Shared articles written about a wide variety of experiences by church members, along with highlights about recent church news and forthcoming events in more depth.

Bishop's Cleeve has been registered with an Bronze “EcoChurch” award.

Information from the Green Team
Recyclers Teracycle have partnered with pen manufacturers BIC to set up community pen recycling points. There is a collection bin by the door in Ryman's (stationers) at 11 The Promenade in Cheltenham.
Any brand of used pen, felt tip pen, highlighters, markers and correction fluid pots and pens can be donated.
There is a box in the foyer for your items so you don't have to travel to Cheltenham.

Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury church has registered with silver “EcoChurch” award – An awards scheme for churches in England and Wales, who want to demonstrate that they care for God’s earth. We want to “go green” in all areas of our church life – from worship to building management, outreach to personal lifestyle.

At District and at Circuit level of the Methodist church we have committed to environmental policies. Indeed our own church has recommitted through our Green Group to a number of actions (which meets in church every second Saturday morning over coffee) including the following:

•  We will continue to work towards our Gold Eco award.
•  We will support and promote groups that we are closely linked with such as Fair Trade.
•  We will continue to host Green Events on our premises as well as have a presence at any such events in the locality.
•  Every week the notices will contain a ‘Planet health’ tip offered by our Green Group.
•  We will hold 8 services per year based on creation spirituality.
•  We will add a note to our letter which goes out to all preachers requesting that prayers for our planet be included in every service.
•  We will redouble our recycling efforts both personally and as a church.

 All the work we do together will count towards a Bronze, Silver or Gold Eco-Church Award.

One aspect of this in which we can all help is what we do to recycle and reuse items. Currently, we have two blue recycling bins in the corridor outside the main kitchen, and a small recycling bin in the kitchen at the front of the church. These bins will take plastic bottles, cans, paper, cardboard (including biscuit boxes when used at coffee mornings).

There are also waste food bins in each kitchen. We urge you to use these bins, and think about what you are binning before it all goes into the land-fill rubbish bin. We will label the bins and put some additional notices in the kitchens to bring this to the attention of those hiring our premises.

In the Church car park we have two wheelie blue recycling bins, 2 wheelie green bins for general waste, and one wheelie brown bin (for garden waste and flowers but NO paper!).  We would ask that you as individuals think carefully about what you can recycle, and also church groups when disposing of items no longer of use. If you have any queries or want help with items that might need to be taken to the Stoke Orchard Recycling Centre, then please see either of us.

We endeavour to purchase environmentally friendly products such as photo-copying paper, and hand towels and toilet tissue, and we intend to extend this to cleaning products as well.

If you have any further suggestions as to how we can avoid waste, please let us know! You may find it interesting to have a look at the Main eco-church website.

We have the Silver Award, and are working towards the next level. With your help we can do it!

Thank you and happy recycling!
            Patricia Turner and Jean Davies

ECO GROUP – The 7 “R”s

Rejoice – Let’s take delight in Creation – God’s free gift to us.  This is all we need for our own fulfilment!

Refuse – refuse to believe what the adverts say.  You are no less a person because you don’t have this gadget or haven’t been to that exotic place.

Reduce – By reducing our impact on the planet could we also reduce our levels of stress and anxiety?  We can buy less, travel less, and put less pressure on ourselves to have that perfect home and ever-active life.

Reuse – Replace the convenience of single use and disposable items with the love of something which can be re-used for months or years.

Repair – Let’s look after our stuff and keep hold of the old skills of sewing and repairing.  Find out if there are workshops near you where you can get your electronic items fixed, and donate old furniture to charities which teach people refurbishing skills.

Rent, borrow and share – Ownership can be overrated.   Tools in particular are often bought and used only once or twice a year.  Borrowing and sharing can be a great way of bonding with neighbours, and there are organisations which will rent clothes, tools and rarely used items such as camping equipment.

Recycle – Recycling come last on the list because it should be a last resort.  Recycling does reduce the rate in which we use natural resources but it still uses a lot of energy for transporting and processing the items.

 Specific Topics

We have a strong outreach ethos within our own communities, particularly to young people via our schools work, Messy Church and Sunday Breakfast Club as well as my Chaplaincy work to the Sea Cadets. We are increasingly working in all our churches to reach those who have become more isolated as a result of the pandemic and seeking new ways to promote mental health and wellbeing. 

We found our mission on the notion of spiritual and practical hospitality which we see as a vital underpinning of the Good News of Jesus Christ. We believe that all are called, all are welcome, all are valued and all are gifted in their own particular way. We want to see people grow and develop within the great love of Christ and we do our best to reflect that love. In Tewkesbury we are planning a major building refurbishment which seeks to express our mission and values through many different partnerships we are developing with various agencies with the community.

As a worshipping community we meet every Sunday morning in Winchcombe and Tewkesbury and every 2nd and 4th Sundays in Apperley.

Our Churches are committed to being Eco friendly with 'earthwise' groups exploring the challenges our planet faces with spiritual and practical guidance. Tewkewsbury is currently working towards its Gold Eco award and this will also be the ethos of our building refurbishment. 

My particular vocational calling is contemplative practice and I hold various groups both online and in person which focus particularly on this approach to spiritual development. In these groups we explore, amongst other topics, lectio divina, Christian meditation, pilgrimage, the book of nature, mindfulness and  the lives of the Christian mystics.

All our churches engage in local Churches Together groups and we enjoy excellent working relationships and many friendships within this wider ecumanical family. 

The National Methodist Church home page

Wesleys Chapel Church Services

Wesleys Chapel  home page

Methodist Central Hall  home page

Methodist Central Hall:  Live,  Latest  &  Recent Church Services

Our churches believe in working for the good of the local communities in partnership with the other churches in Tewkesbury and Winchcombe areas and are a members of 'Churches together'.

We are a community of people around Gloucestershire who believe God has called us to respond to the good news of God's love made known in Jesus Christ in worship and service.

     Online  "Worship at Home"  Sunday Service

     Glos Circuit Facebook page

         Gloucestershire Circuit Home page    

         Circuit News Letter 

     Winter 2025 - Preaching Plan (Abridged)

    Glos. Circuit Youth Club

Welcome to our website!

If you know of any church activities or events that need advertising or have any website information or comments you would like share:

Please let Andrew know.  via email:   tmc_web@btinternet.com

If there are events or activities no longer taking place or that will starting soon please tell me about these as well!

For Tewkesbury church room booking information please contact Andrew May via:  tmcroombookings@btinternet.com

'Church Pages'

Our new website was written and designed by 'Church Pages'.
'Church Pages' are part of a professional Christian website design company that design websites for many large organisations in the commercial world.
They make their technical expertise and computer resources available at a not-for-profit rate to churches so they can afford websites to spread the word of God.

We are very grateful to Church pages and in particular Heather Khoo and Emma Simpson who have been training and liaising with us from the conception of our website. They helped us through its creation and have given us support during the current stages and are still continuing to support us. Without their many hours of work and support we would not have a professional website. So, a big thank you to them!

Church Pages home page

We are delighted to report that we have been accepted on the Inclusive Church Register. This means that those people who may feel uncomfortable in visiting a church for whatever reason be it because of a disability, gender issue, sexuality or feeling socially isolated, can refer to the register to learn of churches where they will be made unconditionally welcome. We are one of those churches. I believe we are well known for our “welcomes” be it to services or to coffee mornings so continuing these welcomes to all who enter our building will not be difficult. The Inclusive Church Statement is as follows:

“We believe in inclusive church – a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexual. We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.” Inclusive Church is a network of churches, groups and individuals uniting together around a shared vision and we are proud to be part of it.

THE COVENTRY CATHDRAL WELCOME

It seems appropriate to share this Welcome notice from Coventry Cathedral:

We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, confused, filthy rich, comfortable or dirt poor.

We extend a special welcome to wailing babies and excitable toddlers.

We welcome you whether you can sing like Pavarotti or just growl quietly to yourself.

You're welcome here if you're 'just browsing', just woken up or just got out of prison.We don't care if you're more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury, or haven't been to church since Christmas ten years ago.

We extend a warm welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast.

We welcome keep-fit mums, football dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters.

We welcome those who are in recovery and those who are still addicted.

We welcome you if you're having problems, are down in the dumps or don't like organised religion.

We offer a welcome to those who think the Earth is flat, work too hard, don't work, can't spell or are here because granny is visiting and wanted to come to the Cathedral

We welcome those who are inked, pierced, both or neither.

We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down their throats as kids or got lost in the city centre and wound up here by mistake.

We welcome pilgrims, tourists, seekers, doubters... and YOU!