The Call

I get a phone call from The Methodists every five years. 

Unlike the rather active and pushy Seventh Day Adventists or the persistent Jehovah's Witnesses it is not an attempt to bring me into the fold but a request for me to provide Quinquennial Reports on the Churches and Chapels which are to be found in my area of geographical coverage. 

I have been so employed for a couple of decades now and cannot actually recall how I got involved but it is a privilege to work with such nice people and interesting buildings or it could as easily be other way around? 

I have been into the far recesses of some very old structures such as Organ Lofts and ventilation towers, Undercrofts and Voids and have enjoyed unprecedented access into the exclusive domains of Ministers, Preachers and Choirs. 

There is nothing standardised as far as the Places of Worship of The Methodists are concerned which is an inheritance of the quite diverse and disparate origins of that Denomination. 

My work today took me to an 1853 Chapel in a rural field with its nearest neighbour being half a mile away. 

As a building it is a simplistic expression of faith, a small rectangular footprint under a hipped roof with narrow arched windows and no fancy embellishments whatsoever. 

In contrast I had prior been inspecting a large town centre Church in red brick Italianate style, corner towers and pyramidal roofs, contrasting yellow brick Lombardic frieze and internally a grand galleried hall, ornate covings and ceiling roses, carved memorial stones and plaques in recognition of pledges and donations towards its construction in 1878. 

This is such a stark reflection of comparative wealth and patronage between the two places and inevitably influence their respective viability when economics and budgeting exert their pressures over Spiritual or Community values in Methodist Central Planning Policy.

The church in the town has fully booked amenities on the premises on an all year round basis with lunch clubs, mother and toddlers, pensioner get togethers, dances and fund raising functions. 

Out in the countryside the small chapel struggles with just 8 current worshippers and irregular income from infrequent bookings for secular uses. 

However, the dedication of those members of their respective Churches and Chapels that I meet on my five yearly rota is inspiring and humbling in equal measure. 

The one aspect of this part of my work that I struggle with is that every time I return to a particular premises I am met by a completely different member of the congregation in the role of Property Steward. 

This is not down to an abundance of volunteers who rotate in that trusted appointment on a competitive basis but because, sadly, the average age of a Methodist in my area is generally more than the Psalms 90 mentioned three score years and ten. 

On the upside I am more or less assured to make a new acquaintance on my periodic and scheduled return to a Place of Worship and can enjoy it as though experiencing it for the first time......all over again.