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What to expect at Hayes End

When asked to describe Hayes End Methodist Church to someone who has never been there the temptation is to talk about the building, but that isn’t really what makes our Church, it’s just the place where we meet. If you take a look at this website, or our magazine, you will see something of what we believe and do as a Christian community within our local, national and international community. The congregation at Hayes End have a strong feeling of this being OUR church and there is frequent discussion of what we could and should be doing to fulfil our role as Christians within the church and our wider communities.

At Hayes End you will find a mix of ages, nationalities and Christian traditions; people who have been coming here for a range of time from always to just last week. Because of our prominent location on a main road, we frequently have new faces in our congregation many of whom become regular members of our congregation. In a recent survey we did, the main reason given for this was that they were made to feel welcome, something we try to keep high on our list of priorities. For many people in the area around the church we are viewed as THEIR church, so they come to us in times of need and times of joy in much the same way as they would a Parish Church.

As our Minister would probably tell you, there is no such thing as a ‘normal’ service at Hayes End, so describing what you might expect to experience if you came along is difficult. Some things are constant though, and as you enter the building by the front doors you will be greeted by one of our Door Stewards who will hand you any notices for this week and a Worship Book if it’s a Communion Service. Our morning services start at 11am and have a ‘traditional’ Methodist feel with hymn singing, prayer and teaching. Our music is a mix of traditional hymns and more modern songs played on the organ, piano or our music group, depending on which musician is available to play. We use two books for singing - Hymns & Psalms (a dark blue or black book) indicated by black numbers on the Hymn Board at the front of the church and Songs of Fellowship (a light blue book) indicated by red numbers on the Hymn Board.

Officially we use the Good News Bible for our readings, but often readers chose to read from other translations or paraphrased versions like The Message or The Dramatised Bible. Although we have our own Minister, he is not to be found leading our services each week. This is partially due to the fact that they are the Minister for the two Methodist Churches in the Hayes area, but also because the Methodist tradition is to encourage diversity of teaching by having different preachers leading services. So our service could be led by another Minister, a Methodist Local Preacher, someone representing one of the charities we support or some other lay preacher. We also have our own Worship Teams drawn from the congregation and have been known to let our Junior Church loose on the congregation as well.

At the start of each service we are joined by our Junior Church when the content of the service will be suitable for youngsters. After this they normally leave us for their own worship activities in the hall at the rear of the building. Visiting youngsters are welcome to join them for these activities or stay in church, if that’s what they prefer. This is often the point when the collection for the work of our church is taken. No-one is under any obligation to make a contribution and passing the plate on without adding to it is perfectly acceptable. Some will do this anyway because they contribute by other methods.

At least once a month we have a Communion service where ALL are welcome to share in the Lord’s Supper of bread and wine, from the youngest to the oldest. The only requirement for participation is that you love the Lord Jesus. For these services we normally follow the Order of Service appropriate for the time of year in the Methodist Worship Book.

During the prayer time in our service the names of the people in our Prayer Book and from the Prayer Cross are read out and prayers said for them. The Prayer Book is always available on the table at the front entrance to the church before morning services and the Prayer Cross is hung at the rear of the church in the main lobby so that it is available to all the people who use our building in the course of the week. Over the course of the following week all people who have been named will also be prayed for by members of our congregation.

Our evening services are held jointly with the other Methodist church in Hayes and the venue alternates between our building and the one in Station Road, Hayes. These services are generally less formal than the morning ones and have many different formats. As with the morning service, the person leading worship varies.(Details of these and all our services can be found on the weekly notice sheets given to you as you enter the church, in our magazine and on this website.)

After all our Sunday services refreshments are served so that we have time to spend getting to know each other better, catching up with what’s been happening and passing on news. Visitors are welcome to join us in the hall at the back of the church if they would like to, but we understand that this is not always appropriate for everyone. If you would like to speak to our Minister or need some other help, make yourself know to one of our Stewards and they will be pleased to help. Our Stewards are fairly easy to spot, they should be wearing badges with their names on them. If you'd rather, you could fill out one of the cards that can be found in the pews and either leave it on the table where you enter the church or hand it to the duty Steward - the person who led the prayers right at the start of the service. Our Minister will then contact you as soon as possible.

If you'd like more information about what happens in our church or where to find things, take a look at the Welcome Booklet. They can be found on or near the table as you enter the church from the front.