Last September I attended my first class for becoming a member of the Methodist Church.  I had been considering making this decision for a few months, and now felt it was the right thing to do.  I thoroughly enjoyed the classes which started at the Creation and continued with discussions on several subjects, making us eventually think about the significance of the birth of Jesus, the crucifixion, the resurrection and what it really meant to us.   How did it affect us all?  Or rather, how did it affect me?  I found these questions very interesting and challenging.

My confirmation took place at the Covenant Service at Birstall on January 8th 2012.  I am very proud to be a Member of the Methodist Church and will do my utmost to fulfil my commitments.  I guess I shall stray from time to time, but I now know I will be forgiven.

I have since taken the challenge, with others, to read the New Testament in 30 days.  This has been quite difficult, as time is taken up in so many different ways, but I have enjoyed it so much and have learnt a lot from it.  We have had a group discussion every week to talk about what we’ve read and to hear the ideas we have had on reading the different books.  We all had our favourites I think, but it has been an activity I have loved.  I shall be sorry when it ends.

This has been a great experience for me.  Although I have always been a Methodist and brought my children up as Methodists, I myself have never joined in these sort of studies.  I have belonged to most of the activities in the Church and still do but I wanted to belong, not just be a casual helper.  Now I feel I have reached my ambition – I belong to the Methodist Church!