Church in the Community
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ( John 15:12)Following this commandment, Great Ayton Methodist Church aims to show God’s love by serving the people in the community at the point of their need and sharing God’s love with all those we come across. We see community as everyone in the area, regardless of whether they attend church or not. This means that the church in the community area of work covers activities both inside and outside the church building.
From church lunches, special events at times such as Christmas and Easter to regular activities, social events and outreach activities, the church aims to be alongside the community, helping and supporting where it can.
The church serves and missions to the community in a number of ways. In doing so it works with the other mission areas (pastoral, worship and children and young people) as appropriate. Examples of the church’s work in this area include:
- Work with and support for individuals (in conjunction with our pastoral portfolio)
- Services for the community including lunches, activities and events
- Social events and activities including games evening and film nights and family fun sessions with soft play (in conjunction with the children and young people portfolio)
- Fundraising for charitable causes including the annual church charity
- Acting as a safe place for marking key life events including marriage, holding funeral services or hiring the hall for birthdays and other celebrations (see ‘How can we help?’ for more details)
- Worshipping as a church both inside and outside our building including the ‘Tie a Ribbon’ prayer initiative in the village that takes place over Pentecost each year (in conjunction with the worship portfolio)
- Serving and worshipping with other churches as a part of Great Ayton Churches Together on a regular basis and for special events including the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ prayer initiative in May and June 2019
- Running weekly events and activities including:
- Coffee and crafts on Wednesday mornings,
- Community lunch on Tuesday lunchtimes
- Primetime games on Monday afternoons and Tuesday mornings
- Saturday coffee mornings
- Monthly Sunday lunches
- Monthly film evenings on Fridays (winter only)
- J Time on Tuesday afternoons in school time (in conjunction with the children and young people portfolio)
- Toddler groups on Thursday mornings and afternoons (in conjunction with the children and young people portfolio)
See our ‘What’s on?’ page for further details of these events