Lancaster Methodist Church 

A 'Fresh Expression' of Church

The Fresh Expressions movement is a national initiative being followed by many individual Anglican and Methodist Churches seeking to find new ways to 'be church'. More information is available on the Fresh Expressions website. (see below for other resources)

We are on a journey as we seek to make the church more relevant to our community in Lancaster and to serve the needs of that community. This initiative is focused on The Cornerstone (see below) but is concerned with being church - with witnessing to our faith in Jesus Christ, with working for peace and justice, with worship of God and with the spirituality of everyday life - rather than the use of physical premises. We continue to seek out what this will mean for us.

We now share our city centre premises with a group of voluntary organisations. The premises are known as The Cornerstone and are situated on the corner of Dalton Square (where Lancaster's Town Hall is sited), with the entrance in Sulyard Street. The partner organisations are:

One Voice - working with people with physical disabilities
Thumbprint - helping people with learning disabilities into employment
Lonsdale Carers - supporting people caring for others
and the Church, enabling people to express their spirituality in ways which are meaningful to them.

One of our first initiatives was to open the chapel at The Cornerstone at lunchtimes in Holy Week 2007, making it available for quiet reflection for people working or shopping in the city. We then extended that idea to create a Quiet Space, with a Prayer Tree, which is open to all at any time when the premises are open. We have also held events like the Christmas Tree Festival at The Cornerstone. In all of this we are starting to build a community of people concerned with promoting and enabling wholeness of life for all people. We have successfully moved our Prayer Breakfast from the Scotforth Road church to a new slot in the late morning at the Cornerstone and we are planning to make our occasional weekday worship services there a regular feature of our church life.

Please send any comments to Peter Brophy, the Working Group convenor.

Other resources on Fresh Expressions:

Beyond the Wood and Stone

Emerging Culture

    Last modified: 26 July, 2010

Please send comments on the website to the Website Administrator