Keep Faithful & Carry On, says Methodist General Secretary

• Full text of report available here

The Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the MethodistChurch, has urged Methodists to focus on what it means to be a'discipleship movement shaped for mission.' This is a continuationof the direction of travel set by Dr Atkins' in his 2011report to the Methodist Conference, which was very warmlyreceived by the Church.  

Today, Dr Atkins presented his 2012 report to the annualConference, meeting in Plymouth. In the report, he encouragedMethodists to 'keep faithful and carry on,' and spoke of the needfor a culture shift in the Church.

"The crucial thing is not to permit our commitment todiscipleship and mission to falter," said Dr Atkins. "We areseeking, under God, to alter the default settings on the localchurch, circuit, district, and the whole wider Connexion," headded.

Dr Atkins also encouraged Methodists to look to the future withconfidence, saying "We must look to the future to live properly inthe present, and we believe in the future because of what God hasdone in the past and continues to do now, here, among us."

He spoke of the need to encourage people to share their faithwith others: "Encouraging evangelism so that an even larger numberof Methodist churches and people engage in and inhabit it iscritical over the next few years and requires a combination oflocal vision and initiatives, fertile partnerships with others andConnexional input and resources in order that this becomes a pointof increasing strength."

The Conference also heard a range of stories illustrating thelife and work of Methodist communities around Britain. Theseinclude the decision by Boston Methodist Circuit in Lincoln andGrimsby to buy a burger van so that they could provide hot food anddrink to homeless people in the town centre. The photo presentationof the stories is available online hereand the audio can be found here.