A visit to Escumesthorpe

Scunthorpe Congregational Church

Saturday 10 March saw me at Scunthorpe Congregational Church  for the Area Assembly of the North east Area. Scunthorpe is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was known as Escumesthorpe. It was good to meet up with old colleagues and some Welsh people in exile in the north east.

The church building is a modern purpose built facility that gets the balance right between having a sanctuary for worship and praise and the halls for other events.

The meeting of the Area was ably chaired by Keith Bradley and before the official business, we were led in worship by Christine, after which I gave a presentation on my role as President and a military chaplain.

Sunday morning at 10.30am, I took the pulpit at Scunthorpe and was privileged to preside at the table for communion. It was Mothers' Day and the church distributed flowers to the fellowship, whether they were mothers, fathers or any other category! It was then a quick dash over to Tapton Hill, Sheffield for their 2.45pm service, stopping off for lunch with Keith and Sally on the way. Although busy, it was a blessed opportunity for me to lead worship.

My grateful thanks for all who looked after me during my visit.

Revd Bill Bentham chatting
 to a church member

The lectern has some carvings depicting steel workers

Revd Bill Bentham, President 1989-90

Keith Bradley in the chair

Chatting to a fellow Welshman, David from Llangain, Carmarthenshire

A Pilgrim makes progress to Bunyan

On Sunday 25 February 2018 I was the guest preacher at Bunyan Meeting, Bedford for their anniversary service. The cause was established in 1650 and is amongst the oldest independent churches in Britain. Famous of course, because John Bunyan was the minister from 1672 until he died in 1688. And famous today for being a leading ecumenical light in that part of the country with its fellowship being members of the Baptist Union and Congregational Federation. 

We had two services, the morning service at 11am, where the Word was preached on Ephesians 5 about giving thanks to God and the evening service at 6.30pm, where the preaching was based on Acts 20 and how we are to be shepherds of the church in these modern times. 

As the preacher I was uplifted by the spirituality of Bunyan Meeting and knew that God was blessing this active congregation in their community work. 

Thank you to the minister - Revd Chris Damp for the invitation and thank you to all who supported the anniversary celebrations. Particular thanks to Jenny for hosting me to a wonderful lunch and time of fellowship.

Former President Revd Dr Janet Wootton and some of the Deacons
enjoying tea at the end of the service

Southam Congregational Church

On Sunday 11 February 2018, I visited Southam Congregational Church where I presided at their morning service. I received a very warm welcome and the theme of the sermon was how we recognise Jesus as being the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24). During the service I had the privilege of accepting into membership three people and presided at the table when we gathered together as a fellowship.

My grateful thanks to the Minister Revd Neil Chappell and the fellowship for an uplifting time. Also thanks to Debbie Chappell for putting up with me over lunch!

Council Meeting

The third weekend of November saw me at the Council Meeting, which is held at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine in London. This is an Anglican 'retreat' centre that offers conference rooms and excellent facilities for a stay in the east of the city (see http://rfsk.org.uk/). The Council have met here in November for many years.

As President I am responsible for the worship and prayer during our gathering. We always open with worship, there is a small act of worship every morning and a closing prayer at the end of the evening. Just before lunch on Sunday, we have a closing worship and made use of the chapel on site. There is an interesting history to St Katharine and during the Cromwellian era, the 'master' of the house was Richard Kentish. Kentish was congregational and is famous as being one of the few non conformists to have delivered a sermon to Parliament (in 1647). On the restoration of the monarchy, Kentish helped establish a congregational cause in Wapping and his son, Thomas, became the congregational minister at Southwark. So some 370 plus years after Kentish, the Congregationalists are still using St Katharine's and a non conformist act of worship still held in the chapel of a high Anglican church with the blessing of the current 'Master'. How ecumenical is that!

As President I also have responsibilities as trustee and along with council members, contribute for the greater good of the Federation by bringing the views of churches to the table. Full minutes of the meeting will be circulated in due course.

The Chapel

Trinity Congregational Church, Brixton

I was heading to London for the meeting of the council of the Congregational Federation and by arrangement visited Trinity Brixton on Thursday 16th November 2017. I was invited by the minister, Revd Alan Argent to come and talk about what I saw as the way forward for Congregationalists in this ever changing world. We enjoyed a meal together, some good discussion and fellowship.
It was good to visit and I pray that the substantial renovations of the main worship area in the church go to plan.

Alan giving a tour and explaining the ongoing work

To the foothills of the Pennines

Sunday 29th October might be a familiar date to you. It was Reformation Sunday where we commemorated the life and work of Martin Luther and his influence over the way we Congregationalists  developed.

I was delighted to have been invited to Tapton Hill Congregational Church where there was a day of commemoration involving churches of different traditions. There was worship and workshops that involved singing Reformation hymns, bible studies and craft. There was a wonderful atmosphere and it was so good to see other denominations coming to the Congregational Church to be part of the day.

And in true Congregational style, the afternoon concluded with a meal. We gathered at table and enjoyed fellowship and a German themed meal!

Grateful thanks to Revd Suzanne Nockels and congregation for inviting me. It was a marvelous occasion.

London Calling

On Sunday 22nd October I was in London, having been invited to lead worship at Anchor Church, Wandsworth in the morning and Wimbledon Congregational Church in the afternoon. I set off on a windy Saturday (storm Brian) and had a very long train journey from the coast of west Wales to Paddington.

On Sunday, I was collected from my hotel by Nigel Lindsay, the minister at Anchor Church and led their Anniversary Service. The sermon was based on Acts 20 where we are instructed to be Shepherds of the Church of God. After the service, the fellowship remained for a lunch at the church and it turned out to be a blessed time of fellowship as we shared a meal together.

It was then a trip across to Wimbledon to a 3pm service at the Congregational Church in Dundonald Road. The sermon was based on the healing of the blind man in John 9 where Jesus reminds us that He is the light of the world.

The service was followed by a time of fellowship, tea and cake and the members were remaining for the evening service, which was a talk given by some of the members on their recent mission trip to Spain.



I stayed in London for the next couple of days because on Tuesday 25th October, I was deputising for our General Secretary at a gathering of Churches Together in England, at Lambeth Palace. There was a shared meal and a time of discussion around the publication Insights into Churches Together in England and contemporary ecumenism. The results of the round table discussion will be fed into the various bodies that make up CTE and it is pleasing that a Welshman was able to contribute to English ecumenism!