District Projects
The North West England District has initiatives based around being a growing, inclusive, evangelistic and justice-seeking Church. Our projects aim to work with local communities within the calling of the Methodist Church, which is to respond to the gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission.
The Neighbourhood Project is missional work being undertaken in Liverpool with funding from the Methodist Connexion (the national body of the Methodist Church).
Our aim is to:
- Explore a new missional approach to being the Church, outside of the Church walls
- Enable members of the project to be missional in all aspects of their daily lives, with the people they spend the majority of their time
- Develop a new form of worshipping community, rooted in the missional work of the project
There are currently 6 missional communities, all exploring being everyday missionaries and finding creative ways to love their neighbours.
TEAM LEADER
Hayley James
07305657148
hayleyjames@theneighbourhoodproject.co.uk
SOCIAL MEDIA
The Manchester area is home to a New Places for New People project called Caleb Communities. Caleb equips new projects and communities to start and grow. Every circuit is being asked to imagine, begin and sustain something new. Could you begin something new in your community and become a part of the New Places for New People movement?
For more information, contact Rev. Anthony Clowes or complete and return the ‘Initial Ideas Form’ below.
CHURCH PLANTING OFFICERS
Rev. Anthony Clowes
revanthonyclowes@me.com
Paul Welch
pwcaleb24@gmail.com
Resources
We are a supportive, digital community, passionate about wellbeing and tackling loneliness, providing a safe space to explore life questions and faith. We offer both ‘real-time’ online gatherings on Zoom, which usually take place monthly on a weekday evening, as well as discussion within our Facebook group.
Perhaps one of the most exciting things happening within Your Space is our global engagement, with people from as far as Canada and the USA joining our online gatherings. We offer participants a variety of ways to engage with our community – one size doesn’t fit all and accessibility for all is one of our key priorities.
To contact the Your Space team, please email yourspacedigitalcommunity@gmail.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
This project is a place of creativity, spirituality, hospitality, worship and a resource to the wider church. Based in Greater Manchester, Chapel in the Fields offers a safe space to Christians and non-Christians alike and has become a safe place for Quiet Days, retreats, and a venue for visiting groups. Over the last three years we have welcomed people from a wide area to come and enjoy the peaceful countryside surroundings. The refurbished Chapel also has a wood workshop where beautiful things are being made for sale.
Close to urban south Manchester, Sinderland Green Methodist Chapel is a small church in the countryside which underwent significant refurbishment in 2016. The result is ‘space’ that embraces the heritage of the building and brings out the best of the Chapel, its beauty and simplicity.
The Chapel has the capacity as a resource and a base to reach very large numbers of people and intends to monitor carefully not just the numbers of people they touch but the effect on their spiritual lives. The Chapel believes that it can create a model for use of rural chapels and of practice in using creativity to support spiritual formation which could be replicated elsewhere in the country.
CONTACT
Vicky Tyrrell
vicky@chapelinthefields.org.uk
SOCIAL MEDIA
In the Lancashire area we offer a fully equipped Godly Play Classroom parked right outside your school. A unique story telling experience that enables children to make connections between their own experience and the big stories of God. Links with literacy, RE, PHSE, resilience, worship and Christian values. Our unique sessions tailored to your school.
CONTACT
Kim Gabbatiss
07752756436
godlyplaybus@gmail.com
The seeds of a partnership between the Cumbria area and the Methodist Church in Argentina (IEMA) were sown over 20 years ago and began in 2005. Over the years there has been support for a number of church projects in various parts of Argentina, including the Hogares Lowe Children’s Home, and IEMA’s food programme during Covid, for example.
An ongoing link has been established between a primary school in an Eden Valley village and a Methodist primary school in Rosario. The Partnership has been enhanced by occasional exchange visits including more recently when the Chair of District, Revd Dr James Tebbutt was able to attend the IEMA General Assembly in October 2022 and in the summer of 2023, Bishop Americo attended the Methodist Conference before he and his wife Pastora Maria Esther spent time in Cumbria.
Everyone who has visited IEMA has appreciated the enthusiasm and strong faith of those encountered as well as their vibrant worship and commitment to social justice with many long-lasting friendships having been formed.