Our Local History

Methodism was brought to Alderney in March 1787 by Adam Clarke, a young Irishman who had been sent as a preacher to Guernsey by John Wesley. Hearing that the people of Alderney could speak English, he came to the Island for just three days. A Jersey man, Jean De Queterville, came to continue Adam's work.

That August John Wesley came to Alderney, being blown off course when on the way to Guernsey. With his companions (who included Adam Clarke) he slept at the Inn which is now "The Divers" and preached on the beach at Braye. Within three years the first church was built. Very soon the small band of Methodists faced a severe challenge. It was compulsory for all men to take part in Military Exercises on Sundays, as a precaution against the threat from nearby France.

The Methodists refused to attend on the sabbath and were severely persecuted. Eventually, after intervention by King George III in person, they gained the right to parade on a week day; they were nick-named "Gideon's Army".

One of the people who heard Adam Clarke preach was Amice Olivier who became the first Alderney-born man to be ordained as a Methodist minister. The first Church building became too small, and another one was opened in 1814 in Church Street. In 1842 a Primitive Methodist Church opened in the High Street (now the building used by the Salvation Army).

The present building at Butes was opened in 1852, but services continued in both the French and English churches. So many English speaking people had come to Alderney at that time, involved in building the forts which were to be defences against Napoleon III, that not only was a new methodist church needed, but a new Anglican Church was built. Roman Catholic and Presbyterian Churches were also constructed on the Island at the same period.

By 1860, when the Breakwater and 'Government Works' were nearing completion,  the membership of the methodist church was 162 (the population being nearly 5,000). A Weslyan Day School thrived as well as Sunday Schools with services in French and English being conducted in both Methodist Churches. However, the Breakwater proved to be a giant "white elephant", needing constant expensive maintenance. When the workforce left the Island, the church membership inevitably dropped. However, Methodist missionaries went from Alderney to France and to Haiti. One of them, Jean- William Herivel died of yellow fever, only two years after reaching Haiti. At the end of the nineteenth century the population and membership again rose as the British Government had stationed a garrison in Alderney. When this was withdrawn, membership gain fell. For years the church was helped by the Connexional Home Mission Fund.

On 23rd June 1940 almost all the population was evacuated, and the Island occupied by German forces. Special services organised by churches on the mainland, through Channel Island Societies, helped to keep Alderney people in touch with each other. The Methodist Church building on the Butes was used by the occupying forces as a place of worship during the war. Those who returned to the island in 1946 had not only their own homes to rebuild, but neglected church properties to restore. The costs of maintenance and repair eventually proved too much, so apart from the Church and Schoolroom at Butes, and the Manse, the rest was sold. Guernsey took over responsibility for administering the Alderney church until recently, when the Channel Islands District took over that role.

In 1983 there was a time when the church was left without a minister. The membership fell to eight, and there was the possibility that the church would close. However, under the inspired leadership of Mrs Margaret Cosby and Mr Alastair Carter, the church survived and a Pastor was appointed. In 1987 there were great celebrations to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of John Wesley's visit to the Islands. A set of special stamps was issued by the Guernsey Post Office, one of them showing John Wesley preaching at Braye. There was a re-enactment of that event, the then President of the Methodist Conference, Dr William Davies, preaching on the same spot. Later ceremonies at the church included placing a time-capsule under the church steps.

And now as the millennium approaches, Alderney Methodist Church, although numerically small, is still large in spirit, and shows itself well in tune with the expectations of modern living. Alderney invited Mrs Margaret Martin to become its first woman pastor, and Rev Arthur Mignot, a retired Methodist Minister, is an Associate Minister at the Parish Church of St. Anne's. Modern methods of communication have been welcomed and this little church has become one of the first in the UK to be on the Internet, and to run a cyber-cafe (NetCafe) club in its recently refurbished School Hall.

When Jean De Queterville explored the viability of continuing the work begun by Adam Clarke, he said that if ten people could be found who would join the church, then he would become their minister. Ten did come forward to confess their faith in Christ, and 200 years later, the Christian message is still being proclaimed at Butes Methodist Church in Alderney.

Eileen Mignot
September 1996