Arranging Special Services

Wedding services can be held at almost any time of the week other than when

other services are being held or the premises are in use for other pre-booked events. The wedding service format and content is discussed between the Minister and the couple and their family to ensure that both the legal requirements of the marriage ceremony and the wishes of the couple are integrated appropriately.

The premises can be used for marriages with ordained celebrants other than

our own Minister, by prior agreement.

Most of us have been baptised or Christened as it is popularly called and most of us have observed what happens. Here is an extract from a modern order of service for Baptism which explains its significance. 

After his resurrection Jesus said to the disciples: ‘Full authority in heaven and on earth has been committed to me. Go forth therefore and make all nations my disciples: baptise men everywhere in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Sprit, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And be assured, I am with you always to the end of time’. (Matthew 28 v 18-20) 

Therefore, when people became Christians they were baptised. That is they went down under the water and came up again. This meant they were dying to the old way of life and rising again to a new way of life. Jesus had made this opportunity by his own death and resurrection. 

Although for most part the Church no longer baptises by immersion in the water, the meaning of baptism is still the same. It stands for the new beginning God has given us through Jesus. It shows that we are to live as God’s children in his family, the Church. It declares that God gives us the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of eternal life.

A funeral marks the close of a human life on earth. It is the opportunity for friends and family to express their grief, to give thanks for the life which has now completed its journey in this world and to commend the person to God.

Christians believe that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ give them hope and cause for thanksgiving in the face of death. In this faith we entrust those who have died to the infinite mercy and God's love.

A Methodist funeral service acknowledges this hope and offers bereaved people the opportunity to remember their loved one's life and offer them into God's care.                                                                  

Most people go to a funeral director to arrange a funeral. If you don't know of a local funeral director, visit www.uk-funerals.co.uk or www.nafd.org.uk  for practical arrangements and how to find a funeral director.

The funeral director makes the first contact with the Minister about booking a funeral at the Church and/or the Crematorium or Cemetery. The Minister will then contact you and arrange to come and meet with you, usually at your home or the home of one of the family. He will offer support and help you to plan the service, bearing in mind the wishes of the deceased and their family.

The service at Park Lane can be very short and quiet with only a few members of the family present or an occasion of great solemnity with music, hymns and a packed church. It can be the standard funeral service from the Methodist Worship Book or with the addition of specially chosen music, hymns, favourite prayers and readings and a tribute. The Minister will make every effort to work with the relatives to design a service which is fitting for the person and which meets the needs of those attending.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes

in him may not perish but may have eternal life.