new for your church, there was an excellent webinar on Warm Spaces
run by colleagues from the Methodist church earlier this month which can be
viewed Here. Based on experience, this provides a lot of
really good ideas and information that you need to think about when considering
getting involved.
Another long-standing
scheme is called Places of Welcome, a network of local community groups,
especially churches, providing places where all people feel safe to connect,
belong and contribute.
Interest in PoW has also increased recently, and there are now over 500
locations registered. There is no reason why you should not register with
both WarmWelcome AND Places of Welcome. With the latter there is direct
support available from a local Near Neighbours co-ordinator, who can help you
with issues relating to safeguarding,
volunteer recruitment, publicity and fund raising. Churches Together in Lancashire is also asking anyone registered with warmwelcome.uk or with Places of Welcome to host a Lancashire Sings Christmas (LSC) event, with the offer of a simple warm meal (soup/stew/hotpot) and of course hot mince pies and maybe even warm mulled wine!!
This takes place on Thursday 15th December, 7.00 pm, live from the studio of Radio Lancashire.
Please contact the county ecumenical officer, Rev Anton Muller (antonmuller@ctlancashire.org.uk) if interested in being a venue for
LSC, or in relation to the warm welcome schemes.
Mike Hart and Peter Lumsden
Churches Together in Lancashire Working Group on Social Justice
Handel's Messiah
27th November 2022, 2.30 pm (Part 1) and 6.00 pm (Parts 2 and 3)
Everyone welcome.
Grants to Support Community Organisations
During the Cost of Living Crisis (UK)
Grants of up to £2,000 are available to support local charities,
community groups and other not-for-profit organisations across the UK following
increases in their rent, utility bills and food costs as a result of the cost
of living crisis. The funding is being made available through the Asda
Foundation's Cost of Living Grant to help organisations keep their buildings
open, and/or to continue to support those most impacted through the provision
of meals, community cafes, food parcels, delivered meals, and soup kitchens
etc. Funds can be spent from September 2022 to February 2023. Applications can
be made through each local Asda store's Community Champion from the 19th
September 2022. The application window will remain open until the budget cap
has been reached.
Click Here for details on how to apply
Lancashire Sing Christmas
Thursday 15th December from 7.00 pm
After two years of pre-recorded programmes Lancashire Sings Christmas will be taking place again as a live broadcast from the studio in Blackburn, with the combined bands of the
Salvation Army and the People’s Choir.
In view of the cost of living crisis we
want all those churches and groups offering Warm Hubs and Welcome Spaces to
offer themselves as a Lancashire Sings Christmas venue with a simple hot meal
along with the mince pies.
The theme this year: “There IS room at the Inn”! We
will also continue our focus on the socially isolated/home alone.
Click Here for flyer and more details
Message from our Chair of District
1st November 2022
To Members and Friends across Lancashire Methodist District,
May I take this opportunity to say a big ‘thank you’ for all the goodwill
expressed to myself and Maria, Jemma and Jonny as we moved and have settled
into our new house in Ashton. It was so good to see so many from across the
District at our Welcome Service, wonderfully hosted by West Pennine Moors
Circuit, at Wesley Hall in Blackburn.
It was so good to visit five of our Circuits for Welcome Services at the end of
August and early September. Congratulations to the new Blackpool and South
Fylde Circuit on their inaugural service as we welcomed Rev’d Andy Halstead and
Lay Worker Mandy Laird-Hall – I thoroughly enjoyed the two-stage service,
beginning in South Fylde and then journeying by coach into Blackpool (singing
all the way). It was good also to welcome Rev’d Gordon Gresswell as
Superintendent in Chorley and Leyland, Rev’d Tony Graff, to the ministry team
in Burnley and Pendle, Rev’d Matt Smith as our probationer minister in the West
Pennine Moors Circuit and Rev’d Mark Jason to the Superintendency of our Great
Harwood Circuit. Welcome to each of them, and to those family members who have
moved with them. We do look forward to working with each of them, within the
District.
Cont .../
Methodists in Lviv
On Friday, May 6th, the Rev Roger Stubbings recorded an interview with Volodymyr Prokip, United Methodist minister in Lviv, Ukraine. Roger met Volodymyr briefly at the 2018 British Methodist Conference in Nottingham, at which Volodymyr was a World Church Representative.
In this video Volodymyr gives a moving account of how the Methodist congregation in Lviv has responded to the desperate situation of refugees fleeing westward from the war torn areas in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, and of the longer term plans they have to help people in the longer term.
Orthodox Church
For those who may know of Ukranian Orthodox faithful searching for an Orthodox church, there are two churches in Preston - Greek and Romanian - and several in Manchester.
Here are two flyers one in Ukranian and one in English with more details
Godly Play Bus Project
OUR PROJECT NEEDS MORE DRIVER
The Godly Play Bus Project is supported by the
Lancashire District.
Following a very successful week in a school, we would like to make the Godly
Play Bus available to more venues across our District and beyond, sharing the
gospel of God’s love in schools and communities. To do this, we need more
drivers.
Could you offer your time and skills to part of our team?
If you have a clean driving licence (issued before 1999), aged under 75
years and are able to commit to offering a few hours of your time per month, to
drive the bus from Freckleton to the required venue and back, we would love to
hear from you! No passengers are
taken on the bus.
Driving instruction will be provided on the bus!
For more information and details of what the role entails, please contact:
Deacon Kim Gabbatiss - 01772 635858, or kim.gabbatiss@methodist.org.uk
Evangelism and Growth
The Methodist Church is committed to being a growing, evangelistic, inclusive, justice-seeking Church – so that new people become disciples of Jesus Christ, faith deepens for everyone, and diverse communities and churches experience transformation.
“Evangelism” comes from a biblical Greek word that literally means “good news”. All Christians – not just some – are called to listen for, speak of, and live out the good news. We all have good news to share! Watch this video to hear how different people are sharing good news from their own experience of God.
Worship Video from Sunday - 20th November 2022
Weekly Meditation
Meditation may deepen one's experience of the presence of God, enhance self-awareness, and reduce stress and anxiety, valuable during this time of isolation.
Join a half-hour Zoom ‘guided meditation’ session, led by Peter Lumsden (local preacher in the Clitheroe circuit), every Monday evening at 7 p.m.
The sessions follow a pattern of 15 mins of spiritual reflection, combined with a focus on breathing, leading into a period of about 15 mins of silence.
Contact Peter Lumsden: pjlumsden58@gmail.com
Monday 1st November 2022
Worship Sheets Sundays 27th November 2022
These short acts of worship have been produced for you if you are unable to attend church. If you are well enough why not spend a few moments with God, knowing that other people are sharing this act of worship with you?
Click Here for Word copy of worship sheet for 27th November 2022
Click Here for pdf copy of worship sheet for 27th November 2022
Click Here for Large Print pdf of worship sheet for 27th November 2022
DIAL-A-PRAYER
FREE phone lines for prayers and news from the Methodist Church
Listen to a prayer: 0808 281 2514
Listen to news: 0808 281 2478
Content is updated weekly on Thursday afternoon
Click Here to visit Methodist Church Website
General Data Protection Regulations
The Church has always been interested in individuals in a caring, pastoral way and has sought to undertake its mission by having sufficient information available to function effectively and communicate efficiently. From the start of Methodism, John Wesley knew the value of lists!
The church, like all other bodies that hold information on people, is now required to follow regulations about how that such information is held and used. GDPR is being embraced by the church as a way to ensure the very best “good practice” as well as compliance with the law.
Click Here for more information
Natasha's Law
The Food Information (Amendment)
(England) Regulations 2019 (known as “Natasha's Law”) came into
effect from 1 October 2021 in England and Wales.
Natasha’s Law is named in memory of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse who died in July 2016 following an allergic reaction to a prepacked sandwich bought from Pret-A-Manger. This law makes provision to ensure all food businesses provide full ingredient lists and allergen labelling on foods that are pre-packed for sale on their premises. These types of packaged foods were not caught by the pre-existing legislation.
Click Here to read more
Cliff College
Cliff College are delighted to welcome any prospective students to come and explore our various programmes throughout the year. Our undergraduate, postgraduate and research degrees are all validated by The University of Manchester.
For most of the year, visits to the college are run on a personal or small group basis on request. If you are interested in the BA Theology programme, or the new developments in the part time BA Mission and Ministry programme, the part-time MA taught programme, or any of our Research degrees, then do get in touch using the details below to arrange one of these visits. We would love to see you, introduce you to our facilities, meet staff and students, and talk through the right options for you here at Cliff.
We also run more public Taster Days across especially the undergraduate courses. Dates for these days will appear on this page when they are available.
Click Here for more information. Click Here to visit their website.