Civic Hall,
Wolverhampton
2nd - 9th July 2009 |
Host Districts of The Chester & Stoke on Trent, Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury and Birmingham Districts
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This morning prayers were led by representatives from the Wolverhampton & Shrewsbury District with a focus was on Rwanda. Then the moment we’d all been waiting for when we learnt the result of the election for next year’s President and Vice President. The President will be Revd Alison Tomlin (currently the chair of the Northampton district) and the Vice-President will be Deacon Eunice Attwood (currently serving in Newcastle) – so next year will be the year of the women!
We received the report regarding Annual Development Reviews for ministers, agreeing that it would not be implemented this year & that the Methodist Council would oversee the ongoing work and address outstanding issues.
We then turned our attention to the report from the Youth Conference. This was the last youth conference – replaced by a Youth Assembly which will meet in Durham 13-15 November. As part of their report they showed us a video which helped us to think through where some of the young people will be in 10 years time – and reminding us that they are ‘disciples in training, not disciples in waiting’. We received the report before beginning to address specific resolutions the young people were brining – beginning with the training of Local Preachers. We agreed on the need for training for Local Preachers on the effective leading of worship for worship intended primarily for young people as mandatory module of Faith & Worship and to make funding available for courses through Continuing Local Preachers Development.
After coffee we looked at Business & ethics – we heard reflections by the ex-Vice President, David Walton, on the people he has met & the places he has visited during the last year & initiatives being undertaken by churches and circuits to support those working in business at all levels. This was followed by Chris Moorhouse (former executive in BP & chair of the institute of business ethics) reflecting on the financial crisis. This was followed by discussion.
We then received the report ‘responding to the Anglican/Methodist Covenant – the Methodist Council will undertake detailed consideration of the report at its meeting in September. We continued on an ecumenical theme in agreeing a vision statement under the report ‘our ecumenical calling: making a difference together in the 21st century’ before we adjourned for lunch.
After lunch we had the report on the Youth Participation strategy which we received and agreed to set up a Youth Assembly in place of the Youth Conference and amended Standing Orders accordingly.
We then returned to the remaining business from the Youth Conference which we didn’t get through this morning. We agreed to develop materials to assist local churches and circuits to discuss the 1993 sexuality resolutions and to encourage open discussion on all issues relating to sexuality. We agreed to refer to the Faith & Order committee’s working group looking at membership the question of whether it is possible to hold dual membership in more than one local church at a time. We agreed to produce proposals to open EDEV (extending discipleship exploring vocation) to young people & equip them for ordained & lay ministries. And we agreed that the Faith & Worship local preacher’s course be revised so that it is accessible to everyone & includes more creative & varied approaches to training.
We then looked at a number of Notices of Motions: we requested representation be made by the President, Secretary of Conference & other church leaders of ecumenical partners to the home secretary following news that the President of the Methodist Church Benin was refused a visa to attend Conference. We showed our support to ICAHD – the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition, restating our opposition to violence by all groups & opposition to the military occupation by Israel of Palestinian Territories, commending the work of ICAHD & encouraging Methodists to find out about their work. We agreed to establish an Israel/Palestine Methodist working group to bring a statement to Conference 2010 on the Methodist Church’s position on Israel/Palestine. And we agreed a Notice of Motion concerning the situation in Fiji – to write to the President of the Fijian Conference as it has been refused permission to meet and requesting the World Church Relationships office to make contact with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to bring pressure to resolve this situation.
During tea, cake was provided by Traidcraft & free mugs were distributed to all members from Action for Children (formally NCH). Thank You!
After tea, we dealt with revisions of property legislation – dealing with anything to do with property & giving consents. These include making the district the consenting body rather than the Connexion unless there are legal implications, that Connexional consent is needed if applying for interest-bearing loans or a mortgage unless it is with Methodist Chapel Aid Ltd. We agreed to all changes.
We then looked at further Notices of Motion and agreed: to amend Standing Orders to appoint further members to District candidate committee; to explore the possibility of holding a joint Ordination service for both presbyters and deacons; to encourage churches offering hospitality during the 2012 Olympic Games in London to use Fairtrade products; we recognised the valuable contribution made by our senior members to the life of the church; we agreed to explore furthering unity within the world Methodist family; we affirmed the ministry of the ‘ECG Conference’ and rejected moves to extend the duration of Conference by a further day. Within all this business, we had a lighter moment when a Notice of Motion requesting the assistant organist of Muswell Hill Methodist Church(i.e. the President – Revd David Gamble!) to attempt to learn to play the proposed first 20 hymns of the new hymn collection to be brought to conference in 2010 & also for him to report on his success in this endeavour (earlier in the Conference, the President shared with us his early experience within the church as a young person when he learnt to play the first 20 hymns in the Methodist hymn book!) At the end of this light hearted debate we agreed that the vote be not put!
The business for the day concluded with a closed session of business & we look forward to our final day tomorrow!
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