Wesley Methodist Church is the people who meet to proclaim the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ, and to help people in their search for God. It's not the church buildings, beautiful though they are!

Our church building is located in Elm Road, in the centre of Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, four miles west of Southend in a prominent location just at the edge of the main Leigh shopping area. We meet each Sunday morning for worship and Sunday Superstars at 11 am, and there are occasional early morning, afternoon and evening services. There is an informal communion service on the first Wednesday of each month at 9 am and a 15 minute shoppers' service every Friday at 10.30 am (except August). See Worship and Prayers for more detail.

The church sanctuary (that's the part of the building where worship takes place) is open between 9.45 and 11.30 most mornings. Do come in to look, to rest or to pray.

Behind the main building, our extensive complex of buildings provides a home for numerous community activities and is well used for seven days of every week - in 2007 the church was in use on 359 days, only a few of the bank holidays having nothing going on at all, and 2008 is even busier. During the week the Church organises a number of activities including a Pre-School, a Parent and Toddler Club, Funky Friday (youth club), Brownies, Men's Forum, Women's Clubs, Family Fun Nights, and many other meetings. There are also several House Groups and a weekly prayer meeting. We run a coffee morning every day of the week from 10 am to 12 noon (on Sunday, coffee is after the morning service at about 12 noon). There is a Traidcraft fairly traded goods stall almost every morning. In addition, the premises are used by many community groups including St John Ambulance and the National Blood Service. See Activities for more detail.

Wesley has about 130 members and a large community roll. Wesley is a member of the Southend and Leigh Methodist Circuit, and in turn part of the British Methodist Church.

Our Minister, Rev. Keith Page, can be contacted at 76 Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 1SJ, telephone 01702 716841, or by e-mail.

History of the church

Wesley was formed in 1897 when New Road Methodist Church, the fishermen's church in Old Leigh, realised that the town of Leigh was growing and that they needed to expand "up the hill" to where the people were. So they founded Wesley and it continued to grow.

New Road church takes its foundation from the first visit of John Wesley to Leigh in 1748. The church is still there, just beside the railway line: it has a greatly reduced membership these days, but they still continue to meet for worship each week and are a vital part of the life of Old Leigh. Wesley will always be grateful to these people who had a vision and carried it out.

Ever since then, Wesley has played a vital role in the spiritual and community life of the area.

There are two booklets available about the history of Wesley:
"The History of the Methodist Church in the Southend and Leigh Circuit - Leigh Wesley" by the late Rev George Thompson Brake (The Rochford Press, 1997, 35 pp)
and "Wesley Methodist Church Leigh-on-Sea 1897-1997 - A Momentous Century" (49 pp)
Both are available at £2.00 post free from the Church Office.
Other booklets by George Thompson Brake about other parts of the Southend and Leigh Methodist Circuit are also available - please enquire for details.

For a guide to the inside of the church, especially descriptions of the stained glass windows, please click this link for a PDF file. (Opens in Adobe Reader - if you haven't got this here is a link to the Adobe site to download the software).

Pictures

Foundation stones

More pictures of the foundation stones, and lots of other pictures, can be found on this page.