Mission

Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Mathew 28:18-19)

The purpose of the mission work we do at Great Ayton Methodist Church is to try and follow this ‘Great Commission’ that is given to every follower of Jesus Christ.

It is the responsibility of the whole Church to ensure that we remain committed to this focus on mission. All we do is out of concern for God’s glory and the extension of His kingdom.

At Great Ayton Methodist Church we structure how we undertake this work into four main areas:

Worship: the expression of our love of and reverence for God. Read more here
Children and young people: our work to support, care for and show God’s love for children and their families. Read more here
Church in the community: our work to minister to and care for people in the village and wider world to show God’s love for all people. Read more here
Pastoral: to be a family in Christ who care for, pray for and support one another at all times, especially in times of need. Read more here

Church charity

The church and its members give formally and informally to a number of charitable causes throughout the year. However, each year the church selects a particular charity or charities that it will support by raising funds from activities and events. Various church groups and individuals take part, either running or supporting events. Traditionally the church selects more local charities for one year then a more internationally focused causes the next although this varies from time to time.

Over the last six years, despite lockdowns and restrictions Great Ayton Methodist Church has raised around £63,000 for good causes. Over this period we have supported The Smiles Foundation, Teesside Hospice, The Russ Devereux Headlight Project, the Blue Dragon Children’s Project in Hanoi, Vietnam and the Source Of Light School, providing education to children in a remote area of Uganda. In 2024 we rated £8500 for the Fund for Human Need, a Methodist affiliated charity that gives cash relief grants of up to £120 to people in immediate need,

Church charity 2025

For 2025 we’re raising money to support the work of the Al Amana Centre in Oman. This foundation works to promote tolerance peace and love between different faith communities. Given the current tensions across the world the importance of this work cannot be overstated. In a summary of what they do they say:

‘Al Amana Center is able to gather people from different religious experiences and create space for them to be engaged and transformed in their thinking, practices, understanding, and empathy. This impact is not limited to them personally, but is disseminated to their communities, institutions, and families.

Because Al Amana Centre works with students, educators, and religious leaders, the impact will be felt for years to come as these transformed participants interact in new and powerful ways with the communities in which they call home.’

Keep an eye out on our social media accounts and the What’s on section of the website to find out more about the events and activities we’ll be running to raise money for what, in the present world climate, is an extremely important cause.

Rev Rob Weir presents Catherine Devereux of the Russ Devereux Headlight Project a cheque for £10,000 on Sunday 23 October 2022

An inclusive church

We’re proud to say that we’re a fully inclusive church. Everyone will find an unconditional welcome here regardless of their gender, skin colour, sexual orientation, disability or status. We’d love you to join us! All roles within the church, although subject to normal safeguarding checks during our safe recruitment process, are open to all. The same applies to our worship and ‘ceremonial’ events such as weddings. We worship a God who may everything with a wonderful diversity and richness and we celebrate that.

Within the Methodist Church nationally a task Group presented a report to the 2019 Conference with recommendations about various issues to do with relationships in general and marriage in particular, including same sex marriages and marriage of people who have been divorced. Those recommendations were submitted to the wider Church for consultation during 2019-2020. The circuit is gave some feedback to the District Synod in February 2021 and the matter was considered at the July 2020 Conference.

This Conference agreed, by a substantial margin to accept the principles of the report. Individual churches ministers were allowed to make their own decisions about how to proceed so that while pursuing a path to greater equality no individual or church council will be compelled to act against their beliefs.

In spring of 2023 Great Ayton Methodist Church council agreed by a large majority to accept the findings of the report and to become registered to be able to hold weddings of people of the same sex as well as those between a man and a woman. We’re delighted to have taken this decision so that the joy of a Christian marriage is open to all. You can find out more about getting married at Great Ayton Methodist Church here.