Bolsover and Staveley Methodist Circuit
Registered Charity in England - Charity Number 1131231
Bolsover Methodist Church
Hill Top
Bolsover
Chesterfield
S44 6NN
Minister: Revd Sean Adair
Telephone: 01246 823180
Welcome to the part of the Bolsover & Staveley Circuit’s work that is based in the town of Bolsover, just off the town centre on Hill Top. The present church building was opened in 1897 and has been serving the local community for over 120 years. This group of Methodist disciples of Christ base their life together very much on the wider mission statement of the Methodist Church: Our Calling is to respond to the Gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live out our discipleship in worship and mission. See below more information about the life and mission of the Church on this site.
Evangelism
Leadership
The Methodist Church holds a strong value on leading the Church well, in such a way that encourages a focus on individuals and groups to share in leading the Church’s life and mission.
It is focussed in a minister in pastoral charge, which is currently Rev. Sean Adair
It is shared corporately with the Church Council and the local Church Stewards and other key leaders.
Each part of the Church’s life and work is overseen by key volunteers.
The local Church is represented at the Circuit Meeting.
The Circuit is represented at the Synod.
Leadership for Christians has self-giving and sacrificial service at its heart and involves oversight of the life and work of the Church, along with good governance and management of our resources.
Caring
Worship
At the heart of our life together is worship, resonating with the “Greatest Commandment” of Christ, that we are to love God. We exist therefore to increase the awareness of God’s presence and to celebrate God’s love. The main focus of our worship life happens throughout the year on Sunday mornings at 10.30am. We have occasional “Taize” services where we opt for quieter, more reflective approaches. We don’t think of ourselves as either traditional or modern in our style. Rather, we like to think of our worship services as being recognisable as such, and yet also fresh, offering those who come opportunities for connection with God. Connecting with God and offering him our love for all he has done for us is the top priority.
You can find here links to sermons from recent preachers.
We meet four times a year for a Worship Forum to reflect on recent experience of worship, and planning for the period ahead. All are welcome to attend and share in these meetings.
Here are the notes from the recent meeting of the worship consultation.
Learning
Part of our reason for being here is to support all who want to follow Christ as his disciples, to grow in their faith and journey with God.
Our minister, Rev. S Adair, runs occasional training programmes through the year.
A recent, yearlong course, called “The Half Hour Bible Study” will be appearing soon on a separate website, called: www.playinginthepuddle.com
People who are connected to the Church can attend a “Care Group” which are small groups for fellowship, study and prayer, meeting in group member’s homes.
Keep an eye on the Circuit diary for other opportunities for learning.
Caring
Every Church should be a community of people, within the wider community in which it is placed, where the care of Christ can be experienced in life affirming and transforming ways.
We have a Pastoral Care team who seek to be available to every person in the life of the fellowship, often linked with the Care Groups mentioned under “Learning”.
The Care of Christ is often experienced in unexpected and informal ways. Therefore, it is important that all who are part of the life of this Church seek to be available to care for those around them, to love their neighbour, and thus foster a community of care.
One particular group that we focus our care on, are those under 18. We offer a creche, Junior Church and Youth Church on a Sunday morning and the “Impact” youth group on a Thursday evening.
Service
Part of our living out our discipleship is to serve those whom God loves, and he loves all people, everywhere.
Globally, this means working with the wider Methodist Church in such organisations as All We Can, and with other Church traditions ecumenically, like Christian Aid.
Nationally, this means working to support sister organisations such as Methodist Homes & Action for Children.
Locally, this means working to express the love of God in Christ to our own community. We do this mainly in partnership with Freedom, which was originally the expression of mission to the community of this Church, but has gone on to develop into an independent charity with opportunities to work presently in nine other communities.
Our partnership with Freedomcontinues to be an important part of our local church life and mission.
In addition to all of this, we serve the local community through the offering of rites of passage. Contact the minister, Rev. S Adair for further information if you wish to have a baptism, wedding or funeral service at the Church.
These are just some of the ways in which we seek to serve the God we worship.
Evangelism
Words like evangelism and evangelical have had a bad press in recent years. However, we want to reclaim the term and explore what it means here.
At its heart evangelism is about the communication of the Good News.
Ultimately the way we live out our lives, individually and corporately, and how we treat others, sends the strongest message of all. The love and care of God should shine through in all things. Words are hardly needed.
However, we also feel it is important to share the content of our Good News, the core convictions that we hold together, and to do so in ways that are relaxed, natural and helpful.
To help us do this, we run the “Lost For Words” course regularly around the Circuit to help us when we find ourselves, literally, lost for Words. We recognise that many, if not most people, come to faith when they walk with others already committed disciples of Christ for some time, journeying together toward Christ. This course helps us to do this well hopefully.
In addition the ALPHAcourse is an introduction to the Christian faith that has been very useful in helping people explore Christianity for over 20 years. We’re running it nearby this autumn in two other sites on the Circuit.
One further way in which we seek to embody the Gospel is on a Friday morning, once a month, when we have a Healing Service.