Upton and Blewbury Methodist Churches
A New Beginning in the New Year?
There is going to be a big change for Upton and Blewbury Methodist Churches from January 1st. We are combining to become one church. Although plenty of people come to the churches for community events during the week, numbers have fallen at Sunday Services, so we agreed at the recent joint Church Council Meeting to start the process of becoming one church. This will be known as the Spring Line Methodist Church. It will have two places of worship, the Blewbury Centre and the Upton Centre, and services will alternate between the two centres.
Why Spring Line? Well, we wanted a name that would express where the two villages are, and how they are joined historically. The two villages evolved where they are because they are sited on the Spring Line, the line where the chalk of the Downs meets the sticky clays of the Thames Valley, the line where springs emerge from the ground. Some of the Blewbury springs emerge on the South edge of the Cleve, so Blewbury Church actually stands on a Spring Line. And Upton Methodist Church is close to the springs that rise in Stream Road.
January 1st is the official date for the new Church to come to life, and our minister Helen White will be writing more about it in the January edition of the Upton News, but do think of us and remember us in your prayers as we prepare for this new venture together.
Jo Lakeland (for Blewbury and Upton Methodist Churches)