Conferences, workshops and courses

Catch up with our service from Sunday 11th October here:

Following the increased local restrictions coming into force in our local council area, the leadership have taken the decision to suspend the Sunday Morning service again.  There will be no service from 4th October 2020.

We are all being strongly advised (in law) by the government to reduce our contact with others, in order to suppress the rise of COVID infection in our area. While churches are legally exempt from these restrictions it seemed wise and logical to help fight this latest rise by not meeting together for the time being and to reduce the risk to all. 

It is hoped that this may only be for a few weeks and once our area is out of increased restrictions, we will return to meeting again. In the meantime we will revert to a live stream online.

This will be streamed live at 10:30am each Sunday and available afterwards on our YouTube channel: West View YouTube Channel. 

The live stream will be found here : live stream.

Links to this and up to date information will be maintained on our web site here.

If you need help accessing this or would like to discuss anything do get in touch.

From Sunday, 13th September we will be re-commencing meeting together at church, for those who feel able to do so.

What We Have Planned:

• A short service on Sundays from Sunday 13th September, at our usual time of 10:30am. This will be about 30-40min long.
• The service will be recorded and made available online via our YouTube channel, particularly for those who are unable to attend at present. 
• The Thursday online bible/prayer group will continue. See https://wvbc-org-uk.preview-domain.com/together/ for details.

What You Need To Do:

1. You MUST inform us if you are planing to attend each Sunday. This is so that we can ensure that we can accommodate people safely following Government guidelines. Please use the contact page to let us know or get in touch with Tim Hyde directly.

2. Face masks must be worn when inside the building at all times, unless you are under 11 years of age or you are unable to do so because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability.

3. Follow the one way system that will be in place. You will be directed to enter the building via the fire exit to the right of the building and leave through the main entrance.

4. Sit only with those from your own household, maintaining 2m social distancing from other households.

5. Be willing for us to hold details of your attendance for the Government’s Track & Trace teams.

6. Generally follow advice, signs and instructions from those leading/supervising so that together we ensure a safe experience for all. 

Children & Young Church

At this stage it is not possible to provide activities for Young Church. Children that wish to, are welcome to attend but must do so with their own household and stay with their household throughout the service. It will be the parents/guardians responsibility to manage this. We do appreciate this is quite hard and anticipate that those with younger children may not be quite ready to return yet for this reason.

Looking Forward to Seeing Friends Again

Church will be very different to our ‘normal’ experience , as there are many constraints on how and what we are able to do.  For example, currently it is not possible to sing together in church. 

We don’t know how things will change in the coming months so any plans we may make now will always be subject to change based on the latest guidance and current situation. Our intentions are always wanting to minimise risks and ensure the well being of our congregation.

We ask for your continued prayers as we journey together in the coming months, and look forward to seeing you soon whether that be online or in person.

Ian led worship on 23 February supported by Amanda Amy and Mark. Very powerful service with Ian sharing some of the issues he deals with and his reliance on God to lead him.

Amanda asked people to recall those moments when your Mam takes you by the hand . You don’t where you going, you just have to trust she knows what she is doing. The disciples had that experience on the mountaintop, going into the unknown but with moments of terror.

Matthew 16:13 Jesus asked who do people say the son is. Peter had declared Jesus to be the son of the living god, Peter could not understand that Jesus was to die, Peter was a tough diamond, maybe he’d have been from West View or the Manor if he’d been born in Hartlepool. Jesus rebuked Peter saying that it was foretold. By Elijah. Amanda then read Matthew 17 where Peter offers to put up the three tents for Elijah, Moses and Jesus. God speaks and tells of his love for his son. Again they are told not to tell anyone.

Six days passed since Peter had declared Jesus to be the son of the the living god. Why did Jesus takes these disciples up the mountain. Maybe it’s because they were the strongest, and they needed to be prepared for what was to come.

Amanda wondered what was going through the disciples mind when they were preparing to go . Why do we climb a mountain? Where are we going, what do we need What’s the weather going to be like?

Amanda reminded the church of the trip to Keswick that her and I did after we got married. She shared how I prepared with hiking sticks and a bag that weighed a ton. I needed a pack horse. But I wanted to take everything I thought we might need.

Imagine the scene, did they walk together or did they follow Jesus and maybe like me grumble all the way up!

They met with Moses and Elijah. And they were in the presence of God. We’d be flat on our faces as well . Peter did. He was before God and terrified . They were direct witnesses to the care of the Father for his Son.
Don’t be afraid, get up I am with you is the message Jesus shares.

We need the same space for contemplation and conversation with God. We need our mountaintop with God.

As we head into Lent Fasting and praying brings us before God. Amanda shared that she had affirmation. of this but reminded people that even if yiu can’t do a full fast you can do a Daniel fast , rather than giving up all food Daniel asked for vegetables only . God fulfilled Daniels statement.
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When your at the top of the mountain you see gods splendour . Amanda climbed a stepladder to illustrate the point. She shared her journey up Roseberry Topping with her Mam. She then shared the fact that you have to come down the mountain. She followed her Mam down the rocky side of the mountain. It was scary and it was difficult but they got down. Falls and trips may feel inevitable but if we keep our eyes fixed on Him he’ll take us down safely. Maybe that’s why Jesus took the three disciples , he needed to give them strength for when they got frightened and ran away , denied Jesus before he rose again.

We ended with a time of quiet reflecting on our own needs.

On 16 February 2020 Tim and Amanda led worship.

1 Corinthians 3 1-9

Tim reflected on the film Big where the lead character Josh is great at the invention of toys but no good at the relationship stuff as he’s not adult enough to understand.

The Corinthians seem to have been stuck in the past. At the beginning of this very long letter Paul touched on the old leaders of the various factions of the church. Paul has been criticising the outside world but then he starts talking about them in v13 of Chapter 2. They probably thought they were included. But now Paul’s is taking about them and me.. they’re using the world’s ways of scoring points . They don’t realise how the Gospel of the Cross has brought about a new creation. They’re acting like little children and it’s now Paul telling them that it is time to grow up. This should resonate with us. Churches can distracted by the past hurts, past leaders or simply doing things the way we have already done things.

We need to be shaped by the wisdom of the cross. Paul in verse 6 puts it into perspective…. But god… Paul’s favourite phrase.God was giving the growth. Without god all this is fruitless. Everything we do needs to be defined by this idea. God will be at work in everything we do. What an encouragement. But if we’re doing things to be better than the church down the road we will fail. We don’t have to be the superchurch or the best religious deal on the high street. We simply need to be a cross shaped church! Our calling is to plant the seeds, not to guess where god goes with them. We plant gods seeds of compassion and mercy.

We are God’s co-workers. Planting seeds, watering with compassion and love and then leaving the growth and the glory to God. We are in God’s field, God’s building along with all the other churches in the area. None of this belongs to us, to a particular denomination. The church is called to see that God is the one bringing the growth. This challenge but also encouragement! Tim said that the preaching doesn’t depend on him. Filling Station might be challenging and we might struggle to see the difference we make . Yet we get thanks like on Friday when someone put their order in but then also wrote a note if thanks at the bottom. Let God grow and nurture the seeds we plant.