Hello, and welcome to the “Minister’s page”

My name is Martin Slocombe, and I am the Minister for Chew Stoke Methodist Church and the  surrounding area. I live in Paulton, and also have pastoral charge of the Methodist churches in Paulton,Timsbury and Farrington Gurney (and all places in-between!). We are currently a small community of Methodists who continue worshiping together in our beautiful chapel, as generations before us have done for more than 200 years. Our aim is not only to be a physical reminder of the presence of God in this village, but to reach out to the community in practical ways as a living example of the love of God in action. Jesus reminds us of the central message of the gospel, to love God and our neighbours as ourselves. In witnessing to that gospel, both in Chew Stoke and the wider Chew Valley, through our work supporting our neighbours and engaging with the local Primary School, we endevour to share this message with a wider audience, helping to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to this area. Our Regular Sunday service is at 10.30am and is supplemented by a mid-week fellowship group and other activities throughout the year. Please keep an eye on the website for more details. I hope you find what you are looking for on our website, and look forward to welcoming you to visit us.

The Revd Martin Slocombe Telephone 01761 411858 Email: martin.slocombe@methodist.org.

Musings from the Manse Last week I had to attend a meeting in London.  When I arrived at Paddington Station the sun was shining.  It was a beautiful day and so I decided to walk to my meeting rather than take the Underground.  Google Maps on my phone got me straight to the door.  It was still a lovely day when the meeting finished, so I decided to walk back to Paddington the way I had come.  I didn’t need Google Maps because I had already walked the route earlier that day. But suddenly I realised that I didn’t recognise the street I was in.  I couldn’t think where I had gone wrong, but clearly I had, somewhere along the route.  Out came my phone, and Google Maps confirmed I was not where I thought I should be.  I had three options.  Continue where I was heading and it would eventually get me back to the station, but a much longer walk; cut through some smaller, local streets; go back where I had come from and pick up at the point I had gone wrong.  Local streets it was, and I arrived back at my intended destination, despite taking a different route than I had planned. And so is our life of faith. We travel with God showing us the way, and all is well.  We think we know where we are heading.  But forsaking the advice which is readily to hand, being over confident in our own abilities, can mean we end up getting lost.  We may not be quite sure where we went wrong until we find ourselves somewhere other than we had intended.  There may be many different routes to get us back on the straight-and-narrow, but only with guidance can we be confident we will arrive at the station before the train departs. As we start our journey through Lent this year, we turn to God for direction, confident that we will eventually hear “you have reached your destination!”. Psalm 121 ¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—    from where will my help come? ² My help comes from the Lord,    who made heaven and earth. ⁸ The Lord will keep    your going out and your coming in    from this time on and for evermore. Happy travels!! Revd Martin