Hello

Well, here I am with my first ever blog. While I was away with the family last weekend it struck me that I ought to put down in words some of my thoughts on the state of Methodism in this country (well - what I see of it anyway!). It'll probably end up getting tangled up with all sorts of other things but we'll see...
We go to a Methodist church in a market town in the West of England (or possibly the south, depending on your perspective) with around 130 members. It's in what seems to be the relatively rare position of growing both spiritually and numerically - why our church is growing when many (although not all) others in Methodism aren't is something I'd like to discuss here in the near future.
Both my wife and myself grew up in Christian families and attending Methodist churches. Sadly though, our experience of many other Methodist churches in the last few years has left us with the feeling that if we moved to a different area, we'd be much less inclined to seek out a Methodist church at first, but instead would look for a church which was:

• Friendly
• Reasonably contemporary style worship (whatever that means?)
  
• Family-friendly
• Wanting and expecting to be led onwards by God

Somehow it seems that many Methodist churches have got stuck with an ageing congregation and an unwillingness to engage with styles of worship which is meaningful to those with young people or with those of no or little church background.

Enough said for now. Hope to continue soon.