08 July 2009
Methodist Church elects new President and Vice President Designate
The Revd Alison Tomlin has been elected President Designate of
the Methodist Conference for 2010-2011, and Deacon Eunice Attwood
has been elected Vice President Designate. The elections were
announced at the annual Methodist Conference in
Wolverhampton.
Alison Tomlin is currently Chair of the Northampton Methodist
District, having previously chaired the Oxford and Leicester
District. In September she will become co-Superintendent of the
Thames Valley Methodist Circuit with her husband Dave. She has
served the Church as a minister for 25 years, having originally
been ordained in Wolverhampton in 1984.
Alison said; 'It is a great privilege to be elected as President
Designate and I am humbled to be trusted with this role by the
Conference. In my year of Presidency I will seek to help the Church
be more receptive to go where God is inviting us. The Church has
not always been very good at risk-taking but it's easier to take
risks when we are confident in God's love and listening for God's
voice.'
Central to Alison's ministry has been the imaginative use of the
Bible in prayer. She said; 'The Church has designated 2011 as the
Year of the Bible and this will be very important and exciting for
me in my year of office.'
Eunice Attwood works as part of a team of lay and ordained
ministers in a busy city centre church in Newcastle. She has been
instrumental in establishing the Newcastle Street Pastors Project
and supports work with asylum seekers, street workers and teenage
runaways. Eunice spent 12 years working as an Intensive Care Unit
nurse and brings experience of hospital chaplaincy and 10 years of
serving the Church as a member of the Diaconal Order. She is a
Methodist Local Preacher and a part-time diaconal tutor at the
Wesley Study Centre in Durham.
Eunice said; 'As a member of the Methodist Diaconal Order it's a
real honour to be elected Vice President Designate. I am passionate
about enabling the people of God to reach out to and better engage
with their communities. In my year as Vice President, I hope to
inspire God's people to reconnect with the servant ministry to
which we are all called and celebrate the rich contribution of the
Diaconal Order to the life and work of the Church.'
Alison and Eunice will be inducted as President and Vice President
as the first items of business at the 2010 Methodist Conference,
which will meet in Portsmouth, 24 June -1 July.