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News & Events
Memory Café now every Monday morning! Whilst the Alzheimer's Society will continue to run the Memory Café on the first Monday of the month, we are delighted that Astra from Quantum Care will now run a Memory Café on all the other Mondays, meaning that (apart from Bank Holidays) we will always be open on a Monday morning - much less confusing for those least able to cope with different things on different weeks. Astra was keen to emphasise that this is a community project for Quantum Care, so they can give something back to the community - NOT a marketing opportunity. Thank you Amy for organising this!
Welcome Service for the new Superintendent We will be welcoming the new Superintendent of the Herts and Essex Border Circuit, Rev Dr Frank Okai-Sam, at a service at St Andrew’s Methodist Church, The Stow, Harlow, CM20 3AF, at 3.00pm on Sunday 1 September. Put this date in your diary now, so you will be able to come along and welcome Frank and his family.
Which Circuit do we belong to? The Bishop’s Stortford Methodist Circuit (our church and Stansted Free Church) joined the Herts and Essex Border Ecumenical Area (HAEBEA) in September 2023, so that finally we were no longer a one minister Circuit (as District had long wanted); and we gained access to a number of excellent additional preachers, as well as enabling Gill to relinquish her Superintendent duties.
Unfortunately, despite repeated applications, the Charities Commission will not approve any form of constitution for ecumenical areas such as HAEBEA, and therefore, for legal and financial reasons, the only option available to HAEBEA was to split the governance of the Methodist Churches and the United Reformed Churches within the area in two. A new Methodist Circuit (Herts and Essex Border Circuit – HAEBC) will be formed, and there will be a new URC Herts and Essex Border Mission Partnership.
However, whilst we have been forced to split the legal/governance aspects of our area, there is a strong desire within the HAEBEA grouping to maintain our ecumenical working as far as possible, and in particular, in terms of worship, pastoral care and outreach. A new partnership agreement (the Herts and Essex Border Ecumenical Partnership (HAEBEP) has therefore been worked out to enable this continued ecumenical collaboration.
All these changes will come into effect on 1 September 2024, and will be celebrated, along with the arrival of Rev Dr Frank Okai-Sam, the new Superintendent for the Herts & Essex Border Circuit, at a service at St Andrew’s Methodist Church, The Stow, Harlow, CM20 3AF, at 3.00pm on Sunday 1 September, to which everyone is invited.
As a Methodist Church we are also part of the Bedfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire Methodist District.