Address: EX6 6AA |
Minister: Rev Donna Leigh
Circuit Steward: Sue Keatt Sunday service at 10.30 am |
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For details, see Circuit Preaching Plan |
The service is held at 10.30 am, but we open at 10am for Alternative Worship service on the 2nd Sunday of each month. This service often uses Messy Church style resources, and is good for those who find a ‘conventional’ service not to their liking.
The village of Tedburn St Mary lies seven miles west of Exeter and has no obvious centre but, set beside the school, the Methodist Church certainly feels itself to be at the heart of the community.
Opened for worship in April 1930, the building was erected as a typical Methodist Church of the day, but with chairs and carpet laid, there is an open and welcoming atmosphere which lends itself to different forms of worship.
We have an average congregation of fifteen adults, with Junior Church offered when children are present. Toys are provided in the church for those who remain with parents for the whole service.We hold regular ‘united’ services with our friends at the Parish Church and enjoy a close relationship with the local school. All our activities are for those of faith or none. Our fundraising activities include local and worldwide charities, and we are now one of two outlets for the Community Larder. Fresh food – otherwise going to waste – is added to the larder as often as possible. In addition, we host the Tedburn Church Kitchen. This initiative has established a network of cooks from within the church and the wider community to cook an extra meal or two (from time to time), when they cook their own, so that it can be frozen, and enable us to deliver to individuals and families, who unexpectedly find themselves in times of difficulty – such as bereavement, illness, coping with a seriously sick child, and who could do with a meal over a number of days (or weeks) to tide them over their period of trouble. The meals are stored in a freezer at the Methodist Church. Anyone can contact TCK and ask for assistance – for themselves or another – and a member of the group will collect and deliver as many meals as necessary.
The School room is stocked with books for a library and a coffee morning is held there on the last Saturday morning of each month, where locals can borrow books or jigsaws and share fellowship. The social side has developed into an evening meeting with an ad hoc arrangement of interesting speakers, no particular day being set aside for this, but as people are willing and able to come.
The Youth Leadership Team members have been taking craft and bible stories out into the community, visiting toddler groups in nearby villages. This team also forms the nucleus of a group drawn from the wider village population who are working with Open the Book, to present bible stories in the Tedburn Primary School.
The members of Tedburn Methodist Church are always prepared to raise funds for other causes, offering occasional lunches and coffee mornings. A Friday lunch club, run monthly in the Village Hall was instigated when the Warm Room initiative began and involves members from the whole village co-ordinated by the Methodist team.
Being an agricultural community, harvest time has always been an important part of the church calendar. We have taken harvest out into the community and updated the celebration, by holding a barn dance. Funded by the two churches, entry is free to all, but donations to Christians Against Poverty have been welcomed.
