South Bedfordshire
Methodist Circuit

Faith at the heart of community

We are a Methodist Circuit consisting of eighteen churches in and around Dunstable, Leighton Buzzard, Luton and the surrounding villages; serving South Bedfordshire with compassion and faith-based values.

Our mission and values

The calling of the South Bedfordshire Methodist Circuit is to respond to the Gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission.

We will use the circuit’s resources to:

- Increase awareness of God’s presence and celebrate God’s love
- Help people to grow and learn as Christians through mutual support and care
- Be a good neighbour to people in need and challenge injustice
- Make more followers of Christ

In all the above we will seek to work ecumenically wherever possible and

use resources with due care for people and planet

The South Bedfordshire Circuit is a registered charity No. 1134222

Talking Point

Spiritual Growth is one of our Circuit priorities, and we would love to see more people talking about faith. It can be difficult but it's by sharing our thoughts and questions, joys and doubts with others that we grow.

To help us get better at this, each week we will be posing a question, a 'talking point', for you to reflect on and hopefully you will be able to share your thoughts and ideas with someone else. This might be someone at home or church or, if you feel brave, someone who isn't from a faith background.

A challenging one this week, I think, especially when we look at what is happening in the world around us.

Exodus 12:23-25 tells us ‘But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.’ and chapter 15:3 says ‘The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.’ after God had allowed the Pharaoh’s officers to be drowned in the sea.

In Jeremiah 51:20 God says, ‘You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms’

And Joel 3:9-10 proclaims, ‘Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”’

How do we reconcile these verses with others such as Psalm 34:14 ‘Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.’

Or James 3:18 ‘And the fruit of justice is sown in peace by those who make peace.’

And Matthew 5:9 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.'

Ecclesiastes 3 shows both 'sides', 'There is a time to kill and a time to heal. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace'.

So this Talking Point question is: –

‘Can Christians support war?’