We held our first baptism service in the Church on Sunday 27th March 2022.  We used to hold the services in a Church in Bedlington, but we purchased a Hot Tub style pool and used that for the baptisms.

We had a wonderful service of celebration, of praise and worship to our awesome God and for the work He has done for us by sending His Son Jesus Christ to save us through the cross ast Calvary.  For the three people who went through the waters and another who re-committed her life to Christ. 

We celebrated with Emma, Saman, Esi and Debbie as they all gave an outward committment of their love for Christ, by passing through the waters of Baptism.

We were blessed by Saman and Esi as we sang a song in Farsi "Azim Ast Name" and as they linked arms together with Hadi, there was not a dry eye in the Church.

Emma chose Living Hope by Phil Whickham and Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me and Debbie chose the Revelation song.

We prayed together with them, asking that the Holy Spirit would furnish them with the gifts that He would bestow upon them and rejoiced as they all claimed that they belong to Jesus.

We followed the service with a celebration lunch together and a wonderful time in fellowship.  What a great God we serve.  Hallelujah!

See the pictures below

This section presents comprehensive information on our regular services and other meetings. Read the latest news about our services and activities.

Sunday Services - Starting from 10:30am.  

Prayer Meetings are every Tuesday from 10:00am till 11:30

English Class every Tuesday from 11:30 - 12:30

Journey to Wellness every Tuesday starting from mid September.

Thursday Bible Study on Zoom from 7:00 pm.  If you want to take part in this, please supply either Pastor Michael or Lindsey with your email address.

Friday Coffee Morning every Friday from 10:30am till 12:00pm, apart from the last friday of every month where we hold our Diner.

We are holding a Christmas Celebration Fellowship evening on Saturday 11th December from 6:30pm.  Food, fellowship, music, fun.

Watch out for further information about other programmes coming soon!

The Wesleyan Reform Union of Churches, Overseas Mission Team, have prayerfully decided upon a new project to fund for the year July 2021 to June 2022.  The project they have decided to support this coming year is that of a small independent charity called “Love Russia.”

The “Love Russia” charity was established in 1993, after the founder Noel Doubleday visited Russia to distribute Bibles. He discovered terrible conditions there and underdeveloped children with many of them not even having their basic needs met.

The charity was founded to improve the lives of orphaned children, and destitute young people in crisis.  Their aim is to provide relief of poverty, suffering and distress by demonstrating practical Christian compassion and where appropriate sharing the Christian faith.

The charity partners with Russians who want to serve the Lord in their local communities, which leads to community led solutions led by strong Christian leaders.

They operate a range of programmes and as the charity has expanded since 1993, they have been able to support more and more marginalised people.  The following are a few examples of the type of project they operate:

Genesis Project

This project supports orphanage leavers in their transition from living in an orphanage to living independently at the age of 16. It supports other vulnerable young people who are struggling to access education due to low household incomes and challenging life circumstances. Mentors help look after young people’s emotional health alongside their physical and financial wellbeing.

Federovits

Federovits is a vocational centre on the outskirts of Moscow.  The project was established to support young people with disabilities that have typically been marginalised in Russia. The project empowers young people with printing skills, and helping them find work in this career path.

Volkhov Crisis Centre

This centre benefits mothers who are at risk of losing their children, due to addictions, domestic violence and/or poverty.  In Russia, when women seek help for these challenges, they risk immediate removal of their parental rights and can lose their children to the orphanage system.  The centre was established in 2012 and provides comprehensive rehabilitation for mothers seeking to recover from addictions, domestic violence and poverty.  The centre is unique as it allows women to keep their children with them while they rehabilitate.  The support covers practical intervention, life skills interventions, emotional interventions and spiritual interventions.

They also offer a wide range of other projects such as summer camps, health support, dental clinics and transitional homes for orphanage leavers.

The WRU Overseas Missions team, this year, (see pictures below) have offered our support to purchase a minibus for the Volkhov Crisis Centre, which will meet a very great multi-purpose need for the Love Russia Project.  We are aiming to raise a minimum of £10,000 to purchase a minibus which will transport children to and from medical appointments and to school.  At the moment, they have to rely upon individuals within the community for transport.  They also rely on transport from people to collect donations of food and clothing, so it would be much simpler if they had their own vehicle to do all of these important tasks.  The weather in Volkhov reaches -30^oC in the winter, so having a good form of transport for the families living there is essential.  The minibus would also be used in the summer to transport the children, youths and mums to summer camps.  Some of the women who live at the centre have cleaning jobs in the community, so this could also be supported transport.

At the WRU conference in August 2021 at the Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire, the project was unveiled.  The OM team all had t-shirts printed with the “Love Russia” log on them (see pictures below) and a fantastic response to this new project was commenced with offerings taken over 2 days of the conference.

The Word of Life WRU Church holds monthly diners on the last Friday of each month, which are open for anyone to attend.  We normally have soup and a bun, along with a dessert of either trifle, or cheesecake and cream, and other refreshments.  Although this is free to anyone we do take donations from those that wish too, and these donations go towards the WRU OM Project.  Last year we donated £600 towards the previous project, which was the Good News Hospital in Mandritsara, Madagascar.  We will also have other events during the coming year, which will include the CEO, Anna Thwaites, of “Love Russia” coming to speak at the Church, and possibly a “Project” day, which may be in the form of a Fayre Day.

Pastor Lindsey Hedley is the secretary of the OM team and will be able to offer more information on the project.  If you would like more information as to how you can support our project, please contact Pastor Lindsey in the first instance.  Other details are posted on the Church notice board and website.  

Overseas Missions Team at Conference Display

Project T-Shirts

Baptism Service of a Lady who has overcome addictions through the help of the project.

During 2020, Pastor Michael submitted a bid for funding to the Allchurches Trust, we were successful in that bid and received £10,800 of funding.  The money was to be used to replace the old spiral staircase, that was virtually unusable and replace it with a new easy access staircase, that allows our upper rooms to be utilised.  One room is hired our by Phil and Catherine Drabble as an arts and crafts room.  The second room has been divided into two sections.  One for storage with proper storage racking systems and the other half is a new prayer room.  The work was completed over August through till December of 2020, and we will be able to start using it from July 2021, when covid restrictions are lifted.  The room will also be used as a Sunday School for our children.

We look forward to being able to use the new room when restrictions are lifted.  Below are a selection of photographs and a video of the new space.