2018/ PRESS PACK

Transcription

1 2018/ PRESS PACK

2 PRESS PACK CONTENTS ABOUT THE CHURCH CHURCH STRUCTURE STRUCTURE DIAGRAM OF THE CHURCH DISTRICT MAP KEY PEOPLE THE MEDIA SERVICE THE METHODIST CONFERENCE 2018 USEFUL LINKS Photo: istock.com

3 1 ABOUT THE CHURCH Methodist faith and worship Methodists have always believed that no one is beyond the reach of God s love. Salvation is there for everyone who turns to God, and not just for a chosen few. It is a strong feature of Methodism that laypeople (those who aren t ordained) should play a major part in the running of the Church. Image: TMCP / Photo: TimEPhotography The Methodist movement was founded by the Anglican clergyman John Wesley ( ). Although Wesley declared, I live and die a member of the Church of England, the strength and impact of the movement made a separate Methodist body virtually inevitable. Today, the Methodist Church is one of the largest Christian churches serving Great Britain, with nearly 195,000 members and regular contact with over 500,000 people. It has 4,650 churches in Great Britain, and also maintains links with other Methodist churches totalling a worldwide membership of 80 million. Its activities, both alone and with ecumenical and secular partners, are based on four aims known as Our Calling: Methodists believe in what John Wesley called social holiness. The longing for holiness is not about wanting to be holier than thou. It is about wanting the love of God to permeate all of our lives, and for that love to be shown through our lives to other people. Worship each week is not always led by an ordained minister, but often by a local preacher a layperson who has been trained and authorised to lead worship. At all levels of the Methodist Church, laypeople are involved in decision making, and the Vice-President of the Conference is always a layperson or a deacon. Music plays an essential role in Methodist worship, and singing is regarded as an important means of learning about, sharing and celebrating faith. Charles Wesley wrote about 6,000 hymns, many of which are still sung by Christians across the world today. To increase awareness of God s presence and to celebrate God s love. To help people to grow and learn as Christians through mutual support and care. To be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice. To make more followers of Jesus Christ.

4 2 CHURCH STRUCTURE The Connexion Methodists belong to local churches, but are also part of a larger connected community the Connexion. In the Methodist Church decisions are made as openly as possible, giving opportunities for all to contribute. Included in the British Methodist Connexion are all the districts of Scotland, Wales and England, along with the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Shetland. The local church The local church is the congregational place of worship where Methodist members and other attendees are nurtured. Local Methodist churches are congregations based on the original Methodist societies which met within the Church of England. When they began to gather in larger buildings, Methodists continued the practice of meeting in small groups or classes for Bible study, prayer and Christian conversation. The circuit A circuit is a group of local churches, served by a team of local preachers and ministers, led by the superintendent minister. The district The district serves a geographical group of circuits and is led by the district chair. There are 30 Methodist districts across Great Britain. The Methodist Conference The Conference meets annually in June or July in a different location each year. It is the governing body for the Methodist Church. It first met in 1744 under John Wesley, who gathered together his assistants (both ordained ministers and itinerant lay preachers) to confer together about what to teach, how to teach, and what to do, ie how to regulate our doctrine, discipline and practice. The contemporary Conference is a gathering of representatives from each Methodist district, along with some who have been elected by the Conference and some ex officio members and representatives of the Youth Assembly. There is a mixture of laypeople, ordained presbyters and deacons. The President and Vice-President At the start of the Representative Session at each Methodist Conference, a new President and Vice- President are appointed to preside over that year s Conference. They then spend the year travelling around the Connexion and abroad, representing the Methodist Church. The President is always an ordained presbyter and the Vice-President is always a layperson or deacon. Global relationships The Methodist Church in Britain works with 60 Partner Churches worldwide in four geographical areas: Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, as well as the Methodist Church in Ireland. The Church sends and receives mission partners, arranges scholarships for students and advises on the mutual sharing of resources and experiences with our Partner Churches.

5 3 THE METHODIST CHURCH IN BRITAIN Structure and organisation Methodist Homes Methodist Diaconal Order Action for Children All We Can Leaders of Worship and Preachers Trust (LWPT) Methodist Women in Britain (MWiB) * Local Preachers Meeting Church Pastoral Committee The Methodist Conference Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes Central Finance Board 3Generate Children and Youth Assembly The Presidency Methodist Council Strategy and Resources Committee Secretary of the Conference District Synod Districts Chairs of Districts ** District Chairs Meeting Connexional Leaders Forum Senior Leadership Group Connexional Team Circuit Meeting Circuits *** Elected representation of Church members Diagrammatic only. Based on the Constitutional Practice and Discipline of the Methodist Church Church Council Circuit Superintendent Ministers * Registered charities ** Districts comprise one or more circuits *** Circuits comprise one or more churches Churches Circuit leadership - Presbyters - Deacons - Circuit stewards - Lay workers - Others Ecumenical Links

6 4 DISTRICT MAP Na h-eileanan Siar 31 Orkney Islands Shetland Islands 32 Moray Key Guernsey Counties & Unitary Authorities District Boundary Lines 10 Sark Alderney Channel Islands Isles of Scilly Jersey Argyll & Bute Pembroke -shire West Dunbartonshire Isle of Man Inverclyde North Ayrshire Cornwall 12 South Ayrshire Highland Renfrew -shire Stirling E. Renfrew Plymouth Glasgow East Ayrshire Isle of Anglesey East Dunbartonshire Ceredigion Swansea Devon Falkirk North Lanarkshire Conwy Gwynedd Carmarthenshire Perth & Kinross Clackmannanshire Port Talbot Neath Merthyr Tydfil Bridgend West Lothian South Lanarkshire Dumfries & Galloway 24 Blackpool Powys Rhondda Cynon Taf Denbighshire 1 & 2* Edinburgh Flintshire Blaenau Gwent Caerphilly Cardiff Vale of Glamorgan Torbay Fife Midlothian Aberdeenshire Newport Angus Wrexham Torfaen North Somerset East Lothian Scottish Borders 9 Cumbria Lancashire 21 Blackburn with Darwen 18 Merseyside Cheshire West & Chester Telford & Wrekin Somerset Dundee City Halton 28 Shropshire Herefordshire Monmouth -shire South Gloucs. Bristol Bath & NE Somerset Northumberland Gateshead Warrington Cheshire East Newcastle upon Tyne County Durham Greater Manchster 19 Bradford Calderdale Stoke-on -Trent Staffordshire Worcestershire Aberdeen City Darlington Kirklees Derby Stockton -on-tees Leeds Sheffield North Tyneside Rotherham Derbyshire South Tyneside Sunderland York Swindon Wokingham Isle of Wight Hartlepool Redcar & Cleveland Middlesbrough West Berkshire Reading Nottingham West Leicester Midlands 23 Warwickshire 5 Gloucestershire Wiltshire 26 Wakefield North Barnsley Doncaster Lincolnshire Oxfordshire Portsmouth Poole Dorset Southhampton Bournemouth North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Leicestershire Hampshire Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire East Riding of Yorkshire Bracknell Forest Rutland Northhamptonshire Bedford Slough Lincolnshire Peterborough Central Bedfordshire Windsor & Maidenhead Surrey Luton Hertfordshire West Sussex Groundwork GIS All Rights Reserved. Ordnance Survey License Number Brighton & Hove Kingston upon Hull North East Lincolnshire Cambridgeshire Greater London Essex Thurrock Medway 36 East Sussex Methodist Districts 1 Synod Cymru 2 Wales Synod 5 Birmingham 6 Bolton & Rochdale 7 Bristol 9 Cumbria 10 Channel Islands 11 Chester & Stoke-on-Trent 12 Cornwall 13 Darlington 14 East Anglia 15 Isle of Man 17 Lincolnshire 18 Liverpool 19 Manchester & Stockport 20 Newcastle upon Tyne 21 Lanchashire 22 Nottingham & Derby 23 Northampton 24 Plymouth & Exeter 25 Sheffield 26 Southampton 27 Yorkshire West 28 Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury 29 Yorkshire North & East 31 Scotland 32 Shetland 34 Bedfordshire, Essex & Hertfordshire 35 London 36 South East * Districts 1 & 2 together form the Methodist Church in Wales Norfolk 14 Suffolk Kent 0 Southend-on-Sea 50 miles

7 5 KEY PEOPLE The Revd Michaela A Youngson, President of the Methodist Conference, 2018/2019 Michaela was born on Christmas Day, one of twin girls, and grew up in the East Riding of Yorkshire. After a visit to her village by a Cliff College mission team, Michaela joined a Methodist Sunday School, then a Methodist Association of Youth Clubs (MAYC) group. Michaela left school at 16 for an aircraft industry apprenticeship, and at 18 moved to London to work for MAYC. She worked for the Methodist Division of Social Responsibility and was a trustee for Methodist Relief and Development Fund. On her engagement to Sandy, Michaela moved to the North-East and a job at Traidcraft, which dovetailed with her growing commitment to international development. From the age of 16, Michaela knew that she was called to be a Methodist minister. After her marriage, she trained at Queen s College, served in the Burnley Circuit and had two children, Robert and Tamsin. Michaela served a further circuit in the Lancashire District, in Oswaldtwistle. She began to develop her radio work and started making fused glass artwork. Michaela became Connexional Secretary for Pastoral Care and Spirituality in London and co-ordinated Pray Without Ceasing, a year of non-stop prayer. She has an MA in Spirituality and has written two books. Michaela is Chair of the London District and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2 s Pause for Thought. She is Chair of Trustees for Methodist Central Hall, and is a trustee of Making HerStory and Southlands College. Michaela is looking forward to helping the Methodist Church consider the radical nature of God s grace and the ethic of hospitality and love-centred mission that flows from that grace. Bala Gnanapragasam, Vice-President of the Methodist Conference, 2018/2019 Bala Gnanapragasam owes his Methodist roots to Kollupitiya Methodist Church, Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he worked his way up from the cradle roll to Sunday School teacher. His passion for social justice was kindled while working in the Colombo slums with the Methodist Youth Fellowship. Bala moved to the UK in the mid 1960s, and maintains his social justice interest in Sri Lanka through the Methodist Church and the National Christian Council. Bala and his wife are active members of Southwark and Deptford Circuit and have worshipped at Peckham Methodist church for more than 40 years. They have two children and five grandchildren. He was the first Synod Secretary for the newly formed London District. Bala studied electrical and electronic engineering in Southampton and has worked in the telecoms sector for 35 years. Bala believes strongly in mission and social justice. He serves on the board of Christian Aid and MHA (formerly Methodist Homes for the Aged). He chairs Change Alliance (India), a wholly owned subsidiary of Christian Aid UK. He is also a trustee of the London HIV/Aids Chaplaincy. He served two terms as an elected Labour councillor for the London Borough of Lewisham and was the borough member for Lewisham on the Inner London Education Authority. Bala also served as the Chair of University Hospital Lewisham for eight years.

8 6 KEY PEOPLE The Revd Canon Gareth J Powell, Secretary of the Methodist Conference Gareth was the Assistant Secretary of the Conference and Head of Governance Support in the Connexional Team from 2011 to 2015 before taking up the role of Secretary of the Conference. He read theology at Westminster College, Oxford, and then undertook ministerial training at Queen s College, Birmingham, obtaining an MA in Pastoral Theology before spending time at the Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies at the University of Geneva. Having served as a probationer in the Coventry Circuit, he was ordained in 1999, when he was stationed to the Cardiff Circuit as a circuit minister and university chaplain. During he was Chaplain and Chaplaincy Coordinator at Cardiff University. In 2009 he was stationed to the Connexional Team to be based in the Governance Support Cluster as the President s Assistant. Upon nomination to the post of Secretary Gareth said, I want the Church to pay careful and considered attention to its patterns of oversight and pastoral care. In doing so, I hope we will be better resourced and enabled to respond to the challenges of the gospel and of contemporary society. Gareth has vast experience of ecumenical partnerships and is highly respected in such circles. He is a member of the Council of Christian Unity of the Church of England; a member of the Methodist/Roman Catholic Committee from 2001 to 2012; Co-Secretary of the Anglican Methodist International Commission on Unity in Mission, and was the Ecumenical Officer of Y Gymanfa from 2005 to He has served on a number of committees of the Methodist Church. The Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler, Assistant Secretary of the Methodist Conference Jonathan has been Assistant Secretary of the Conference since September 2017, prior to which he was the Ministerial Coordinator for Oversight of Ordained Ministries in the Connexional Team. Jonathan trained at Wesley House, Cambridge, and studied as Finch Scholar in Rome for a year. He was ordained in He served in circuit appointments in Leighton Buzzard and Stewkley, Cleveland, and Mid-Lincolnshire, before returning to Wesley House as Vice-Principal and Director of Pastoral Studies. Jonathan has served on a number of committees in the Church and as a District Ecumenical Officer. His involvement in the training of local preachers and ministers has been extensive and he continues to write on pastoral theology, preaching and church history. As Assistant Secretary, Jonathan works closely with the Secretary of the Conference, and takes particular responsibility for ministries, stationing and oversight.

9 7 KEY PEOPLE MEDIA SERVICE Jasmine Yeboah, Youth President, 2018/2019 Jasmine Yeboah, aged 23, lives in Tottenham, London. Her parents are of Ghanaian heritage and she enjoys the beauty of her Ghanaian culture. She has a degree in education and social science from St Mary s University. Michael Ivatt, Lead Media Officer ivattm@methodistchurch.org.uk Tel: Mob: I have a heart for all vulnerable people in our society. I want to see them changed and transformed by the word of God. This passion grew when I got the opportunity to minister at a female prison. As I watched the women worship God with all their heart and heard their testimonies, I was deeply moved. I also had the privilege of visiting Great Ormond Street Hospital and it was there that I realised that all young people should live their lives to the fullest without fear. At university, she felt a conviction that the Lord was leading her to participate in a study abroad programme. She was afraid at first, but found the Lord gave her courage and her experience enabled her to mature in her relationship with Christ. Jasmine s vision is that all people, regardless of race, gender or ethnicity, will see the Methodist Church as a home that allows them to turn away from negative things and grow to become courageous leaders. Throughout my presidential year, I will be focusing on the theme courageous. This aims to encourage young people to go outside of their comfort zone and do something amazing for Christ. I am daring young people to be different and to embrace their uniqueness. Jasmine will take up her position in September winnr@methodistchurch.org.uk Helping members of the media with information about any aspect of the life and work of the Methodist Church in Britain. News releases on stories related to the Methodist Church. Regular podcasts featuring thought-provoking interviews with people from across Methodism and beyond. First point of contact for the views of the Church on current issues. Media support for local Rosie Winn, Media Officer Methodist Church in Britain Tel: Mob:

10 8 THE METHODIST CONFERENCE 2018 The 2018 Methodist Conference will take place in Nottingham, from 28 June to 5 July. The timings of the 2018 Conference are not yet finalised but are expected to be as follows: Presbyteral Session: Thursday 28 June Friday 29 June. Opening of the Conference: Saturday 30 June. Induction of the President and Vice-President: Saturday 30 June. Reception into Full Connexion and Conference Worship: Sunday 1 July. Representative Sessions: Saturday 30 June Thursday 5 July. Members of the media are welcome to attend the Conference, which will be supported by an on-site media office and ISDN radio studio. The Conference sessions will be streamed live at Follow the action on Twitter at The Twitter hashtag is #methodistconf For more information, contact the Media Service. USEFUL LINKS For news from the Methodist Church in Britain: For news and information about the Methodist Conference: Find the Methodist Church on Facebook and Twitter: twitter.com/methodistgb Keep up to date with stories from across Methodism by signing up to one of our mailings: Find out about the views of the Church on key issues: Follow our daily online Bible study: From the archive of the connexional E-News letter: Design and production: Methodist Publishing and Communications Team for the Methodist Church in Britain Registered charity no Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 2018 Cover Photo: istock.com/bombuscreative