Faith To Live By Service
On Sunday 11th May at 6.30pm our guest speaker at the Methodist Church will be Dr Derek Nicholls. His title will be ‘Rural Roots: Strength or Stumbling Block’. There will be a short time of worship, an address, refreshments and an informal discussion. Everyone welcome. Derek Nicholls was brought up in the most southerly circuit in England – 37 chapels, mostly in small villages and some in isolation; half of them have since disappeared. Drawing partly on his own early years, he will reflect on the changing nature of rural Methodism and its role. Rural dwellers do not now expect to find all their shopping and entertainment needs met in their local village: why should people not go into towns for worship? Is an expensive building the best form of local Christian witness? Why is it that some rural churches are dying while others are in vigorous health? What is there from the rural tradition of an earlier generation which is relevant to the modern church? Derek emigrated from Cornwall in his late teens and has lived subsequently in Glasgow and Cambridge, but has not severed his rural roots. His work as a lecturer in Land Economy has brought opportunities for travel (and worship) in many parts of Africa, Asia and North America.