Vision

We focus on following Jesus, loving people and renewing faith. Everything we do folds into at least one of these core areas.

Our Origins

We’re a young church with ancient foundations. The first Minster was established in c820AD, followed shortly afterwards by Hambledon Church. Over the centuries the original Minster vision and purpose was lost.

For 1,000 years Minsters served wide areas with a heart for God’s mission to care for all people. A Minster was a dynamic innovative community of Christian worship, rooted in Scripture, making sense of the World in a way which showed love and compassion. Minsters were hospitals, supported the local economy, developed pubs for safe low alcohol drinking, provided education, community support and alleviated poverty. They preached Christ and lived it daily around a pattern of prayer and praise.

Godalming Minster was born on 1st January 2024 as a centre of love and care, serving and creating community, wellbeing and hospitality, breaking down barriers; spiritual nourishment and teaching about the uniqueness of Jesus.

The Minster that we’ve established brings together centuries of Christian witness, teaching, worship and care from across the area of three former parishes. Each of these former church communities had their own identity with a shared belief in Jesus, the importance of The Bible and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Minster takes the best of the former identity to create a new and exciting future for the Minster Town of Godalming. We’re broadly an evangelical and gently charismatic community with a breadth of approaches to worship.

Values

We focus on following Jesus, loving people and renewing Christian faith. Following Jesus means being inspired by Him to shape our lives according to Christ and Scripture. Loving people means sharing love and care to all because we care about everyone. Renewing Faith means we want to reach out to share our story of faith in Jesus, particularly with new generations.

The most important Bible verses for us are Act 2:42-46. This is a story of people whose lives are changed by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus with passion and confidence.

Living our Vision and Values

We welcome everyone no matter their past. We’re a family of God who wants to grow in discovering God’s best way for life both now and for eternity. We see God’s way in the Bible and through Jesus Christ and we’re equipped in this through the work of the Holy Spirit.

This makes us a welcoming family of God with clarity of vision regarding who Jesus Christ is and intentional purpose in living for Him. It is leading us into a future where our lives are shaped by the Holy Spirit as we follow Christ; and then anything is possible with God (Matthew 19:26). We believe in being a space where friendships and community can be formed.

We're one Minster of multiple and congregations across several locations. Each congregation has its own with leadership team, content and style of worship. The beliefs are the same but the way we express them in worship looks a bit different. There’s something for everyone.

There are approximately 400 adults and children involved in the church and that means we cannot be a perfect church because we comprise 400 imperfect people. This makes us a diverse people of God.

We’re part of the GR:ACE project research with THEOS and have supported the Church of England’s Evidence to Action Church Growth study with the input on ‘Clergy & Lay leaders who innovate, envision & motivate’. We were nominated to offer good practice information for the Church of England’s Pastoral Advisory Group work on Living in Love and Faith. We are part of CPAS and Durham University’s work on ‘Everybody Welcome Online’ and ‘Everybody Welcome to the Future’.

Our community care has been recognised through Council and Voluntary Services nominations and awards, particularly our Hearing Champion ministry and work with older people.

A Journey of Growth for God’s Glory

As we’ve come together as Godalming Minster, over the past few years we’ve seen people growing in discipleship as faith in Christ deepen. More than twenty people have gone into full time Christian mission, become clergy or similar forms of church leadership or been called by God into other forms of Christian ministry.

Several people have taken senior roles in companies and organisations because of the Holy Spirit calling them into bringing their faith into the ethics and values of business, charity and Government.

We’ve seen growth in numbers worshipping with us and there has been incredible financial giving to enable us to develop our infrastructure, buildings and staffing to serve God’s mission.

We’ve started a foodbank (2010), redeveloped our community centre (2008), created new car parking facilities (2017), improved churchyard access (2014), reordered church buildings (2019), invested in resources and technology for worship in our churches (2015/2020/2023) and redeveloped ancillary buildings (2016).

A vision for a £2.2 million pound ministry centre and office hub at our Brighton Road location was completed in 2017 without incurring debt. We’ve got a great cafe on the site and you’re welcome to try it.

We have seen the fruition of a vision for the development of a large and incredibly gifted staff team for resourcing the church for mission and worship. We’ve grown an excellent children’s and youth team, created a staffed older people’s ministry to over 100 people a month, and developed care for those marrying and those who have been bereaved.

All of this has been underpinned by prayer, faith and people’s generosity.

Where our story started: the past

You can find the distant lineage of the church on the history area of the website. There is an evangelical story stretching back to the 1590s (Hambledon) and 1970s (Brighton Road Busbridge). Rev Charles and John Wesley, who founded Methodism, have close connections to Church Street Godalming Town Centre.

Like many churches, experience of the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit can be traced to the 1970s (Hambledon) and 1990s (Brighton Road Busbridge).

The basis of the Story: our belief

We're not a perfect church and that is the joy of knowing that God alone is perfect. God’s message of love and invitation came to us through the birth of Jesus. The death and resurrection of Christ is the only connection that brings us completeness because it means our old ways have gone and we have a new way of being. This leaves us with a gentle but important choice: do we accept this and live by it?

We're not left alone in this decision because God's Spirit is calling each of us. This Spirit gives us a taste of what God's infinite love, power and authority are like. We have the Bible as God's Word to explain what all this means, assure us when we fall down and guide us as we seek God's forgiveness and learn what it means to live according to God's way.

If you’d like to know more about any of this, then get in touch or look for a church near to you which is running The Alpha Course.

We find the statements of faith of The Church of England's 39 Articles of Religion; The Evangelical Alliance; Church Pastoral Aid Society and New Wine helpful in explaining what we believe.

We're linked to the Church of England Evangelical Council and church members are on the Executive of the Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship.