Mandatory Training FAQs can be accessed here
“I have already done the Unconscious Bias training! Do I have to do it again?”
You are only required to do the Unconscious Bias training once and it’s great you’ve already done some Unconscious Bias training.
That might be all you’d like to do for now but, if you’d like a refresher, or to consider issues in more detail, you may find the MCBX course helpful. Otherwise simply move on to the EDI mandatory module to be found here: Mandatory EDI training
“Why are the videos too small?”
You can make the videos full screen by clicking in the bottom right corner of the video box
“What do I do when I’m having problems with my password?”
If you have already signed into Theology X (probably for the Advanced safeguarding module) but forgotten your password, you will need to go to Theology X to re-create your password before you can sign into MCBX again.
Once you have done that – use the same sign in email and password to sign in to MCBX
“Will I be expected to do this training every year?”
There are no plans to expect people to do the training more than once.
We imagine that you might like to go back and have another look at it now and again, or that you might want to do the course with others to help them learn too, and to learn from each other.
We are all expected to use the Personal Responsibility Commitment each year, to plan and carry out some extra EDI learning. This could be about some new area of diversity, which we know we need to understand better, or it could be a developing interest in one particular area of diversity.
We are all called to learn about one another as we are disciples, together, of Jesus Christ, who called a mixture of people!
“What about Supernumerary ministers?”
As with safeguarding pastoral care needs to be taken. If a supernumerary minister, or an ‘inactive’ local preacher, is unable to do the training and no longer ‘represents’ the church in an active way, then they do not need to be added to the list. Where somebody is seen as a ‘representative of the church’ then they will need to do the training.
“What about Worship Leaders?”
This is a great question and we expect that it will change. Currently Worship Leaders are not on the list but it is expected that they will be added at the next Conference (or Council meeting). So, please value their ministry by including them in the list of people who we expect to do the training, and then they will be ahead of Conference!
"What about Pastoral Visitors?"
Paid Pastoral Workers are required to do the mandatory EDI training.
We encourage all pastoral visitors to enjoy the training too as there is lots to learn about the people we serve.
“What about Circuit Invitation Committees?”
These are not yet mandated by Conference to do the training, although many members of the Committees will have done it anyway as preachers, stewards or ministers.
Everybody is, of course, invited to do this training as part of our discipleship and learning.
“How do I prove that I have done the course?”
There is no need to worry about the certificate. Just keep a note of the date on which you completed your training. If you have completed the course online you should be able to print off, or download, your certificate to say that you have done the training.
If you have done the training in a group, your district’s EDI Officer will be able to provide a certificate for your Super to sign.
"Who will ‘register’ that I have done my training?"
Circuits will decide who is going to collect this information.
Somebody in each circuit will be asked to keep the list of who needs to do the training, and this will be kept up-to-date as new staff and volunteers come into the roles.
If circuits have appointed EDI Officers already then this person will collect this information but it could be an administrator, a circuit steward or another volunteer willing to do the task.
You will need to give your name and the date that you completed the training.
Beyond this year (2023) we ask that each person mandated to do EDI training continues to learn and to share with their ‘accountable group’ (eg clergy staff meeting or Local Preachers and Worship Leaders’ Meeting or line manager) what you have learned that year.
“I hate online learning”
Resources are available here: Training Resources (methodist.org.uk) for the material to be led locally in person.
We hope that people will help each other and it will be worth asking your circuit Super or Local Preachers’ Secretary, or one of your Learning Network officers, whether there are plans for groups to do this training together in person.
“Don’t we need to talk with one another to do this learning?”
Good conversation is definitely the best way of learning about human diversity and we hope people will listen to understand and to learn. This training will definitely work best if you can also have conversations with others doing the course, in church meetings, fellowship, worship, on Zoom or wherever possible.
You are welcome to do the course alone, following up with conversation in other contexts, or to do the course with others, discussing as you go. There are many ways of using the material from the EDI training to support conversations in homes, coffee shops, pubs, churches, Local Preachers’ meetings, circuit meetings or wherever people gather. We hope that Methodists will use the materials in this way.
As part of your continued learning after completing this course, you may like to organise an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session and there’s guidance on how we can support people with offering themselves as ‘Experts By Experience’.
We are all made in the image of God and so we can all learn from one another.
A series of Ask Me Anything sessions would be a great follow on from the online EDI module.
“I don’t have access to the internet”. “I’m not able to use a computer”
Resources to enable groups to complete the training together without having to logon to MCBX are available here. There are two sets of resources.
One is for a session led by a facilitator, along the lines of in-person safeguarding training sessions.
The other are a set of study notes, suitable for a fellowship group to study in a series of sessions. Either can be adapted to meet the particular needs of a group, as long as all of the material is covered. However, groups will still need access to the internet and audio-visual equipment in order to view the online videos that are part of the course.
Lastly, please consider our environmental commitment and only print paper resources where necessary, considering alternative ways for people to access the content where possible.
If you are not getting the help you need you could email: equality&diversity@methodistchurch.org.uk and we will put you in touch with your local Learning Network team.
“What about LEPs (Local Ecumenical Partnerships)?”
As with Safeguarding, LEPs will need to decide which denominations EDI policies and procedures they are going to follow. We hope that Methodist can share how we see this work, and that Methodist members may choose to do the training but if another denomination has a more ‘rigorous’ approach you are open to choosing that. The decision should be recorded at the relevant Church meeting. Churches of other denominations are also able to access the Methodist training through MCBX.
“I have loved this training! How can I learn more?”
That’s good news.
There are more EDI toolkit ‘modules’ about particular aspects of human diversity here:
There is also a huge range of helpful materials, courses and resources on the internet and documentaries on the radio and television.
Wesley encouraged the Methodist people to be life-long learners and to learn from the world around us.
"What if I’ve already done some EDI training through work?"
You still need to do the Methodist EDI training as it covers material which is faith-based and particular to Methodism, which won’t be covered anywhere else. Hopefully it will take you less time to do though!