They conduct services and preach in Royal Wootton Bassett, in our circuit or in other churches:

• Jenny Corkett (pictured below)
• Adrian German (pictured below)
• Adam Longhurst (pictured below)
• Robin Phoenix-Stone (pictured above - with friend Tris)

Eco Church is an initiative run by A Rocha in partnership with the Methodist Church, the Church of England, Tearfund and Christian Aid. Click here for further details.

It provides resources and guidance to help churches show they care for the environment in their worship and teaching, their management of buildings and land, community and global engagement and individual lifestyles.

‘Our vision is for churches of all denominations to care for creation as an integral part of loving their neighbours and following God faithfully.’

Eco Church at Royal Wootton Bassett Methodist Church

We have registered with Eco Church and are working towards achieving our first award with the scheme.

In the past we’ve had a range of Eco Church worship services from different preachers on themes from creation to water to ethical food and heard environmental testimonies from several of our members. We had a talk from a local farmer about the benefits of organic food to our wildlife. We’ve enjoyed environmental themed worship songs and prayers throughout the year. We’ve had a vegetarian food and faith lunch to promote a more sustainable diet. 

Members have expressed their care for the environment in a variety of practical ways at church. These have included obtaining wildflower seeds for the former church grounds at Braydon and letting the lawn grow longer there to help our insect life; sorting out the kitchen recycling; planning environmental themed children’s activities; replacing light bulbs with LEDs and commissioning an energy audit of the building. 

Our church has declared a climate emergency!

Our church, as part of the Bristol synod, voted to declare a climate and ecological emergency in May 2019.

The Bristol Synod noted that the scientific evidence is overwhelmingly pointing to climate breakdown. The cause is clearly human-generated green-house gas emissions, of which a large portion of historical emissions has been from the UK. In the spirit of concern for justice which is at the heart of the Methodist movement – evidenced by campaigns such as those against the slave trade – Synod requests that Conference declares a climate emergency, and

• Acknowledges that we face an existential threat without precedent, and that this requires actions without precedent
• Notes the urgency; that the atmosphere already contains more than the safe level of CO₂ (350 ppm, compared with the 413 in 2019), and encourages the setting of SMART targets to reduce personal and corporate emissions to limit temperature rises to below 1.5 degrees
• Expects churches to engage in regular and concerted prayer regarding climate issues
• Expects ministers and preachers to engage in a fresh effort in discerning a Biblical response to the threat; to communicate it, and to challenge responses that amount to ‘business as usual’
• Implores all Church members to urgently address their personal impacts in terms of CO₂ emissions, noting that for each person, the earth can absorb little more than 2 tons of CO2.
• Calls on the Government, in response to Parliaments’ own declaration of a climate emergency to urgently review all legislation, taxation and subsidies, especially with relation to businesses and fossil fuels, to ensure that immediate emission reductions are achieved consistent with the most current peer reviewed science in order to avoid climate breakdown.

• Supportive
• Caring
• Friendly
• Trustworthy

Part of the Visitors’ responsibility is to be a channel of communication, linking people together and keeping them in touch with what is happening within the life of the church. The Visitor is also significant in providing pastoral care to people within their Pastoral Group by demonstrating an interest in their lives and providing support and encouragement, particularly at times of need. 

"A healthy Christian community is a safe place of mutual care, where those within the Body of Christ and those in the neighbourhood and world beyond feel valued, loved and respected." 

If you feel that you have it in your heart to help our Pastoral Team, please contact the Pastoral Co-ordinator, Bev Tydeman, via {email_encode:pastoral@rwbmc.co.uk,link=email}. Please also {email_encode:pastoral@rwbmc.co.uk,link=get in touch with her} if you would like to join a Pastoral Group.

About The Methodist Church

‘Methodist’ is a nickname that has stuck, referring originally to the orderly and methodical way in which 18th Century Christian students at Oxford, John and Charles Wesley and their friends, went about their devotional life of prayer and Bible study on the one hand and their service to needy people, like visiting prisoners, on the other.

John and Charles were ordained into the Priesthood of the Anglican Church, but it was John’s outdoor preaching, so radical then, and Charles’ gift for writing hymns in the religious revival of the 18th Century, which eventually led to the emergence of those influenced by the Wesleys as the people called Methodists.

Our aim is to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our daily living, summarised as loving God and loving our neighbour as ourselves.

What do Methodists Believe?

We accept the historic creeds of the mainstream Christian Church.

We believe in one God who is revealed in the Bible (our final authority) as:

• God the Creator and Father-Parent God;
• God the Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world: and
• God the Holy Spirit, unseen presence with us now.

Following the emphasis given by John Wesley we believe that God is for all people everywhere (he said “the world is my parish”), no one is excluded from God’s love, and therefore we seek to be an inclusive Church, open to all people.

In Royal Wootton Bassett we have been serving the community and sharing Jesus for over 175 years.

Our Church Mission Statement was beautifully embroidered by a member of our church and can be viewed within the church - see photo below. 

In 1824 Primitive Methodist preachers first visited Wootton Bassett and soon obtained a cottage for their services and then rented the 'Long Room' of the old Royal Oak Inn. In 1831 two houses and a garden were bought on the present site and converted into a chapel. As the Methodist cause prospered, in 1838 the old chapel was pulled down and the foundation stones of the present building were laid. Wootton Bassett Primitive Methodist Chapel, as it was then known, was part of the famous Brinkworth Circuit.

The 'Hillside' and the 'High Street'

At the other end of the High Street the Wesleyan Methodists had also established their own chapel in 1855. This chapel had its own minister until 1897 but after that was served from the Swindon Circuit. In 1965 the two Methodist congregations in Wootton Bassett were merged. The Wesleyan 'High Street' chapel was demolished as part of a road widening scheme and the united work centred on the Primitive 'Hillside' chapel which became Wootton Bassett Methodist Church.

The building has seen numerous alterations and extensions, more recently including the building of the annexe in 1967 and the addition of a new entrance porch plus re-siting of the organ, pulpit and choir seating as part of major improvements in 1975.

Redevelopment 1989-1993

In 1989 serious thought about the general state of the building gradually gave way to a realisation that a complete redevelopment of the whole premises should take place. Work commenced in July 1991 and we were invited to hold our morning services in Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, an arrangement that worked extremely well. After nine months in exile, a service of Thanksgiving and Rededication was held in the redeveloped premises in March 1992. Much work remained to be done and on Sunday 14 March 1993, our Church Anniversary, we were able to celebrate the completion of the project and give thanks to God for answering our redevelopment prayers.  In March 2014 we officially changed our name to Royal Wootton Bassett Methodist Church.

Royal Wootton Bassett Methodist Church (RWBMC) cares about your privacy and your trust is important to us. Our Privacy Notice explains how Local Churches, Circuits and Districts within the Methodist Church in Great Britain collect, use and protect your personal information. It also provides information about your rights and who to contact if you have any questions about how we use your information.

Click here to read our Privacy Notice online or download a PDF version here. A copy is also displayed on the Circuit Noticeboard in Hillside Hall in church. Jane Phoenix-Stone will try to deal with any questions as a local point of contact, and she can be emailed here.

If you have any questions please email us.

Keep yourself safe

By its very nature, being part of the Methodist church community means being accessible to people – some whom you may know well, some you may not know at all. So your personal safety is something the Methodist Insurance team takes very seriously.

Being alone in church, or locking up after a service – particularly if it is late at night – or allowing someone into your home, exposes you to a degree of risk. In these situations in which you are vulnerable, the key is to take some common sense steps to protect yourself.

To ensure your personal safety, Methodist Insurance offers this simple advice about what can be done to minimise the risks you face. Take a look on their website here

The aim of the Methodist Church Safeguarding policy is to create Christian communities of love and care, where good practice in this area becomes a way of life.

"There is a growing understanding that protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults is at the core of our faith. Safeguarding is about creating churches that are a safe space for everyone; a space where children can flourish and adults can live up to their potential. It is about enabling everyone to come to Jesus without stumbling blocks of abuse, ignorance, fear, compassion fatigue or the failure to recognise the experiences that so many carry within our communities."

Elizabeth Hall, Safeguarding Advisor, Methodist Church in Britain.

Into 2025, and beyond, the church will continue to develop its care through safeguarding for all who attend functions within the church or organised by the church.

We are a busy church and, because of this, more than fifty members have undertaken Methodist Safeguarding update training and a further twenty are due to do so. This is so that we can continue to safely develop our work in our building and in our presence in the community.

At present the Church Council is working to make recruitment to posts and training more robust with an even greater awareness of safer recruitment for both salaried and volunteer posts.

The policies of the Methodist Church are constantly evolving and key policy guidance can be found at:

• Safeguarding Policies and Guidance
• Safer Recruitment Policy, Procedures and Guidance

The church's Safeguarding Officer is Allie Burchell. If you have any safeguarding concerns you can contact her at safeguarding@upperthamescircuit.org.uk

There are lots of groups that operate within the church, you might even want to start a new one! A list of the email contacts for church groups can be found on this page, or use the contact form.