OUTREACH / MISSION


Mission - what is it?


Raising money by sponsored rowing

"Mission is the participation of Christians in the liberating mission of Jesus. It is the good news of God's love, incarnated in the witness of a community for the sake of the world."


"Mission is quite simply, though profoundly, what the Christian community is called to do, beginning right where it is." From Transforming Mission, David Bosch (2000)







Mission in the Thames Valley Circuit

Our circuit summary included our detailed mission statement, categorised under the four sections of Our Calling:

  • WORSHIP OF THE LIVING GOD
  • LEARN AND CARE
  • SERVE
  • EVANGELISE

On this page we concentrate on some of the ways in which we seek to SERVE.


Supporting our Mission: by the Circuit


Mission is so important, that we have dedicated pages on this website showing how we work in conjunction with key Methodist organisations which seek to promote, support and raise awareness about Mission in Britain and the World Church:


  • Action for Children
  • All We Can (Methodist Relief and Development)
  • MHA (Methodist Homes for the Aged)
  • Methodist Women in Britain


We are also actively involved in supporting Environmental organisations such as Fairtrade, and we work with Interfaith groups such as Windsor & Maidenhead Community Forum and Slough Faith Partnership.


Throughout the circuit we participate actively as a circuit, section, and/or individual churches, or ecumenically within village or town in events which are organised throughout the country, or, indeed, the entire Christian World:

  • Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
  • World Day of Prayer
  • Good Friday walk of witness
  • Carols at Christmas
  • Fairtrade Week




Several of the galleries in our Photo Gallery illustrate these events, such as:



We hold Circuit Events with the emphasis on providing education and information, such as:

  • A Circuit Missions Service, sometimes preceded by a workshop. The theme varies from year to year, with the emphasis on World Mission or Mission in Britain or a special one for that year.
  • A Mission Quiz. Apart from being a highly entertaining and enjoyable evening (despite the inevitable highly challenging questions!) starting with a shared meal, it is a great way to raise money for mission.
  • A Strawberry Tea. No prizes for guessing what this is!


Collecting for a Food Bank

Many of our churches are involved individually, collectively or ecumenically in mission in the community, with

  • Street Angels, in each of the towns of Maidenhead, Windsor and Slough
  • Night Shelters
  • Food banks, in smaller churches such as Colnbrook & Poyle as well as the larger churches.
  • Open the Book — a national organisation taking Bible stories into schools, and further afield. Half the churches in the circuit, particularly the village ones, are involved in this, as illustrated by Old Windsor's 2011-12 gallery.


Supporting our Mission: by the churches


Quite apart from circuit events, each church holds its own special fundraising events such as Bazaars, Sales of Work, Brunches, Coffee Mornings, Lunches and Open Days — occasions which provide a chance to socialise — and (usually!) with refreshments.





To give a few examples:

  • Burnham's Wake up Wednesday provides cooked meals for children waiting for the school bus.
  • St Andrew's Asian Congregation support a charity in Pakistan all year round. In addition, their special events included Clothes Aid 2012, when they collecting a quarter of a ton of clothing in response to the 2012 devastating floods in Pakistan.
  • Ledgers Road Methodist Church holds a weekly men's breakfast aimed primarily at the homeless.

Please refer to each individual church page (or church website) for more information.

Special Events


Thames Valley Circuit's 24 Hours of Prayer, 2013


Methodist Prayer Handbook for 2013 to 14


The Circuit Mission Committee incorporated the circuit's theme for that year: Teach us to pray with a 24/7 prayer event at St Andrew's Slough from 4 pm on Saturday, 28th September 2013 to 4 pm on Sunday, 29th.







The Methodist Prayer Handbook caters for every Home and Overseas area in the course of a month. Each church was allocated specific days, and prepared a prayer station using one Home area and one Overseas area:







Church, etc Districts Overseas Area
Burnham Ireland The Gambia
Colnbrook & Poyle UC Birmingham Ghana
Cookham Rise Bolton & Rochdale Zimbabwe
Eton Wick Wales Uruguay
Hampshire Avenue Chester & Stoke-on-Trent Grenada, Chile
High Street Maidenhead East Anglia Middle East
Ledgers Road Lincolnshire Indian Subcontinent
Old Windsor Manchester & Stockport Sri Lanka
St Andrew's Slough Northampton District Japan
St Mark's Crescent Sheffield Tonga, Samoa
Windsor Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury Serbia, Switzerland
Woodlands Park Scotland
Missions Committee Celtic Prayer Station God's Wonderful World
St Andrew's Junior Church God's Love goes on and on God's Love goeas on and on




A pictorial record of the prayer stations is included in the Photo Gallery in the gallery entitled Prayer 2013.


This event gave the Circuit the opportunity to pray for the work that we raise money for, year in and year out.


The weekend concluded with a Circuit Missions Service, at which Rev Conrad Hicks told us about some of the challenges he faced and the work he did during his year in Mexico 2012-3. With an impassioned plea, he challenged all the churches to take a step forward in faith and prayer and increase their mission work in their neighbourhood.








Thames Valley Circuit's Prayer Safari, 2014


Methodist Prayer Handbook for 2014 to 15


The Circuit Mission Committee organised another highly successful Mission Weekend with a Prayer Safari at Windsor Methodist Church on Saturday and Sunday, 18th and 19th October 2014.







As in 2013, each church was allocated specific days from the Methodist Prayer Handbook and prepared a prayer station using one Home area and one Overseas area:







Church, etc Districts Overseas Area
Burnham Scotland France
Colnbrook & Poyle UC West Yorkshire Poland
Cookham Rise Southampton Northern Europe
Eton Wick Plymouth & Exeter Australia
Hampshire Avenue Lancashire China
High Street Maidenhead Lincolnshire Asia
Ledgers Road Isle of Man Middle East
Old Windsor Darlington Grenada, St Vincent, Jamaica
St Andrew's Slough Cumbria Peru
St Mark's Crescent Wales Kenya
Windsor Birmingham Ghana
Woodlands Park London Sierra Leone




A pictorial record of the prayer stations is included in the Photo Gallery in the gallery entitled Prayer 2014.


The weekend concluded with a Circuit Missions Service, at which Mr Tony Miller told us some of his experiences working with the Whitechapel Mission.


Example of a prayer station

Further Safaris

Further Prayer Safaris have been held since then, as recorded in the circuit Photo Gallery.

For example, the one in 2016 concentrated on "Hospitality" with churches illustrating some aspects of the hospitality they offered — not just in the church itself, but in the wider community.



Generating packets of spice for the refugees in The Jungle at Calais.
Noteworthy was the support offered by the churches in Slough to refugees / migrants who had fled from their homes in (e.g. Syria) and were trying to get to Britain to start a new life there. At the time of the 2016 Mission weekend, many were in a temporary holding area in Calais known as "the Jungle". The Jungle kitchen was serving 9000 hot meals a week to the refugees, and providing dried provisions to those with facilities to cook. However, these were people who were used to spices, and to them the food they received was tasteless. Circuit members attending the Safari had the opportunity to help in making up Spice Bags which were then sent to Calais to help "spice-up" the lives of some of our less-fortunate neighbours. See the album Prayer Safari 2016 for illustrations of this special weekend.


Please note


In addition to the galleries mentioned explicitly above, the Photo Gallery includes a number of others relating to Mission events throughout the circuit.

Details of forthcoming events are included in the Circuit Diary.

To find out more about the mission of the Methodist Church in Britain and abroad, follow this link.