Introduction

Each church has a part to play and we are a very community-driven group of people. As a group of churches we gather twice a year to share ideas, discuss important matters, and spend time together. We also gather for joint services on a more regular basis and like to share resources and attend each other's church events.

Out of what we believe comes a desire to do positive things and make a difference in the world. This is usually in small ways rather than big ones but we believe that everyone has a part to play and everyone can be involved in our church.

What do we do?

Loving God

We have a big focus on getting to know God better in our churches, that is what Sundays are all about, as well as our bible study groups. We believe God is brilliant and worth knowing, and we want to know more about him and to get to know him better. We love to pray together and spend time with God, growing in our faith as we get to know him. You can read more about what we believe about God here.

Loving our neighbour

God also teaches we should “love our neighbour as ourselves”, something you might have heard before. It means that we are taught to love other people, not in a cheesy and weird way, just through acts of kindness and support. This is also a big part of what we do together as a group of churches. We like to be generous and let other groups use our buildings. We like to support people in good times like weddings, and bad times like funerals. We like to be a positive and encouraging voice in our communities and lead the way in doing positive and good things for everyone to enjoy. You can find out more about what our different churches do by visiting their own websites or popping in to see them, a Sunday morning is a good time to visit but there are other groups during the week in many places.

Sharing our faith

We also love to tell other people about our faith and how great our God is, we try not to force this on anyone, but we really do think we have something special so we like to share it and talk about it. If you are interested then there are many ways you can find out more – you could come to one of our churches and ask about it, call us in the office (0121 616 1800), or we’d really recommend doing a course which explores the Christian Faith such as the Alpha Course. It’s not just our circuit who runs these courses, you can find a course local to you by clicking here.

So what does this look like in practice?

Birmingham Methodist Circuit is a huge organisation which does a huge amount of good work in our city. We have...

• 30 churches who meet on a Sunday, many of whom run other groups, studies and activities during the week.
• 18 ministers who support and guide the people in their congregations spiritually, but also help many others with weddings and funerals.
• 10 colleagues from other denominations who we work closely with.
• 67 Local Preachers who preach and lead worship on Sundays.
• 13 lay staff who work in our churches and in our communities running projects or doing pastoral work, as well as a fantastic team of administrators or keep things ticking over.
• 10 circuit projects which we run including several community projects and a youth project.
• We are also involved in many city wide initiatives. We work closely with many partners which would include Citizens UK Birmingham and Restore.

The best way to find out what is going on in your area and what our churches and staff are running near you is to visit your local church's website or pop in and see them. Again, check out the church finder tool to find out what churches are near you.

Ministry Teams

In September 2019 we changed the way that our circuit operates as our churches began working together in Ministry Teams. If you have any questions or comments about the teams then please email strategy@birminghammethodistcircuit.org.uk.

In summary

Our circuit of churches is made up of 30 individual churches. For us church isn't about going into building on a Sunday and listening to a preacher tell us what to do, church is about being a family together and all of the wonderful things we do together. It's about knowing and spending time with the wonderful God that we love. You’d be very welcome to come and visit us and see what it’s all about at any time.