OUR CHURCH
Gantshill Methodist Church
Gantshill Methodist Church is made up of people. Ordinary people just like you. We are people who know the love of God in our lives and can witness to the many ways in which God has blessed us. We are all at different stages in our journey of faith and life. We seek to be a nurturing, supportive community, committed to faith, fellowship, growth and development supporting one another and living out the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, in our everyday life in whatever way we can.
Our priorities are...
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Underpinning all we do with God-centred worship and prayer
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Nurturing a culture in the church which is people-centred and flexible
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Encouraging varied expressions of worship
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Supporting justice, especially alongside the most deprived and poor - in Britain and worldwide
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Developing confidence in speaking of God and faith in ways that make sense to all
OUR CIRCUIT
Barking, Dagenham, Ilford Circuit
The Methodist Church in Britain is a nationwide church, organised into groups of churches known as Circuits. Although these are often in close geographical areas, we do not, in fact, have formal Circuit boundaries, and our members may come from anywhere within travelling distance. However, many Circuits, for the sake of administrative convenience, are organised in such a way as to be, as far as possible, contiguous with local authority boundaries. Gantshill Methodist Church is part of the Barking, Dagenham and Ilford Circuit. Currently we have nine churches in this Circuit : Barking, Ilford, Goodmayes, Gantshill, Barkingside, The Drive, Seven Kings, Beacontree Heath and Old Dagenham.
Methodist Circuits are also grouped into Districts, and this Circuit comes under the London District (headquarters in Westminster). Ministers, both Presbyters and Deacons (which are equal though different forms of our ordained ministry), are stationed in Circuits by our national governing body, the annual Methodist Conference. At present, our Circuit has three Presbyteral and one Diaconal ministers.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
The Methodist Society was begun in the middle of the eighteenth century, by Revd. John Wesley, an Anglican priest and scholar, who lived from 1703 to 1791. Together with other priests and lay people, the movement was founded as an outcome of an Evangelical Revival, as a means by which the Church of England might bring faith back into the centre of people’s lives. For a number of reasons, after Wesley’s death, the Methodist Society separated from the Church of England, and became the Methodist Church, with its own organisation and ordained ministers. The Wesleys and their supporters believed – as Methodists still do – that the wholeness offered by Christ is freely available to all who turn to him. The belief that all people can be brought into God’s kingdom is still a core tenet of the Methodist Church today.
John Wesley and his brother, Charles, were believers, not only in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but in the need for people – all people – to work out the demands of the gospel in their daily lives. They believed the gospel not only changed the life of the believer, but it also enabled them to share the good news with others, and so change their lives too.
This led to a strong emphasis on the ‘Social Gospel’. Methodist people believe that the Kingdom of God is made real in the world where we find ourselves, only through reaching out to our friends and neighbours, whatever their faith or lack of it, in a non-judgemental, accepting and loving way; whoever you are, and whatever you may have made of your life, we believe that you are a valued, cherished and unique child of God, and it is upon that belief which the Methodist Church rests all its relationships, both within and outside the church. We believe that God offers release of guilt, forgiveness, acceptance and healing to each and everyone who turns to him.
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All this might be summed up in what is known in Methodism as “the four A’s”:
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ALL need to be saved
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ALL can be saved
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ALL can know themselves to be saved
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ALL can be saved to the uttermost
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If you want to discover more about what it means to be a Christian in the Methodist tradition, contact our minister, Revd Kido Baek, who will be pleased to have a conversation with you.