Rev'd Matt Smith

Hello, I’m Rev Matt and I’m the Minister at Antley, Cambridge Street, Mellor, Rhyddings, St Pauls and West End Methodist Churches. I work alongside Community Pastor Charlotte who ministers in the Hyndburn area and Hippings Methodist School, Oswaldtwistle.

I started to explore the Christian faith in my teens with other friends, but it was really at University in Loughborough that I really gave my life to Christ. Since then, it’s been a journey of exploring what it means to further explore and live out my Christian faith in the world and with the people and communities around me.

Being a follower of Christ doesn’t mean life is easy, in fact being a Christian means that I have to make hard decisions each day, trying to see the world from a different perspective, treat people with the same love and grace that God treats me.

Being part of a Church community was really important to me when I began to explore Christianity. I remember being welcomed, seen and valued as part of the church congregation, being part of something that was meant to be bigger and better than being on my own. With multi generations, different personalities and their experience of life all in the same place, the Church can be a place to be challenged and grow as we are encouraged to see things from different perspectives, show care, compassion and put others needs before our own. It’s all part of the upside down message that Jesus brings in the 4 Gospel books of the Bible.

Methodism has a wealth of older hymns which I use alongside more recent music in the services I lead. I try to make them accessible to everyone, with a mixture of fun and laughter (and sometimes a lot of chaos) and exploring how we can relate the Bible’s messages to our everyday lives. Faith needs to make a difference to the lives of those who believe, not just a ‘get into heaven card’ but making a difference to your life, the lives of those who we meet and the world that we live in. We have different services in the Churches, some are more traditional, others aim to include the younger children throughout the service and others focus more on exploring the Bible reading or celebrating Holy Communion.

If you are interested in being part of one of our Church communities, please come along or get in touch. Coming to Church for the first time can be daunting, but you will always find a warm welcome.