How we began

The Woodley Airfield development lies just a few miles east of Reading and about a mile north west of Winnersh Triangle in Berkshire. It is an ecumenical church which aims to draw on the best aspects of the Church of England (Anglican), Methodist Church and United Reformed Church traditions.

          Churches Together in Woodley     Methodist Church     United Reformed Church     Church of England

The Airfield Church was started by the Woodley Council of Christians with active input from Christ Church and the church of Saint John the Evangelist and has continued to be associated with them. Denominationally the Church is part of the Methodist Circuit and Connexion, the United Reformed District and the Anglican parish. Members of the Airfield Church may be members of any of these denominations and may also have member status in the other dominations. The Airfield Church is represented on the Councils of both the churches in the partnership and members are encouraged to take an interest and be involved in their decision making processes. Currently the Airfield Church sends lay representatives to the Parish Council and URC District meetings.

We began meeting for regular Sunday worship in January 1994 and have since added weekday evening meetings in members' homes and Monday evening worship in our hired venue.

We meet each Sunday morning for worship in hired premises at the Church of England Primary School in Hurricane Way, Woodley. The worship takes place in the main hall with a group for children aged 3 to 11 in the dining/library area. The down-side of not having our own building is that Church members have to set up everything for worship including the music and audio equipment and pack it all away again before leaving. The church resources and equipment are stored on site in two purpose-built cupboards. It sounds like a lot of work, but it all happens in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere which is part of the experience of fellowship and worship.

Ours is an ecumenical church - which means that we embrace, and are part of, several different Christan denominations - in particular Methodist, United Reformed and Church of England. In practice this means that we celebrate the traditions of all three of our parent denominations but do not conform entirely to the customs of any one of them. We like to try new forms of worship and try to avoid doing things simply because they have been done that way before.

Our logo explained

The cross in our logo is perhaps the most important symbol of all: it reminds us that Jesus died in our place, so that we could be forgiven. This is the central belief of every Christian church and is the focus of our existence.

The aeroplane is about us and our mission to proclaim the message about God's love and his forgiveness. In 1947, after the end of WW2, Handley Page bought some of the assets of the bankrupt Miles Aircraft company. These assets included existing designs, tools and jigs, and the Miles Reading site at Woodley. The most significant of the inherited designs was the Herald airliner. Only a few were ever built, but it was done in Woodley. It seemed appropriate that the Church whose job is to herald the coming of the Kingdom of God should use the image of the Handley Page Herald in its logo.

Please note: Woodley Airfield Church is not responsible for the content of any of the sites linked to from our pages.
Woodley Airfield Church has 'Excepted Charity' status, as defined by the Charity Commission for England & Wales.
Page last updated:17th May 2023
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