The Formation of Woosehill Church

The Woosehill region of Wokingham is a self-contained area of housing, mainly built in the early 1980s.

The Church began as a house church run by clergy from St Paul’s Church but then moved to the new local school on the estate. In 1984 the area was part of Bearwood Parish, served by St Catherine’s Church, so the services at the school switched to being taken by the rector of St Catherine’s. Then, also in 1984, meetings were held with the Methodist Church to discuss the proposal to have a shared ministry at Woosehill.

Before any formal agreements were signed the Anglicans and Methodists started sharing responsibilities for services and a Sunday Club. The LEP was officially inaugurated at a service on 21st January 1987, and the church began to grow.

In 1993 the Church moved to purpose-built premises funded jointly by the congregation and the Methodist and Anglican Churches and is subject to a Sharing Agreement. The Church is currently a ‘Conventional District’ for Anglican purposes.

The Church originally operated on the basis of shared ministry so that the Methodist ministers from the local Circuit and clergy from Bearwood Parish took equal responsibility for the services and running of the Church. Sadly in early 2011 the Methodist minister sadly died and that summer the Rector retired.

At the same time a Methodist Circuit reorganisation was taking place, causing an effective hiatus on recruitment, and a major Anglican Parish reorganisation brought Woosehill into new parish, alongside St Paul’s and St Nicholas.

The Anglican Church then offered to change to a pattern of alternating ministry, with the Anglicans taking the first stint.

The second period of alternating ministry will come to an end with the present (Methodist) minister standing down in September 2025.