Rev. Steve Barlow - Welcome to Wetherby Methodist Church!

Wetherby Methodist Church is a busy, active Church set in the heart of a bustling market town, just off the A1 in West Yorkshire. We offer a warm welcome to all who join us for worship or for fellowship, and offer a wide range of activities for all ages throughout the week. At Wetherby Methodist Church our mission is: To enable people in Wetherby to grow in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear friends

What is your favourite passage in the Bible? I remember as a child listening to those wellknown stories of David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, the Good Samaritan; the Prodigal Son, the Feeding of the 5000 and countless more exciting and dramatic stories from both the Old and the New Testaments. We would draw pictures, act out the passages and imagine that we were one of the characters in those stories; activities all designed to encourage us to explore our bibles and become more familiar with the Word of God, whilst learning to live our lives in accordance with his will.

2011 is the Year of the Bible. It is 400 years since the King James Bible was first published and through various activities we are again encouraged to dig deeper into our Bibles, to remind ourselves of passages we haven't looked at for a while, but also to look at some passages which never form part of our lectionary readings yet contain rich theology that can deepen our faith and our spirituality.

Over the past 7 years one of my observations in taking funerals has been talking to people who have listened to the tribute and then said to me "I didn't know that…." when they heard about an aspect of someone's life. And it is often said with a tinge of sadness that they didn't have the time or opportunity to learn more about someone. Taking the time to get to know more about people, and about God, means spending time with them, but it is always rewarding.

Recently Donald and Fiona Milne hosted an evening for those who lead the music in our Church. Both Heather and myself learnt things about sound and the positioning of instruments that we had not known before. As a result we will change some of the ways we do things in the Church and the knowledge and understanding we shared has drawn us into a deeper appreciation of each other's needs - musicians, preachers and congregation.

As you read this letter we are in the midst of our building programme. By the time you read the next letter we will hopefully be moving into our new sanctuary. The building work will have been completed but the task will not be finished. The baseline for Reaching Out will have been laid but it is only the base. On that base we need to build again, developing a deeper relationship with God and with each other, learning and understanding, loving and caring, in order that we may reach out not just to those who need us, but to those who need us most. It is through studying our Bibles, talking to and learning from one another, that we will understand more about how we can best build the Church God wants us to be in the future.

With every blessing