On Sunday 20th January at 3 p.m. Hedge End Methodist Church will be hosting the Churches together in Hedge End, West End and Botley service to mark the week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The week of Prayer is always from 18th to 25th January no matter what days of the week this falls on. This service will be conducted by our Minister Rev Arthur Cowburn and Deacon Carole Smith.
This service is based on a theme chosen by the Churches of Indonesia and promoted by Churches together in Britain and Ireland. This years theme is from Deuteronomy chapter 16: verses 18-20 which begins “Justice, and only justice you shall pursue”. More about the week of Prayer can be found at
20th January 2019 marks 350 years from the birth of Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley. This is being Commemorated by a Prayer Vigil at Epworth Old Rectory ( The Wesley family home ) and by a service at the Wesley Chapel in London taken by Mrs Jill Baker the Former Vice President of the Methodist Church. The service takes place at 11 a.m. Following the service A Pilgrimage will take place starting and ending at the Wesley Chapel taking in her birthplace in Spitalfields and her burial site at bunhill fields .
The Church Rambling Group “Walk and Talk” has now published the dates for 2019 its 28th year of walking. Most daytime Walks include a Lunch as well. If it rains hard the Walkers just enjoy the Lunch. There are also a few Lunches without Walks.
The Proposed Dates are below.
Saturday 5th January Lunch and Walk
Saturday 16th February Lunch
Saturday 16th March Lunch and Short Walk
Monday 22nd April (Easter Monday) Lunch and Short Walk
Monday 6th May (Bank Holiday) Walk and Lunch
Monday 27th May (Bank Holiday) Long Walk and Lunch
Thursday 20th June Evening Walk
Saturday 29th June Saturday Lunch and Long Walk
Thursday 4th July Evening Walk
Thursday 18th July Lunch and Walk
Thursday 1st August Day out
Monday 26th August (Bank Holiday) Walk and Afternoon Tea
Saturday 7th September Treasure Hunt
Saturday 19th October Skittles and Lunch
Saturday 16th November Lunch and meeting to sort walks for 2020
You are welcome to join us. Please look in the Paper Church Notices nearer the time for details of meeting places and who to contact.
Our best wishes to all our readers for a happy and Peaceful 2019 from everyone at Hedge End Methodist Church.
Our first service of the year is our Covenant service which will take place on Sunday 6th January and will be conducted by our Minister Rev. Arthur Cowburn. The first Jammy Church is described in the previous blog.
We are looking forward to many anniversaries and events in 2019, including the first Anniversary of the founding of Jammy tots and the 28th Anniversary of the Walk and Talk group. We have started on preparations for our Plant and Spring Fayre on Saturday 4th May, and are looking forward to a visit from MAF who will be bringing a Plane to Jammy Church in June. There are many more events coming up, we hope to see you – please keep looking here for more details.
Our first Jammy Church for 2019 will take place on Saturday 12th January between 10.30 and 12.30 in the Hall.
The session will be examining different bible translations and exploring the story of Mary Jones. Mary Jones walked many miles barefoot in order to obtain a Bible, her story was one of the inspirations behind the founding of the Bible society.
Jammy Church takes place on the second Saturday of the Month and is a session suitable for all to explore the theme of the Month in many different ways using craft and play, and to Worship together. We ask that all Children are accompanied. You are welcome to attend for all our part of the session, (although if you wish to join us to eat at the end it is helpful if you can arrive before 11 so we can get our catering right).
On Saturday 5th January we will be hosting the Circuit Prayer Breakfast between 8.30 and 10.00 a.m. I am not sure of the exact Menu but in the past we have had Fruit Juice, Cereals, Toast , with Tea and Coffee. This will take place in the Hall rather than the Church itself. This is part of the series of monthly prayer Breakfasts being hosted in turn by the Churches in the Southampton Circuit.
These events are described in the circuit plan as
a time of fellowship over a meal, worship, Listening to Gods word, Prayers as the Lord leads.
On Sunday 16th December our Normal Sunday Service will include interaction with a visitor. We are being visited by Bryan Pill, who is a former pilot with one of our church charities, Mission Aviation Fellowship(MAF).
MAF is a charity which assists more than 18,000 other charities by flying there representatives, clients and goods around the world.
Our Carol Service will take place on Sunday 16th December at 4 p.m. This will consist of a mixture of readings and Carols. All the readings will be associated with Christmas but they may not all be Bible readings. Some of the Carols will be sung as Solo’s , some as Groups and some by everyone in the building. They will be accompanied variously by the Organ, A Harp and a Band specially put together for the occasion. The service will be followed by Tea or Coffee and Mince pies.
Our Christmas Morning service will take place at 9.30 a.m. and will be led by our Minister Rev. Arthur Cowburn.
These occasions are suitable for all ages and you are very welcome to attend.
As part of our Nativity Festival we are running a Nativity Trail for children. Starting at the Library follow the Clues around the local shops to lead you to the Posters displayed on each shop. On each poster a letter is displayed. The Trail will run from the 3rd to 8th of December, If you write down each letter it should spell a word closely associated with the Nativity. If you write the word down on the Trial sheet and present it to us at the Nativity Festival you will be given a small prize. The Clues are on the Trail sheets which are available from Hedge End Library or can be obtained via the Church Facebook page at
