James Eaton-Challinor: January 2021
The online Circuit service this coming Sunday (17th January) at 10.45am will be a Covenant Service and the liturgy we'll be using is in the document that accompanies this article. The service will be on Zoom but it will also be live streamed to the Shrewsbury Methodists Facebook Page (search @ShrewsMethodist or access from the Bayston Hill or Belle Vue church pages on this website). If you would like the Zoom Codes please email revjamesec@outlook.com.
The service will also include a Love Feast and you'll need a drink and something to eat which could be as simple as some juice and a piece of cake.
The Covenant Service goes back to John Wesley's time. He wanted a form of worship which would help people open themselves to God more fully. In 1755 Wesley created such a service, using material from the writings of the seventeenth-century puritans divines, Joseph and Richard Alleine. Over succeeding generations the Methodist Church has made changes to the service so that it continues to be relevant to congregations using it.
The aim of the service is to help people hear God's offer and God's challenge; to provide space for God to prompt and for people to respond. Yet, more than this, for the Covenant Service is not just a one-to-one transaction between individuals and God, it is an act of the whole faith community.
Both the Covenant Prayer and Service are regarded as jewels of Methodism and one of the most distinctive contributions of Methodism to the liturgy of the Church in general. Other churches are now discovering it and making use of it in their worshipping life.
You may also be interested in

Despite having no services since March 2020, and a number of members being in isolation from Covid-19, it is good to report that our year has ended on a high note.Firstly, many thanks to everyone who supported our annual Shoe Box Appeal. Thanks to your support and our friends in Methodist Churches across North Shropshire and Marches as far away as Chirk, we were able to send a total of 350...

When Christmas Isn't So MerryChristmas, even in non Covid times, can be a stressful and sad time for many- bereavements, sad memories of Christmases past, financial concerns or family tensions are a sad reality for some. For many this will be a first Christmas without a loved one and for many more of us it will be a time when the normal Christmas traditions that we are used to will be...

Tiny Church is church in a vehicle, which means we can go beyond our church walls to where people gather, this could be parks, supermarkets and all places outside. This is a project that has been started in the northern end of the circuit. We have been helped by the Methodist funding 'New Places & New People'. The idea is inspired by the 'Tiny House' movement, where people have a...
Calendar
News stories




Publications



