Who are we... and what do we do?
...for those seeking more
First and foremost we are a group of Christian people, secondly we are a group who meet under the banner of the Methodist Church.
The Methodist Church has been active in Melbourne for well over 200 years and currently it is a lively, vibrant church that takes its social responsibility seriously.
We are part of the Castle Donington Methodist Circuit and are overseen by our Methodist Minister Rev Dennis Smith.
THE ALPHA COURSE
As a church we believe that we are all at various stages on our Christian journey and that some of us still have some big questions to ask! There isn’t often the opportunity at a Sunday service to answer all the questions we might have which is why we are pleased to run an Alpha Course each year.
Please ask us for more information about this course - a basic introduction to the Christian faith - that has now changed and challenged millions of lives across the world
Alpha
...for little ones and their mums (and dads!)
TNTN
Tiddlywinks
We provide a service to the community through the running of two groups for the young and very young. TNTN (Tonight's the Night!) is a group for 7 to 11 year olds that meets for fun, games and stories in our Wesley Hall on Potter Street.
Tiddlywinks is a group for both toddlers and their parents. We provide a happy, safe Christian environment where we tell the great old Bible stories and endorse our Christian ideals and basic principles.
Worship
We believe that we are a spirit led church and have a flexible attitude towards our styles of worship that includes singing, prayer, testimony and teaching. Sunday worship is co-ordinated by a Worship Group with visiting lay preachers. Most weeks the young people start their meeting with the main church and leave after about 15 minutes. We have a creche and groups for all age groups up to 18.
We have a monthly morning communion service and all are welcome to come to Our Lord's table to share the sacrement. We have recently re-introduced monthly Sunday evening worship in the Athenaeum Cafe, next door and these two services alternate between reflective, quiet worship and revivalist, lively worship.
Of course we meet on Sundays, but we are far from a one-day-a-week church, with worship and prayer groups meeting somewhere almost everyday and a youth cafe open from Wednesday to Saturday. The founder of the Methodist Church - John Wesley - created classes, groups meeting out of Church, and without realising it started what we now call 'cell church' or house/home groups. Many of our church family are members of such groups and we meet for social and spiritual purposes!
We are an all age church very proud of our Women's Fellowship group that has been running since before anyone can remember! We also provide a fellowship and support group to expectant mums... - that really is all age!
...for the young people
In 2004 the church opened the Athenaeum, a young people’s internet café. It opens four evenings a week and the church employs a Christian youth worker, Ian Hiley, as manager. The young people of the church benefit from the facilities on Sundays, but the rest of the week it is also used by ‘unchurched’ young people. Our aim is to reach out to these young people by providing a safe, welcoming Christian environment for them to simply 'hang out' in Melbourne. We are always happy to add people to our café support rota. So if you are happy to help out once a month please let Ian know!
... for those more senior
Women's Fellowship
For many years a small dedicated faithful group kept the Methodist Church open - when numbers had fallen so low most would have closed the building. Some of that group still meet for worship as part of our Women's Fellowship group each Tuesday afternoon. The meeting is normally a good mix of traditional hymn singing, a visiting speaker and god old Methodist fellowship.
Each year we have groups that celebrate Easter at Spring Harvest. It is a wonderful time spent with thousands of other Christians at either Minehead or Skegness - sometimes both. We worship, we pray, we learn and we have great fun. It is our opportunity to find out what others are doing in their churches and bring back fresh ways of being a church. Click on the logo for more details
... and for the men
MAP - Men At Play
A social group that meets on a Tuesday night, fortnightly for various 'activities'. Usually this is to go bowling, cycling and to play snooker or tennis in the summer often it is simply an evening at a local hostelry... In the past there have also been weekends walking in the Peak District or at Surf School in Cornwall!
Methodist
Melbourne
Church
