Our Worship

If you are unfamiliar with our patterns of worship, then these notes may help:

We usually sit for prayers, readings and the sermon, and stand to sing hymns, and when our offertory is brought forward.

Most hymns are to be found in the thick blue books , titled "Hymns and Psalms". Sometimes, the thinner pale blue books will be used - "Hymns and Songs of Fellowship". The preacher will announce each hymn, and the numbers are also on the boards at the front of the Church.

There will be an offertory, usually towards the end of the service, but don't worry if you've come unprepared - simply pass the plate along.

We usually say the Lord's Prayer together - the words are to be found just inside the back cover of "Hymns and Psalms

Holy Communion

We normally celebrate Holy Communion, remembering the Last Supper which Jesus shared with his disciples, once a month at each service.

Anyone who is seeking to follow the way of Jesus in their lives is welcome to receive the bread and wine. Alternatively, if you wish to receive a blessing, then please go forward to the communion rail, but keep your hands down, rather than raising them for the bread and wine.

At the 9.15am and 6.30pm services, small groups of people are guided forward by the stewards, and leave the communion rail when all have received and the minister has said a scripture sentence. At the 10.30am service, the congregation goes forward in a continuous pattern, as guided by the stewards, using the centre aisle of the church and returning to their seats by the outer aisles in a circular pattern.

We often "share The Peace", offering our right hands and saying, "Peace be with you".

Midweek Meetings

Our regular meetings include:

Women's Fellowship (afternoons) and Ladies Wednesday Club (evenings) for women;

Church Bible Study - meeting fortnightly on Tuesday mornings.

Housegroups meeting monthly for study, discussion and prayer in homes all over Horsham.

Prayer Meeting - weekly on Saturday mornings.

Drama Group - usually presenting several productions each year.

New Life Singing Group -meeting monthly.

Wednesday Lunch Club - fortnightly

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Youth Work

During the 10.30 service, the Junior Church for children and young people aged 3-16 meets. Its members and staff will join the congregation towards the end of our worship. About six times year we have Family or Parade services in which the whole Church Family participates.

There is a Crèche for babies and toddlers aged under 3 during 10.30 services - please ask a steward if you wish to use it.

A Parent and Toddler group meets on two mornings a week, and the Wesley Playgroup is open to 3 and 4 year olds for two to four sessions per week.

The full range of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Guides groups is offered, subject to vacancies being available.

History of the Church

In the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society published in March 1945, it is recorded,

on 7th February 1776, that

"Tasker, a tallow chandler, died about 34 years before and was succeeded by one named Mann from Petworth".

Mann was a Methodist and he preached from his house, near the market-house, and made some converts. Subsequently these Methodists were granted a licence by the Sessions to preach in Horsham and permission was given to sing hymns. On the date recorded above, a Methodist named Woodgate from London preached in a barn at Horsham.

In the following years the Methodist presence in the town must have grown, so that by the year 1832 it was large enough to create the need for a central meeting place and thus the building of the first chapel began. People could not have joined together in fellowship from a very wide area in those days because communications were quite basic. The railway had not reached Horsham, the telephone had not been invented and many roads were probably little better than today's farm tracks. This makes it difficult for us to imagine how news travelled and people held meetings with only "Shanks' ponv', horses and coaches for transport. The first Methodist trustees of the new chapel were three from Horsham, four from Brighton, and one each from Guildford and Godalming. A Trustees meeting must have been a major event in those times !

Horsham, like so many other towns, has changed dramatically over the years. Old postcards and photographs show how small cottages and shops used to stand near the present church, and how London Road, not so impressive a thoroughfare as its name suggests, used to wind unobstructed to the Carfax.

As far as the London Road church itself is concerned, it was the coming of Albion Way which, for good or ill, changed everything. Indeed, if rumour be true, it might have changed it even more, for report has it that, when the plans for the new feeder road were under discussion, our own minister at the time urged the authorities to drive the proposed new road right through the middle of the church, so that, with the compensation obtained, a completely new church might be built further away from the town centre. But rumour is not always true and, if in this case it was, he was unsuccessful.

In an Assignment Deed dated 17th August 1789, a large area of land, approximately bounded by London Road, Springfield Road and the south side of the Carfax (referred to in the Deed as "Scarfax') was transferred from Lady Irwin to a Richard Williamson. This land included the site on which the church now stands.

By a Deed of December 1831, which refers to the assignment of most of the area occupied by the present church premises, land was transferred to Miss Catherine Ireland for £118.

An interesting reference to the chapel appears in the 1851 Religious Census return, which records an attendance of 30 at the morning service and 40 in the evening. It is signed by George Buckley, Wesleyan minister (1850 -1852) and his address is given as Brunswick Place, Horsham.

He also added the following comment :-

"The congregation in the Wesleyan Chapel, Horsham was formerly good, but of late years we have suffered much through the Puseyite influence and tyranny of the High Church party, so that the poor of the town are bought. Many scores would gladly come, but dare not'.

The Horsham Times of 18th November 1882, recalling events of fifty years earlier, mentions the laying of the foundation stone of the first chapel on the site on 18th June 1832. The same source refers to its opening in August that year, but it seems hardly credible that the building, however simple, could have been completed in two months, so the dating could be suspect and it is more likely that the opening was in August 1833.

However that may be, in December 1833 the land and the Chapel which stood on it was assigned from Miss Ireland to the Methodist Trustees at the time for the sum of Nineteen Pounds, Ten Shillings.

As the society began to increase over the years, it became obvious that space was insufficient for its various needs and on 5th July 1882, a day on which

"the rain came down heavily at intervals"

memorial stones for new Sunday School rooms at the rear of the present church were laid. According to the account given by the then Superintendent of the Sunday School, "

the existing buildings had proved too small for the rapidly increasing attendance",

this being the first reference to what are now known as ancillary rooms at the back of the church.

Inevitably the new Sunday School buildings led to the request for yet further giving in order to erect a more worthy chapel on the same site. On 16th November 1882 memorial stones were laid. These being cut from the original foundation stone of 1832. Many of the bricks and other material from the first chapel were re-used for the new building.

Little is known of Miss Catherine Ireland, the Methodist benefactor who contributed so generously to providing both the first chapel and the land on which it was built. Official records show that she was residing at Brunswick Place, London Road (adjacent to the chapel) in July 1857. Although she did not attend the stone-laying of the present church in November 1882, the Horsham Times report refers to a second donation by her of £25 towards the cost of the building.

Under the heading "New Wesleyan Chapel at Horsham" the Horsham Times of 7th April 1883 noted:-

"The building of this chapel is being rapidly progressed with by the builders, Messrs. Potter and Redford, and it is anticipated that it will be opened in about three weeks, when special services will be held".

The opening of the new chapel on 26th April 1883, a time of prolific Methodist building, created quite a stir locally as is proved by the extensive coverage given in the Horsham Times. One paragraph is worth repeating:-

"The chapel, which is a handsome and commodious structure, and one which any religious denomination might well be proud of, is built of red bricks and stone. Its outside appearance is striking, and at once bespeaks to the passer-by the purpose for which it is set apart, whilst the interior is both cheerful and comfortable, and is fitted with the most modern improvements in lighting, ventilation, etc. The seats which are easy and comfortable are arranged to accommodate a congregation of 420".

Inside on the back wall were the decorative scrolls and texts so beloved of our Victorian forbears, but these vanished during a later redecoration of the church, and were finally replaced by the present illuminated cross.

Perhaps to some, as modern fund raisers will readily appreciate, the most important part of the account comes with the words:-

"Before the day's proceedings concluded they were freed from the responsibility of the debt incurred by its erection".

The reporter goes on to inform us that the total estimated outlay for the chapel, schools and vestries was £2,150 14s. 2d.

But the church could not stand still and, some adjacent land having been bought, an extension to the Sunday Schoolrooms was opened in 1897.

Coming down to modern times, throughout the mid-1970's the accent was heavily on fund raising nothing new in this for a Methodist congregation but a very large sum of money was required to enable major alterations to be made to the premises, and £18,000 was eventually raised.

The alterations were made in three stages:-

Phase I saw two old huts, which had been used among other purposes for Sunday school overflow classes, demolished and replaced by the Wesley Hall Which was formally opened on 27th September 1975.

In Phase 2 the old hall and various adjoining rooms attached to the rear of the church were totally reconstructed and converted into a large well furnished lounge and smaller rooms, including a new ministers vestry, which could be used for a number of purposes.

Several variants of Phase 3, improvements to the church itself, were discussed, and though shortage of funds did not allow the more ambitious of these, the communion area was enlarged, the space at the end of the choir modified, a lectern added and a new carpet laid to cover these areas and both aisles. All these changes, together with considerable redecoration and repairs to the organ were completed by 1980.

At the end of 1981 and early in 1982, the front facade of the church was cleaned and renovated for the first time in nearly 100 years, and the organ was completely overhauled.

During the period since 1982 maintenance and replacement has been to the forefront. The boiler for the Church was replaced, the motor for the organ started adding additional notes to the music and had to be replaced, lighting in the church was changed, pew covers were renewed and the paving in front of the church re-laid.

In 1994 it was decided to modify the communion rail so that it could be easily removed and at the same time, and to make it easier for removal, a small length of the front section was carefully cut out from the centre in such a way that it could be replaced for Holy Communion.

In 1999, as part of our "Project 2000' to make the premises more suitable for our mission and worship as we approach the new millenium, the church was totally refurbished. The original wooden floor and wall panelling (both suffering from extensive rot) were replaced, and the high centre pulpit with a communion table below replaced by a table on a higher dais - to improve visibility from the gallery - and the pulpit offset to one side. An enlarged communion area can now be cleared entirely of furniture to offer a raised area over seven metres wide for dramatic and musical presentations, The congregation, having entered the Church through central doors in the vestibule screen, now sits in comfortable chairs set on a carpeted floor, warmed by underfloor heating. Towards the end of the same year, at the rear of the premises, toilet facilities including one for the disabled were added and the large meeting room, known as the 'Lounge', refurbished .