THEY call it a church plant, but really it's a transplant. Melsonby Methodist chapel had only four or five members, its condition critical, when the graft was carried out. Inarguably it's taken; now the little community may be in for another shot in the armament.

Melsonby's near Scotch Corner - tranquil, attractive, once curiously described in print as like Bruges without the smell. All that regularly gets in the papers these days is the gentlemen's pie making competition in the Black Bull. The gentlemen of Melsonby make surprisingly good pies.

The chapel cost £600 when it was built in 1866, and almost £50,000 more when undergoing a major facelift 120 years later.

Soon afterwards, however, numbers had declined so greatly that closure seemed inevitable. Other Methodist churches on the Darlington circuit were asked for volunteers formally to make up the numbers.

Among those who answered the call was the Rev Jeffrey Sharp, medically retired after suffering two strokes while a minister in Harrogate and moved to Darlington with his wife Jean to be near her supportive family.

Others switched to Melsonby, too. "I've never missed the town," says Jeff. "I don't want to sound sanctimonious, but when you are aware that it's where God wants you to be, then you don't worry." Now there are 14 members - half still travelling from Darlington, half from Melsonby - of whom 13 gathered last Sunday for the Covenant service, the Methodists' annual pledge taken on or near the first Sunday of the year.

(Whilst many would pronounce "covenant" as in "love", Melsonby's preference is like Jarrow's, where the first syllable is as in "bother." In Jarrow, though, even mother is pronounced like bother.)

We gather comfortably in an informal circle, among the villagers Jill Neill, Richmond reporter for the Darlington and Stockton Times, who lives in the cottage next door but contrives (she says) always to be last to arrive.

That the Archers Omnibus coincides with 10.30am service may not, she admits, be entirely unconnected.

Though Mr Sharp leads many services, and has overseen the formation of a flourishing "mid-week Sunday School" called J-Team, the resident minister to Darlington's rural churches - Hurworth, Barton, North Cowton and Melsonby - has since August been the Rev Margaret Smith, aged 39 and on her first appointment.

She is an evangelical Christian, born again (as they say) not on the road to Damascus, but at a convention in Blackpool which she'd tried very hard to get out of.

Characterised both by their passion and by their joyfulness, the evangelicals also talk of hard road and hard word, and not just of heaven but of hell.

"The response has been mixed to be honest. Some people are a little bit apprehensive," says Margaret, a graduate nurse who forsook a highly successful career.

Though she doesn't miss nursing, there are times when she doesn't - "mightn't" - like the ministry, either. "I always think that if anybody is a good minister, they're doing it kicking and screaming.

"Before Blackpool I would say that I knew of God but didn't know him personally," she says. "I knew God was important to my life, but he wasn't central to it.

"Suddenly God was speaking to me personally and directly, which he hadn't done before - well I'm sure he was, but I hadn't been listening. I was completely changed; I think I was as shocked as anyone else.

"For some who haven't been exposed to this kind of worship, it may come as a bit of a surprise."

The folk of Melsonby and of neighbouring Aldbrough St John may be still more greatly surprised that she plans shortly to start an Alpha course - the broad church, back to basics, Bible- based, biff them between the eyes exercise that claims hundreds of thousands of converts worldwide.

"There are people out there looking for answers," says Margaret.

Unusually for Methodism, the covenant service has a formal liturgy, a promise to accept God's purpose.

The lucky 13 sing Joy to the World - Christendom's best carol - and are welcomed by Margaret who admits that she spent most of the new year in hibernation. "I missed my vocation. I should have been a hamster," she adds.

Afterwards there are photographs, and a debate about how the colours will look until it's realised they'll be in monochrome. Jeff Sharp, a football fan, recalls the infamous observation of Kenneth Wolstenholme (or possibly David Coleman) that for the benefit of those watching in black and white, Liverpool are the team in red.

Almost everyone stops behind afterwards for coffee and scones - Melsonby's women make very good scones, too - for a chance to catch up and to plan further events. It has been a happy and an invigorating occasion. The new heart beats strongly in Melsonby.

l Sunday service at Melsonby church is at 10.30am. The Rev Margaret Smith is on (01325) 720301.

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