The Beacon, along with our Family Room, is open each week from Monday-Wednesday 9:30am-3.00pm.  Debbie and the team look forward to welcoming you to a cuppa and a chat! If you’re feeling hungry there are delicious cakes and a range of light meals.

For more information click here.

On Thursday and Friday mornings we are open 10am – 12 noon for anybody to drop in for a hot/cold drink and a chat.

Free Hot/Cold Drinks * Warm Welcome, Company and Friendly Chat * Often Bread & Pastries donated by Lidl

Come for the Warmth….Stay for the Welcome

Any questions: admin@chepstowmethodist.wales

We have all been living through very troubling and difficult times and continue to do so for the foreseeable future. 

At Chepstow Methodist Church we seek to be a worshiping community dedicated to serving God and sharing His love with the community.  We have a range of services and activities to suit all ages and tastes. At the present time we do not have our own Minister but the Church is continuing to function as a caring community for the people of Chepstow.

Our worship and service is based on and surrounded by Prayer and there are several opportunities to meet together in large and small groups to pray.  We also have confidential prayer chains to pray about personal, urgent matters and several ‘home groups’ where we support and pray for individual members.

As well as caring for each other we believe it is important to share our faith with others in practical ways through the food bank, debt counselling, supporting local events and personal hospitality.  We support local and national charities and projects in Zambia.

You could sum up our aims as:  Chepstow Methodist Church exists to Celebrate the love of God by Worship, Caring for each other, Cultivating personal growth by prayer and reading the Bible and Communicating the Good News of Jesus in words and actions .

May the Lord bless you.

A Sample of our regular weekly activities

Sunday Service – 10.30am in Church, zoom and on the website.

Beacon Café – a café with a caring heart.  Open Monday. Tuesday & Wednesday. 9.30am-3.30pm.

Toddlers – fun for the children and fellowship for the carers.  Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. 10-11.30am.

Housegroups – fellowship, friendship, support.  A time to pray and learn together. Available face-to-face and on Zoom at various times and places.

Wednesday Fellowship – interesting speakers and demonstrations for everyone.  Every two weeks in the afternoon at 2.30pm.

Boys (and Girls) Brigade – activities, fun and fellowship.

Bible Study – on Zoom every Thursday 9.30-10.30am. A time to learn and discuss.

Photo by Sandra Seitamaa on Unsplash

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

As life seems to reopen in Wales and we start to look ahead to a hoped for brighter, vaccinated future, I write an update of where we are as a Methodist Circuit and as a Methodist Church.

Firstly: Reopening of Churches.
The distancing, mask, and singing rules remain in place for places of worship, but some of our churches have reopened to worship in premises, and I am aware that others are planning to in May. The Circuit’s plan is to have a ‘Worship Plan’ involving all of our Churches in place for June 6th through to August 29th. Some of this may be a mixed-economy of Zoom and physical presence, but the intention is for us to be able to gather as people in physical proximity to one another to offer our prayers and worship to the Living God revealed in the Risen Christ. If the rules stated above change in any way we will, of course, inform you all.

Secondly: Farewells, Welcomes and Congratulations.
We had proposed a Zoom Service for an opportunity to say a ‘proper’ farewell to Revs Preben and Ruth (alongside Margaret and Richard), a welcome to Rev Bethany and congratulations to Local Preachers who have achieved landmark years in their service to the Lord. This was intended for Ascension Day (May 13th) but will now NOT take place. This is because we are hoping to actually have an outdoor Service where we can safely meet. The UK Government’s plan is aiming for a ‘full-opening’ up from June 21st, and we envisage that the Senedd will be giving a go-ahead in Wales for around the same time. We are searching for an appropriate venue and date. Preben, Ruth and Bethany are all excited about opportunities to actually meet some actual flesh and blood three-dimensional Christians. We envisage this to be late June/early July and please pray that we find the right venue and the right day when the sun is going to shine!

Thirdly: Synod and Connexional News.
There was a special Wales Synod last Saturday (24th). One item of this was a proposal for Synod Cymru to amalgamate into the Wales Synod and become one. There is work to be done still but this was agreed upon, in principle on Saturday. The main body of discussion was around an indicative vote around the resolutions in the God in Love Unites us Conference Report. This Circuit’s voters were the ordained clergy and five Lay Reps. There were five separate votes on these resolutions. These resolutions involved changes to CPD in regard to the understanding of the status of marriage in the Methodist Church. Some of this provision was around issues of cohabitation of couples and around people of the same sex being able to be married in a Methodist Church.

All of the resolutions were accepted by majority votes. These resolutions are for discussion at this year’s Conference. This Synod votes does not count towards this, this is why it is known as an indicative vote, it is a vote to reflect the generalised view of any particular Synod/District. If these resolutions are passed at Conference each Church Council will be asked, within the next 12 months, whether they are willing to accept a marriage ceremony to take place on their premises or not.

This has been a difficult discussion for many. Some have been strongly for these resolutions and some have been strongly against these resolutions. For some this will be a source of rejoicing and for others a source of angst and struggle. The Methodist Church is a broad church with many different views held. May Christ bless us with peace in our prayers and thoughts.

Fourthly: Daily Devotions
Thank you to all who have enabled us, day-by-day, to worship God collectively over this past year. The plans are for these to continue until the end of June. The Gospel of Mark is the set book for Bible Month which takes place in June. We plan for a daily devotion throughout June beginning on June 1st with Mark Chapter 1, and my hope is that 30 different people will take a day each giving us a wide variety of voices. After this we hope to continue with a written Sunday Service connecting us all as disciples of the Living God.

Thank you for the privilege of being your Superintendent Minister. If you have any questions please do ask, and if you have any news you wish to share please do let me know.

May grace and peace be with you all.
Gordon

Rev Gordon Gresswell

Hello CMC Friends,

Well, we are starting to see some changes, with things opening up again, and the High Street looking almost as busy as it did before Covid (on the days with beautiful weather, anyway)!

Having said this, I know many of us are probably starting to really yearn to be back in our Church building for worship and activities, and we can take comfort in knowing that isn’t too far away. However, I just want to reiterate that, as a Church, we committed to keeping our building closed for worship throughout May, along with Circuit Guidance.

However, our first in-person service will be the 6th of June, and what an exciting moment that will be! We will truly celebrate that day, and even more-so when we’re able to meet again without the need for masks and distance! Can you even imagine that after all this time?

Also, I wanted to let you know that the Stewards have decided that, for the month of May, we will only open the Church for private prayer on Wednesday afternoons. This is simply because no one has come in on a Sunday afternoon since we began opening for private prayer, though several have come in on Wednesdays. We do hope that some of you have been able to take joy in being in our sacred space and having moments of prayer and meditation there.

I know we’re all ready for all of this to be behind us. We may not be there yet, but we’re headed in the right direction.

Blessings to all of you in this time.
With love and in Christ,
Rev. Rachel

It’s hard to believe that we have just recently entered another season of Lent when, in some ways, it almost feels like the wilderness of last Lent has been ongoing since last year’s Lent began. I wonder how any of us would have reacted if we had been told a year ago that we’d still be where we are today!

To say that the last year has been challenging is obviously an understatement. However, I just want to say how proud I am of the people of Chepstow Methodist Church and your resilience during this time. You have looked after one another, have adapted to new ways of doing things, and have done it all with so much grace, with your commitment to God and to each other at the forefront. I also hope that you all have continued to have a sense of God’s presence and God’s faithfulness during this time. “Best of all is God is with us”, as has been the Methodist theme for the 2020-2021 Connexional Year, and that has, indeed, rung true.

Although we still have a little way to go before things begin to feel ‘normal’, it is very encouraging to see the light at the end of this long tunnel. As I’m sure you know, the vaccines are making a difference, with the infection rate and the death rate going down. What a godsend these vaccines have been!  So, let us continue to keep the faith, holding onto our faith and to one another (figuratively speaking) until we can go back out into the world, without fear or limitations, to proclaim the good news that God held us through it all. Thanks be to God!

With love and blessings,
Rev. Rachel

Last Wednesday 27^th January was Holocaust Memorial Day and throughout last week I watched a dramatisation of “The Ann Frank Diaries” on BBC Four.  Having also read the diaries and visited the museum in Amsterdam I found its impact more profound at this particular time.  The situation of the eight Jewish people who were in hiding for two years during 1942-1944 helped me put the isolation and uncertainty we are facing at present into perspective.  Ann’s hopes and dreams were so cruelly crushed with only her father surviving World War II and death in the POW camp.

It has been heartening news to hear that some of our Church Family have had their first vaccine and there is light at the end of the tunnel and we give thanks to all those who have developed and are administering the vaccine.  When we are facing a ‘Dark Day’ let’s remember we have much to look forward to and much to be thankful for.  The Snowdrops are in bloom in my garden bringing Hope and Joy.  

Kathy

The Snowdrop
Many, many welcomes,
February fair – maid!
Ever as of old
Solitary firstling,
Coming in the cold time,
Prophet of the gay time,
Prophet of the May time,
Prophet of the roses
Many, many welcomes
February fair – maid!  

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Just as we were beginning to get back to some sort of normality this Covid19 hits us once again! I would like to give thanks and count my blessings for the few weeks of respite that we have been able to enjoy, catching up with family members and friends and enjoying each other’s company once more. 

With campsites open, Dave and I have been able to get away in our motorhome and enjoy some wonderful coastal walks in Wales, North Cornwall and Devon.  We were walking the coastal path from Ladrum Bay into Sidmouth and I was reminiscing and bringing to mind the wonderful Church Family weekends we enjoyed at Sidholme and Brunel Manor, what fun and fellowship we shared! the great company, lovely food, the impromptu “talent shows” and the special times of worship, knitting us together as a Church Family.

Of course my memories were also tinged with sadness as many of those beloved ones are no longer with us physically today, but nevertheless  remain with us in our hearts and minds and I give thanks for sharing my life with so many wonderful people.

Our Church is now open once more and many of us are able to attend services, join in on Zoom or watch the Podcast recording in our own homes.  The shops and supermarkets are easier to negotiate and we can have a meal out and go to the pub (if we want to). Children are back to school and people are working again.  A lot to give thanks for.

However I am very much aware that so many of our Church Family members are not able to enjoy this liberation; those in Care Homes who are still only allowed visits in the garden, those with infirmities and underlying conditions that inhibit them from mixing outside of their “Bubble”.  We have many members who are waiting for hospital procedures and operations which will no doubt be delayed once again causing anxiousness and concern. 

We are so fortunate to have a very good handbook of our faith and we are reminded in Philippians 2: 4. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. And inGalations 6: 10. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.  So as we go forward in the coming months and possibly into the New Year let us act on, 1 Thessalonians 5: 11  Encouraging one another, and building one another up, just as we are doing. 

Rev. Rachel, Elena, the Pastoral Team and myself are on the end of a phone and some us can do “Doorstep” visits and following Data Protection Protocol we can put you in touch with Church Family friends, so if you are feeling a bit low and want a chat or a visit please get in touch.

My number is 620870, love and blessings Kathy G.

Happy New Year!
More than 10 years since leaving full-time education our three children still think of September as the start of a new year. This seems so appropriate when we think on the historical emphasis Methodists have placed on education and the scriptural and social transformation of society Methodism has been so involved in for well over 200 years. I say again; Happy New Connexional Year!

This year feels like no other. It feels ‘new’ in respect of new thinking that is required in growing our on-line presence, new measures in opening up our buildings for worship and community use. New arrivals in Rev Bethany and her husband, Joel, filling the gap left by our sister and brother, Ruth and Richard. We have a new way of a local Welcome Service in Monmouth, rather than a Circuit wide one. We have a new model of Circuit which feels old; Four Missional Hubs reflecting the drawing together of 3 Circuits in 2008/9 and new, experienced Ministers in the gracious offer of Revs Joe Rooney and Lin Healey to help out in the Caldicot and Rogiet part of the Chepstow Missional Hub.

We have new social distancing rules, new hand sanitiser dispensers in our Churches and we enter a new reality unsure of what the future holds. As a Circuit Leadership Team we are trying to lead in these strange times. We have booked a Circuit Meeting for the evening of Wednesday October 14th. This will be done electronically, and we will inform you how this is to take place when we have a clear idea. We hope to arrange a Local Preachers Meeting in a similar way, and we are to encourage local Churches to have Church Council’s for good governance and opportunity to pray together and to look ahead on how we continue to share the good news of God’s love shown to the world through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and the continued active work of God through the Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth day-by-day.

May I say what a privilege it has been to be involved with so many detailed risk-assessments as regards opening our sacred and community spaces. The care and attention to people’s well-being has been a wonderful witness, and the practical solutions from so many gifted people has got us to a point of beginning to build people’s confidence up and allowing folk to enter sacred space and encounter God alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we have shared so much down the years.

Let us tread gently into this new year, and new beginning, and let us look forward to when we can all, as a Circuit, gather together to sing God’s praise; to say a big thank you to Local Preachers, one of whom has dedicated 60 years of ministry this year; to say a proper goodbye to Preben, Margaret, Ruth and Richard; to welcome Bethany and Joel and just to be together rejoicing that we can echo the words of the Psalmist: ‘I sought the Lord and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.’ [34:4]

Gordon