Open Day

As part of our 175th Anniversary year an Open Day was held on 29th April. All the agencies who have offices within the Oxford Place Centre were invited to contribute a display to the exhibition. Stalls wer arranged around in our sanctuary. The centerpiece was an interactive artwork by Pyramid of Arts.

Photographs of the Open Day

A year of celebration begins

Sunday 6th September saw the beginning of the year celebrating the 175th anniversary of the building of Oxford Place Chapel with a special service led by the Chair of District, The Revd. Dr Liz Smith with Mr David Walton as preacher.

This was also the occasion when we welcomed the Revd Caroline Ryder as Methodist Chaplain to the Universities and we ask God's blessing on her as she takes up her new responsibilities.

Leeds Christian Fellowship Church celebrates its first anniversary

Leeds Christian Fellowship Church (LCFC) is a community of Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians who worship each Sunday afternoon at Oxford Place. They also meet for prayer and fellowship on a Wednesday evening at Oxford Place.

On Sunday 26th July, LCFC celebrated one year since they came together as a worshipping congregation. They joined our morning worship during which they sang hymns in Amharic (the official working language of Ethiopia) and we joined in prayer in both English and Amharic. In the afternoon they had a special anniversary service to which the Methodist congregation at Oxford Place were invited.

This was a joyous occasion with much singing and music and improptu dancing. The Revd Brian Nicholls (South Parade Baptist Church) was the visiting preacher who based his sermon on the feeding of the 5000 as recounted in Mark's Gospel. Afterwards we joined in a meal of traditional Ethiopian food.

Visit from Brno

On Friday, 19th June six members of the congregation of the United Methodist Church in Brno arrived in Leeds to spend the weekend as our guests. Last September Adrian Burdon and Ken Tait went to Brno, in the Czech Republic, as part of the Leeds City delegation. Brno is twinned with Leeds.

The party was led by the Revd Jana Krížová, their pastor. After tea and cake at Oxford Place where they were welcomed by some of the congregation, they were taken home by their hosts.

On Saturday we went sightseeing. Jana said she would like to visit Epworth, the birthplace of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, so Angela and Ken Tait took Jana and her son Miky to this small Lincolnshire town where they had a guided tour of the rectory where John Wesley was brought up. The others went with Deacon Ruth Hinch and her husband Rayto York where the visited the minister, walked on the walls and had tea in the Treasurer's House. In the evening vistors and hosts went to Adrian and Janet's to meet more of the Oxford Place church family.

On Sunday Jana preached at morning worship which was attended by the Lord Mayor of Leeds (Councillor Judith Elliott). Jana took her theme from Chapter 4 of Mark's Gospel where Jesus tells the parable of the mustard seed. Jana said that it does not matter how happy and enthusiastic we are, or how sad and desperate we might be in our Christian endeavour we can only prepare the ground and protect the plant because only God can make the seed grow. This is how it is with the spreading of the gospel and the growth of God's Kingdom.

After the morning service we had a Church Family lunch and Jana gave a presentation about the Czech Republic and about the church and attitudes to Christianity. She answered question about life in the Czech Republic now and what is was like during the communist era.

When our friends left after what had been an enjoyable and successful weekend we agreed that we must visit them soon.

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