The Methodist Church, Chapel Lane, Welford on Avon, CV37 8XP

The earliest evidence of a Methodist community in Welford is from references to Meetings held in The Hollies in the High Street. In 1801 the Trustees of the Wesleyan Methodist Community signed a document to buy a barn on a piece of land in what is now Chapel Street but which is described in the documentation as the ‘road from Welford to Weston’. (If you set out from the Chapel along Duck Lane and keep going, you arrive in Weston!) The barn became the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.

The conversion from barn to a place of worship took place in 1801, and the first services were held in 1802. We have a Certificate of Registration for Worship dated May 4th 1854.

Foundation stones indicate that in 1913 the chapel was altered and the walls strengthened. A certificate for the registration of marriages was granted on April 22nd 1914, but as we do not have our own registers, a registrar from Stratford has to be in attendance. In 1930, consent was given for the addition of a vestry.

Project 2001, celebrating 200 years of Methodist worship in Welford Chapel saw the existing vestry demolished and the chapel extended to include a meeting room, kitchen, new vestry, and facilities for people with disabilities. The old box pews and central pulpit had long since been removed. In 2001 the worship area was completely refurbished, with comfortable chairs and carpet to create a much more flexible space. The balcony, which seats 40, remains and with its old pews is a reminder of the appearance of the chapel in days gone by. Work was completed in 2002.

In addition to our Sunday worship, baptisms, marriages and funerals are still held at the Chapel for those who have a link with Methodism or a wish for a ‘free church’ service to mark the special milestones of life,. Our most recent marriage was in July 2014 and our most recent baptism was in July 2011.

In 1932 several branches of Methodism, including the Wesleyans, joined to form today’s Methodist Church. Now we are part of the Stratford and Evesham circuit in the Birmingham Methodist District.

Preachers at the services of worship include active and retired ministers as well as local preachers. Our regular congregation includes both Methodist members and people from other denominations, or with no previous church background, forming a welcoming community for both friends and strangers.

The Chapel is used for most of the circuit local preachers’ business and study meetings and the Parish Council holds some meetings here. It makes an ideal venue for Quiet Days or coffee mornings.

 Sunday Services

11am Morning Worship except on the fourth Sunday each month.
This is a traditional Methodist service, with Holy Communion once a month, usually on the second Sunday. Services last about an hour.

Minister: Deacon Jane Mills

EMail: itsjanemills@gmail.com

Weddings, Baptisms and Funerals by arrangement. Contact the minister

Small meeting room available for hire for one off events or more regularly.
Details from the stewards

Links:
Birmingham District Website: www.bhammeth.org.uk

The Connexional (National) Website: www.methodist.org.uk

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We pray that the sense of a holy or ‘thin’ place, where the boundary between earth and heaven is especially transparent, on which visitors sometimes remark when they come to our chapel, may be deepened by our worship. May we continue to hallow the walls of the building which started life as a barn, but which has become a place where God’s presence is encountered.

Give me the faith which can remove
and sink the mountain to a plain;
give me the childlike praying love,
which longs to build thy house again;
thy love, let it my heart o’er-power,
and all my simple soul devour.

I would the precious time redeem,
and longer live for this along,
to spend and to be spent for them
who have not yet my Saviour known;
fully on these my mission prove,
and only breathe, to breathe thy love.

My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord,
into thy blessed hands receive;
and let me live to preach thy word,
and let me to thy glory live;
my every sacred moment spend
in publishing the sinner’s Friend.

Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart
with boundless charity divine,
so shall I all my strength exert,
and love them with a zeal like thine,
and lead them to thy open side,
the sheep for whom the Shepherd died.
Charles Wesley 1707 – 88 Public Domain

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