Online worship/prayer resources
During this testing time whilst we are closed for regular worship services due to Coronavirus, we hope you may find some of these resources useful.
Live-streamed Services
Wesley’s Chapel London who will live-stream from the chapel (the Minister lives on the premises) – Sundays 11am
www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAUqhmhevz5sqhh72LIMxA
Swan Bank Methodist Church in Burslem, this worship will be studio-based – with strict distancing rules being followed – Sundays 10:30
www.youtube.com/user/SwanBank and www.facebook.com/swanbank/
Methodist Central Hall Westminster Sundays 11.00
Morning Prayers
09:00 Monday-Friday – from Wesley House Cambridge: www.facebook.com/wesleycambridge.
Resources for following the prayers and readings are available at: www.wesley.cam.ac.uk/prayer-space/
10:00 Monday-Friday – from Wesley’s Chapel London: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAUqhmhevz5sqhh72LIMxA
United Reformed Church Services
List of links to URC Churches with streamed services
Chester Cathedral
Chester Cathedral Live Stream via YouTube
Prayer resources
Daily Devotions from the United Reformed Church Podcasts
Church of England daily prayer and service
Methodist Church Prayer of the Day
A Word in Time Bible Study – from methodist.org.uk
Pray As You Go are producing a daily retreat for people socially isolating:
www.pray-as-you-go.org/retreat/pray-as-you-stay
A prayer from Churches Together in England for those affected by coronavirus:
God, our rock and shield, we pray for our land, and all nations and places in our world, as many endure the effects of the illness Covid-19 and the Coronavirus pandemic.
For those who are ill, grant healing;
for those who mourn the death of loved ones, bring comfort;
for those who care for the sick, grant strength and endurance;
for those who are isolated or whose livelihoods are threatened, give courage and hope;
for all who take difficult decisions, from governments to health practitioners, give wisdom and compassion to accompany the knowledge and experience that they bring.
Deliver us from this disease, we pray, and enable all nations and communities to grow in collaboration and unity as we face this challenge together.
Grant a legacy of enduring common purpose in facing all that threatens our global common good.
We pray in Jesus’ name, in the unity of the Spirit, Amen.
History/ research resources
We do not have copies of church records, but you can search Births, Marriages and deaths for Cheshire and Lancashire free. Although Wycliffe was technically in Lancashire for many years, we are members of the Cheshire Congregational Union, and I have found many supposedly Lancashire records in Cheshire, so it’s worth trying both:
http://cheshirebmd.org.uk/index.php
http://lancashirebmd.org.uk/index.php
The Surman index is an excellent resource for Congregational history, listing ministers and churches.
https://surman.english.qmul.ac.uk/main.php?parameter=surmanSurname&alpha=S
Stockport’s Local Heritage Library has a large archive and directories, and are very helpful!
https://www.stockport.gov.uk/topic/stockport-heritage-library
Lancashire Archives situated in Preston has the original register of Wycliffe as an Independent Chapel and signed court registration paper from 1851 (following a year of operation as a Chapel).
https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/libraries-and-archives/archives-and-record-office/