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Methodist Chapel |
• For Monthly Service details please view the
appropriate calendar on the Home Page or
click
HERE
• For General Information on the Circuit
and Plan details please click
HERE |
Click
HERE
to view the Week St. Mary Methodist
Circuit Activity Exchange web site.....
or
HERE for the new
Canworthy Water Methodist Circuit
website.
The
Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel at Week
Orchard (built pre-1800), and the United
Methodist Free Church had a chapel in
the Churchtown built in 1844.
The Bible
Christians built the current Zion chapel
within the village in 1843, and another
at Bakesdon in 1833.
William
O'Bryan, born in 1778, who met John
Wesley as a boy, felt led to become a
preacher but experienced conflict with
chapel leaders which led to his
itinerent evangelist career. As an
independent preacher he conducted what
proved to be the first service of a new
Methodist denomination - "Bible
Christians" - at Week St. Mary on 1st
October 1815. |
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He linked with 22
friends and formed a society on 9th
October 1815. An Annual Conference was
established, a pattern of circuits
evolved and in 1831 the Week St. Mary
Circuit came into being.
The year 1907 saw
the demise of the title "Bible Christian
Society" when it combined with the
"United Methodist Free Church" and the
"Methodist New Connexion" to form "The
United Methodist Church". This union and
the later on in 1932, when "United
Methodists", "Weslyans" and "Primitive
Methodists" formed "The Methodist
Church" produced little real change.
At Week St. Mary the two chapels (Week
St. Mary Bible Christian and Week Green
United Methodist Free Church) continued
their respective societies following the
1907 and 1932 amalgamations until 1934
when the Week Green chapel was closed
and the premises converted for use as a
caretaker's bungalow. |
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(Acknowledgement: Week St. Mary
Circuit Centenary by Wilfred Cocks) |
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Renovation to the Chapel - Spring
2010
Dramatic changes have taken place to
the chapel seating and organ area -
the organ was lowered and the pews
removed to be replaced with loose
chairs. The flooring has been
carpeted and a new sound system
installed to complement a digital
projector and screen. New wooden
doors have replaced the old allowing
far more light into the chapel and
the access has been improved by
lowering the granite step into the
ground at an angle.
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