in Caversham The Methodist Church 2: Bird’s Eye View The Methodist Church in Reading In an area like Reading the churches work together in a Circuit (a word that goes back to the way John Wesley decided that his ministers should work). Our Circuit consists of about twenty churches, some large, some small. One of the Ministers, called a Superintendent, serves the whole of the Circuit in a leadership role. Each Minister may serve one or more churches. So a church won’t necessarily see its minister every Sunday morning. The Methodist Church in Britain Across the whole of Great Britain the Methodist church is divided into Districts. Our Circuit is in the Southampton District, which extends from Portland in the south-west, to Reading in the north-east. World-wide? Yes, the Methodist Church is one of the largest Christian churches world-wide, with self-governing Conferences in many countries. Some of these churches have used the term “bishop” to recognise senior ministers, but they are not like Anglican or Roman Catholic Bishops.