Features Methodism, How? Why? When? and Where? It's often said that you don't have to know or understand how the banking system works, in order to belong and have an account. In many ways, belonging to a church is very similar! ALL are welcome to attend services and take Holy Communion However, in time, regular attendees start wondering why Methodists do this, or don't allow that, and will wonder why other denominations have different ideas. There is nothing wrong in having these queries, in fact queries like these mean that we are beginning to think about worship and are hungry for answers. Why do we need Rules? Much of nature works to rules and structure. We are part of Nature and have to conform or else! For example, if we put our hand in the colourful fire, we get burnt, whether we like it or not! Without rules and structure there would be chaos. One of the basic rules is that Nature 'learns' from itself, and changes all the time. Nothing stays still for long and changes occur from time to time. Another word that is often used instead of 'change' is 'evolve', meaning progressive change. How did Methodism come shout? Methodism evolved. It evolved out of the Anglican Church. John Wesley was an Anglican Minister to his dying day, as was his brother Charles. In the early 18th Century, the Industrial Revolution was at its height, with thousands of people moving from small communities in the open countryside, into towns and slum dwellings in areas they did not know. There was a crying need from the population for a purpose in life, which John Wesley felt that the Established Church was not providing. His new type of open air preaching was frowned upon by the authorities, and eventually he was banned from preaching in the pulpits of the Church. So he took to the open road with his horse, and preached in the open air all over Great Britain. As John Wesley moved on from place to place, he left behind men to lead the local new converts by forming small classes to meet weekly for bible study in people's homes (and pay a weekly small sub!), but he still expected them to attend the local Parish Church for worship. After a while, he felt that there was a need to meet with the local leaders annually, to connect them together for discussion, consultation and guidance. Hence the origin of the Methodist term 'The Connection', which today, is the authoritative body of the Methodist Church. What were Methodist Societies? Eventually classes were joined together into 'Societies' for the purposes of communication. The people attending these weekly classes gradually ceased to attend the local Parish Church and instead met together for the purpose of worship, either in the open air, or in homes. Eventually, premises were built to accommodate Worship and so Methodism (for that is now what these people were being called), evolved out of the Anglican Church, rather that broke away. The buildings became known as Methodist Churches. These groups of Classes became known as Methodist Societies and that is what we are today. The Church leaders were known as Society Stewards until 1974, when the name was changed to Church Stewards. The local Methodist Church (or Society as it was called) was, and still is, the foundation stone of the Church, and all officials and organisations throughout worldwide Methodism are there to provide help, guidance and assistance to these local Societies. Without Methodist Societies i.e. the local church, there would be no worldwide Methodist Church organisation. Our Responsibilities Today, the community in the UK seem to know all about their 'Rights'. But there are 2 "R's" in life, (apart from the 3 "R's" we learnt at school). The second "R" is for Responsibility, which 'oils' the wheels of life. These 2 "R's", 'Rights and Responsibility' are complimentary, but the second R. is little talked about in the media, although without it, society would break down into anarchy just as an engine eventually breaks down without oil). Similarly, a Church Membership needs to use this second "R." to help the Church steer through ever evolving change. Did you know? The Methodist Church is the fourth largest Christian Church in Britain after the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and the Church of Scotland. There are 6100 Methodist Churches in Britain with a total membership of about 330,000 people. There are 70 million people across the world who in ant way or another have a connection with the Methodist Church. SONGS OF PRAISE CELEBRATION TO COMMEMORATE THE 300TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF JOHN WESLEY'S FORMING OF THE METHODIST CHURCH On 30th March 2003 some thirty members from the Witham, Braintree and Hatfield Peverel Methodist Churches travelled to the Royal Albert Hall in London. There they joined with some 1400 other Methodist choir members from all parts of the country to take part in a recording for Songs of Praise to be broadcast in June 2003. This was to mark the tercentenary of the birth of the Methodist founder, John Wesley. The recording was compered by Pam Rhodes and Aled Jones who also sang. Others joining in the music making were The BBC Concert Orchestra, St Michaels Singers, The Royal Choral Society and the Songs of Praise School Choirs of the Year. The conductor for the evening was Paul Leddington Wright, a self confessed Methodist who led the musicians with zest and humour. Soloists were Izzy, Lucy Rhodes and the quartette Covenant. Three Methodists from Ohio had made the trip especially to be in the choir. One Choir Members Recollections We set off for the first of our two visits to London to join the 1400 voice choir, which was being recorded on the following Sunday at the Royal Albert Hall for Songs of Praise. After a pleasant journey to the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster by coach in glorious sunshine, we arrived at approximately 1.30 p.m. and a few of us enjoyed refreshments before the start of the proceedings We were greeted by the Conductor who quickly arranged for us to be seated in the relevant sections of the hall, according to the pitch of our voices, and the amazing thing to me was that in a very short time he managed to get us all to obey his very detailed instructions which is no mean feat when you consider how many different choirs we came from all over the country and even some from Ohio in the U.S.A. it was no easy task. We were quickly made aware that he also had the gift of making us laugh in between, which helped us to warm to him. We were told that he wanted to see our smiling eyes not our heads, with lots of expression in our faces, and at the same time holding our song sheet in the right position. I can assure that we tried our hardest. After this we had a good journey home. On the next Sunday the actual recording day at the Royal Albert Hall we once again made good time in arriving in London, enjoying excellent weather. It is difficult to put into mere words what a fantastic experience we shared on that day with the 1400 members of various choirs plus the remainder of the audience. The awesome size of the Royal Albert Hall, packed with people has to be seen and experienced to get the full impact. Added to which you were aware of the camera's, which swivelled around on extremely long arms. The stage was packed with prizewinning choirs some very young and some more mature. We also had Aled Jones and Pam Rhodes as compares and they introduced the artists and the hymns. The choirgirl of the year Lucy Rhodes was singing, a lady singer called Izzy, and a group Covenant. After a short practice we had an hour's break, and as we were adjacent to a bar a cuppa went down very well. The singing of Izzy was very beautiful and polished, and the singing of the choirgirl of the year was enchanting especially as she was so small and young, but so assured. Aled Jones also sang for us. To be amongst the sound of all those voices plus the rest of the audience, was magic. We were so pleased to join the celebration and I, for one, would not have missed it for anything. The evening ended with another great surprise as Michael Aspel came on to the stage and presented the famous Red Book to Aled Jones so I am now making sure that I watch the "This is your Life" series. What a finish to a wonderful day and the applause nearly raised the roof. In conclusion, I can only say thanks to our founder for his part in forming the Methodist Church, which gives us many wonderful things to savour within our life. Elaine SUNDAY HALF HOUR BIG CHRISTMAS SING On December 7th members of the Witham Methodist Church choir travelled to the Wesminster Central Hall to take part in the recordings for Sunday half hour. Theywere there with some 1300 other Methodists to record two Sunday half hour programmes to be broadcast on December 28th and January 4th at 20-30 hours. Also taking part were Winchester Cathedral Choristers, director Andrew Lumsden; Fine Arts Brass; Marie Macklin and Harry Sever (Radio 2 choristers of the year) and Adam Woodyatt. Overall musical direction was by Paul Leddington Wright and the compere was Roger Royle. Among the carols recorded were 'O Come All Ye Faithful' and 'As With Gladness'. Modern carols such as 'Every Star Shall Shine' and 'Calypso Carol' were featured.