Baildon has a very long history having been inhabited for many centuries (there is some evidence on the nearby moor of Bronze Age inhabitation), but it thrived in the 19th Century on the textile trade, usually worsted cloth, combed, spun and woven by hand in cottages. From a small village high on the valley side it has now sprawled somewhat, growing to a population of over 15,000, with housing estates reaching down to the valley bottom and west along towards Shipley — though still with a village feel to the centre.
For a quick overview of the place, have a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baildon
You can learn about Baildon’s history from the self-guided Heritage Trail booklets available from Baildon Library, or download them (free) from the Parish Council website under “Documents”. Go to: http://www.baildonparishcouncil.gov.uk/documents/cat_view/63-baildon-walks
To find out what Methodists in particular get up to, explore the rest of this website, and then come and see for yourself.
How we organise ourselves
Baildon Methodist Church is part of the world-wide Methodist family. We believe, as our founder John Wesley put it, that all need to be saved, all can be saved, all can know they are saved, and all can be saved to the uttermost.
What from? – sin: the mindset that disregards and downgrades God by what we are and do.
What for? – a new life of goodness towards God and other people.
How? – through faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord.
John Wesley preached this fearlessly and fervently and a great revival followed. But he was not only an effectual preacher, he was a great organiser, very methodical, which is how we got our name. And we’re still a bit like that.
The Connexion, Districts, Circuits, and Churches
In Britain we are organised from HQ in London – called The Connexion – into Districts (ours is West Yorkshire), which in turn are collections of Circuits, each comprising several individual churches (we are part of Bradford North which has 18 churches). The boundaries of Districts and Circuits get changed from time to time: it’s not long since three small Circuits came together to form Bradford North as part of a nationwide restructuring.
Ministers are appointed to Circuits, and take on pastoral oversight of one or more Churches (sometimes Ministers are shared between Circuits). Alistair Newton has pastoral oversight of Baildon – in that sense he is ‘our Minister’ – but he is still appointed to the Bradford North Circuit, of which he is also the Superintendent. This Circuit has a mixture of full-time and shared Methodist Ministers, plus help from a number from other denominations where there are ecumenical arrangements.
When Ministers retire they are called Supernumerary Ministers and assist in various ways in the Circuits where they come to live. We currently have four such Ministers in Bradford North Circuit.
You can gain an overview of these various levels from the following websites:
The Methodist Church of Great Britain:
West Yorkshire Methodist District:
Bradford North Methodist Circuit:
Local Preachers, and Worship Leaders
One of the features of the Methodist Church has been its reliance from very early days on the laity in preaching, both men and women: we call them ‘Local Preachers’. They are not ordained as full-time Ministers, nor are they employed by the Church, but they are called by God to lead services of worship and to preach in the churches in the Circuit where they live (or others, by invitation) according to the periodic ‘Plan’ scheduled by the superintendent Minister. For this they are carefully trained. They are wholly voluntary. Overall in Britain, there are about three times as many Local Preachers as there are Methodist Ministers.
Ministers move Circuits periodically: initially it was every year; and still the invitation to a Circuit is only for a specified period of years, usually five, though it is often renewed so that Ministers now stay much longer in one place (not necessarily pastoring the same churches). But because of this moving, Methodist Ministry is called ‘Itinerant’, whereas ‘Local’ Preachers remain where they live and work. In other denominations they might be called Lay Preachers.
In the last few years, Methodism has also encouraged more people to take part in leading worship, and they are called ‘Worship Leaders’. They are appointed to individual churches, and assist the preachers in the conduct of worship in various ways: sometimes taking part themselves, or arranging for others to do so, but not preaching. They also receive a short training. There are currently no Worship Leaders at Baildon Methodist Church, though many in the congregation participate in worship from time to time and in various ways.
Stewards and other offices
Ministers are assisted, mainly in administrative tasks, by stewards, who are Church members appointed annually for a spell of duty – and normally not more than for six years concurrently. There are Circuit Stewards who assist at Circuit level, as the name suggests, and Church Stewards.
Stewards are the most senior of a small army of office holders within the Church who keep it running, working within the structure of committees that discuss and reach decisions, culminating in the Church Council on which sit the Church’s Managing Trustees. There are offices for: music, money, property maintenance, room lettings, copyright matters, crèche, cradle roll, junior church, safeguarding, web-mastering, and weekly notice sheets, not to mention flowers (arranging and distributing) and projection of hymns and images on the screen during worship, and of course the whole catering battalion we call Wesleys, and many more.
These are all ways to serve God, through the Church which is the body of Christ, and for which his Holy Spirit provides a variety of talents.
John Wesley also organised Methodist believers into small groups, which he called Class Meetings, each under a leader who was responsible for the spiritual progress of the Class members. It was an extremely effective arrangement for a very long time, but recently has largely disappeared. However, our previous Minister, Graham Smith, encouraged us once more to form into small groups to encourage spiritual growth. These were given the name of Cell Groups, and there several which you can join. They are intended to remain small, so others cells could be started at any time.
