Story seven: ten churches become one

Northampton Methodist Church gave permission for their story to be shared without being anonymised, so that others might benefit from the resources at the links you will find below.

In the Northampton Methodist Circuit, we have merged ten Methodist congregations to form the multi-site Northampton Methodist Church.

Visit the Northampton Methodist Church website

Since September 2022 we have a single Church Council for all ten worshipping communities. We also have a 'Finance and Property Group' that functions for the whole church, with representatives invited from each of the worshipping communities. More information on our circuit reimagining can be found here:

Download documents relating to the reimagining of Northampton Methodist Circuit

Each worshipping community continues to have its own local team that focuses on one of the missional Methodist 'Our Calling' priorities. For example, in Great Billing we host a monthly afternoon ‘Scones of Praise’ ecumenical café-style  gathering and also gather weekly for a zoom prayer meeting. In Harpole we get involved in the annual community scarecrow festival which brings thousands of people to the village, hosting an ecumenical missional event in the chapel. Ascote, another rural village in the circuit, responded to a local Facebook request and now host a weekly toddler group/warm space for local families. Roade, which is located near the village primary school, collaborate with a local ecumenical charity to host a morning pre-school breakfast drop-in for pupils and their carers. One of the villages in the circuit will be part of a large new housing development, so there are plans to pioneer ecumenically in this area.

It is really early days. We officially merged in September 2022 and there is still a way to go on our journey together as one church in ten locations.