The History of Methodism in Nailsea

Methodism has deep and distinguished roots in Nailsea. It all began right back in 1789 when John Hall preached the first Methodist sermon on the village green. Just 3 years later the first chapel was opened on 5th August 1792 in what is now Chapel Barton in the Kingshill area, where it was extended, and grew through the 19th Century. A second chapel was built not far away on Union Street. 85 years ago today, in 1914, the chapel was opened on our Silver Street site to be nearer the new village centre; the fellowship was moved from Chapel Barton and the two Methodist societies eventually united here at what we now call Chapel Precinct.
By the 1960s several small additional plots of land had been added to the site, and the old building had been extended. A growing awareness of community need especially amongst young people led the Methodist Church to make a significant change in building provision. In 1965, resourced partly by Somerset County and Central Government, we built the MYCON and provided an all-weather outdoor-floodlit sports area. The Methodist Church provided a building that was not a church, but a Youth Centre, and the seeds of this community awareness bore further fruit thirty years later.


By the 1990s the town had grown, and our church was often bursting at the seams at Sunday worship. In early 1992, after 11 years of considering one building scheme after another to no avail, we asked a radical question: “What premises does God want us to have?” The answer was a little frightening! It involved a double challenge! Not only did we feel we should replace the old church with a larger, flexible, multi-purpose building with the community in mind, but we also resolved that it was time to refurbish the MYCON building. The Youth Centre had enjoyed almost 30 years of heavy use, but the 1960's layout of the building was no longer appropriate for the needs of today's young people.

As we enter the Millennium year we celebrate a vision fulfilled. As God calls, so he provides. We give thanks that through the sacrificial giving of members, the generosity of friends of our church, and by working together to secure grants we have been able to provide the means to build. We give thanks that a team of members was able to design, cost, control and manage the two building schemes.

The purpose of this site is to give a snapshot of the range of group activities using the Centre, with a contact name for each group. We estimate that up to two thousand people per week use the premises when activities are in full flight!

We invite your prayers and support for the people who are responsible for running the Centre. We pray that we may serve the community not just as landlords of these buildings, but also as followers of Jesus who said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” And “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
Cross made from timber from the old church.

View our Church Aniversary Slide Show (Active Content)