Greetings and blessings in the name of Jesus. I am excited to be able to minister and serve God in this community and I look forward to getting to know you, worshipping alongside you and accompanying you on a journey of faith.
I hail from a town called Saltpond in Ghana. My parents were staunch Methodists, my father a bishop and my mother a Local Preacher. I am one of eight children.
I have attended Cliff College (a Methodist training college in Derbyshire), Bristol and Manchester Universities and Wesley College, Cambridge. I also have a doctorate from Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington DC. I have written two books and am working on a third.
Isaiah tells us: "Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing new things. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?"(Is 43: 18-19).
This speaks into our times. We are standing on the threshold of something fresh and exciting. God calls us not to be weighed down by what is behind but to lift our eyes to the new paths He is carving our for us.
I believe God will bring new opportunities and fresh encounters with His Spirit. New beginnings may feel uncertain but they are also full of God's promise. Together, we can trust that he is making a Way for us and even in the wilderness causing streams to flow in places that were once dry
Methodism in Stony Stratford
John Wesley (1709-91), the founding father of Methodism, visited Stony Stratford on a number of occasions. Ordained as as Anglican ministers, John and his brother Charles, together with several friends at Oxford University, were renowned for their methodical approach to their faith, regularly engaging in Bible study, prayer and visiting the poor, the sick and those in prison. As a result they were nick-named 'Methodists', a term which has stuck.
During the tumultuous years of the 18th century, the Wesleys were concerned that the old parish system did not cater for the working classes of the new towns and cities that were rapidly expanding due to the trade brought about by the growing British Empire. Hence 'field preaching' - in the open air - became an important feature of taking to message of the Gospel to where it needed to be heard. The Anglican Church authorities became increasingly concerned by the message of radical Christian love that these 'Methodists' were proclaiming at market crosses and in other public places. Eventually, after John Wesley's death, those who practised Methodism diverged from the Anglican church.
In towns and villages, bands of Methodist followers formed 'societies' to support and encourage each other. In the 1770's a local group began to meet for worship in a large barn behind the Talbot Inn in Stony Stratford (now 81 to 85 High Street). It remained their meeting place until 1844 when the present church was built in Cow Lane near Coffereys (~Cow Fryers) Close. Cow Lane later became Silver Street and Coffereys Close is now Cofferidge Close.
John Wesley is said to have visited Stony Stratford at least five times and is reputed to have preached under a tree in the market square. The elm tree that stood there for many years died of Dutch Elm disease in the 2000's and was replaced by an oak in 2008.
Left: Silver Street in the early 20th century (?), with the Methodist church by the lamp-post (which is still there in its modern form - see picture on home page).
Top: Wesley's Tree in the market square circa 1905