04 July 2009
New Vice-President calls on Methodists to push boundaries in the 21st century
The new Vice-President of the Conference, Dr Richard Vautrey,
called on Methodists to push boundaries, test new ideas and embrace
new technology in order to reach out beyond the walls of churches
and chapels.
In his inaugural speech to the Conference at the Civic Hall in
Wolverhampton, Richard paid tribute to the thousands of men and
women who gave up their time freely as part of their service to the
Church and their communities.
Richard, a practising GP in Leeds, also said it was for people
within the Church to ask difficult questions and support others as
they look for answers.
"There are a whole host of moral and ethical issues that face us in
our daily 21st century lifestyle that the Church should be taking a
lead on and seizing the agenda," he said.
"How we care for people at the end of their lives, or with serious
mental illness, or learning disability; the benefits and pitfalls
of embryo research; rationing health care at times of national
emergency such as a serious flu pandemic where we'd have to make
decisions about who were denied hospital care; or how we balance
the health care needs of developing countries with the wants of our
own affluent society or the impact of multinational companies.
These are just a few of the many issues where we should be
informing or leading the debate."
Richard also called for Christians to challenge stereotypes about
the Church.
"The Church is stereotyped as being riddled with homophobia," he
said. "We're also seen as hostile to sex, yet this is something
that is one of the most natural and beautiful of God's gifts. An
image is created of the Church being almost less Christian and
charitable than our largely secular society. Love breaks down the
barriers that may have been there in theory, but in the reality of
a real relationship they melt away."
The full text of Richard's speech is available here:
Morrissey, from the 80's group The Smiths, once sang:
Panic on the streets of London,
panic on the streets of Birmingham,
I wonder to myself, could life ever be sane again
on the Leeds side-streets that you slip down.
Well, I don't know about London and Birmingham or indeed my home
town of Leeds, but he might have added panic on the stage in
Wolverhampton. I've had a year to think about chickening out, but
now there is no going back. And to my amazement, after you to have
had a year to think about it, today you still elected me as your
Vice President and for that I am extremely grateful, humbled and
honoured.
I would not be stood here now without the support of a lot of
people. I want to thank those within my church at Chapel Allerton,
the Leeds North East circuit, and all those within the wider Leeds
District who have nurtured, supported, encouraged and prayed for me
over the years. Thank you for the many kind gifts I've received,
including that of access to the Twelvebaskets web resource which
has supported the visual images in my address this afternoon.
But particular thanks must go to my long suffering family,
especially my Mum and Dad, and my parents-in law John and Vera, who
have not only been so tolerant and forgiving of my many failings
but who I know will be helping and supporting Anne and I throughout
this year.
I'm going to need all kinds of help this year. So to my son
Jonathan I leave the lawn mower, you'll find the grass stays
magically short by using it, and to my younger son Matthew, the
bucket and sponge in the garage is all yours, it's just right for
washing the car with.
Finally thanks to my wife Anne whose love I could not do without. I
know Conference you will find this hard to believe, but she knows
only too well how often I'm a monosyllabic Yorkshire man. I know I
don't say this very often but I love you dearly, and could not be
taking on this role without you.
The Methodist Conference has been part of my life for the last 21
years, and I have come to cherish it and the role that it plays
within the life of our Church. It has changed over the years and it
will continue to evolve in the future, but we have something very
special here that we should not be afraid to quietly boast
about.
One of the huge strengths of the Conference is the importance it
places on the whole people of God, lay and ordained, meeting
together to share their views, hopes and fears; conferring
together, sharing together, praying together, worshipping together,
men and women equal before God.
And that is why I believe the role of Vice President is so
important. The role is an affirmation of lay ministry, and the
importance we place upon it within the life of our Church. It's
also a sign of the importance we place on holding together lay and
ordained leadership in all areas of the Church's life. We
complement each other, we are intertwined in the same missionary
rope, and all gain strength from that interdependent relationship
as a result. We need each other to be truly affective in our God
given mission.
Yet when I've told people that I'd been designated as Vice
President of the Methodist Conference, most people are simply
puzzled or confused. The standard response is, well does that mean
you'll be President next time then? Others point out that churches
are only really interested in seeing and hearing the President and
feel short changed if his or her deputy turns up instead. We also
have a tendency in the autumn of our days to remember Conferences
not by the year but by the place they were held and by who was
President at the time.
Now please don't misunderstand me. You have not elected a Vice
President with a huge chip on his shoulder. I fully understand the
role and the importance that this Conference places in it, and as
I've already said, I am deeply honoured to be asked to fulfil it.
However as in many other areas of discrimination and diversity, the
words we use can give totally the wrong message.
For those that don't understand our tradition, the words Vice
President signal second best, a deputy, or an apprentice. The
implication therefore is that whilst we know and understand the
importance of partnership between lay and ordained in telling the
good news of the gospel, the majority take home the message that
lay ministry is second best.
The reality though is that God calls us all. As Jesus said, "The
harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few". We cannot afford
to waste the skills and talents of a single member of our Church.
All are called to join in God's mission and all are needed.
Throughout the Connexion lay volunteers play an increasingly
important part in the life of our Church. We've always placed great
emphasis on lay leadership within the local church and circuit.
Whether it be acting as a church or circuit steward, treasurer,
Sunday school teacher, local preacher or the countless other jobs
and roles that are essential to the working of our Church. We
should recognise and pay tribute to the thousands of men and women
who week in week out give freely of their time and energy as part
of their discipleship.
For example, let me publicly say how immensely impressed and
thankful I am for those who give so much of their time working with
my own children. We should not underestimate or undervalue the
dedication, commitment and sacrifice made by those women and men
who, week after week, prepare and share lessons and activities with
a group of lively children, or of cub and scout leaders who
regularly give up their weekends to sleep in a tent in a wet field
along with a large group of boys more used to playing on
Playstations and watching DVDs, or of the leaders from a variety of
different churches locally who commit to our weekly youth groups or
of individuals who go out of their way to support parents with
babies or young children.
We understandably worry about the falling number of children and
young adults that we are connecting with, and yet it can often be a
shortage of people willing to act as leaders for our children and
youth groups that is the real problem, so it is vital that we offer
our support and encouragement to all those who are willing and able
to act as leaders in youth work.
There are also countless others who have taken on almost full time
voluntary roles for the Church. Let me just mention one group of
volunteers, but they represent the large number of individuals to
whom we owe an increasing debt. Peter Grubb has been the
co-ordinator of a group of volunteers working tirelessly for the
Wesley Guild Nigeria Health Care Project since the early 1990s.
Through their unstinting dedication and commitment the project has
raised nearly £1 million which has helped put a significant number
of clinics and small hospitals in Nigeria back on track and made a
real difference to the lives of people living near them.
These roles, and many others like them, would once have been done
by paid officers. Increasingly we are now relying on dedicated
individuals who are very often lay people offering their time and
themselves in addition to their routine work or family commitments.
These people are the unsung heroes of our Church and on which our
future depends; volunteers up and down the country who give freely
of their time in response to God's call to them and we should be
more ready to recognise the personal sacrifices many of them make.
In the years to come the role of lay volunteers will become more
and more important as they share the workload currently carried by
many of our presbyters and deacons.
Increasingly we are seeing a pattern of lay and ordained people
working together in full partnership in teams within circuits. As
has often been said, the genius of the Methodist circuit and
Connexional system gives us a God given structure that we can use
to empower this joint working. In 1996 during his presidential
address, Nigel Collinson talked of the need for a pastor for every
church. He said "we have given people unrealistic jobs and by doing
so we have settled for a ministry on a care and maintenance basis."
Over a decade later are we any nearer avoiding this? By fully
nurturing and utilising the skills and talents of local lay
leaders, working in partnership with ordained colleagues we can
achieve the goal Nigel set for us.
Let me use an example from my own working life. GPs and hospital
consultants work closely together. For years the consultant was
always seen as the top dog (isn't that right Professor Howdle?),
with the stereotype being that general practice was the place
failed hospital doctors sort sanctuary. However, in recent years
general practice is being recognised as a complex speciality on a
par with any other in a hospital. GPs now provide care to many
patients with complex health needs who once would have had to go to
hospital clinics for their care instead, with some GPs developing a
special interest in specific areas such as diabetes or minor
surgery. Although there can be many barriers put in the way of
these developments, some related to power and status, some related
to money or tradition, where these barriers can be overcome
partnerships between GPs and consultants working together in the
community have resulted in real benefits patients.
This may be the pattern for lay and ordained ministry in the future
of our Church. Generalist pastors and workers both lay and
ordained, working alongside each other with those with specialist
skills. We've said it so often but really now is the time to free
up more of our trained ministers, many with specialist skills, and
to use those skills for all within a circuit and not just in the
churches for which they have pastoral oversight. It's starting to
happen in some circuits, and we need to learn from them and support
that model more generally. We have huge talent within our
presbyters and deacons which will be clearly seen in those who are
to be ordained tomorrow, men and women brimming with ideas,
enthusiasm and a desire to serve God. I'm sure all of them have
generalist skills developed through their years of training, but we
really must use their specialist skills too in a more targeted way
than we currently do.
As a Church we've spent time making our structures more flexible
and adaptable to meet the challenges of our rapidly changing
society. Now we need to use these flexibilities to their fullest
extent. Let's not get bogged down in committees and looking inwards
but instead let's push the boundaries, test new ideas, embrace new
technology, share ideas, use our buildings and our resources as
imaginatively as possible and let's free up more of our most
valuable resource, our people, to reach out beyond the walls of our
churches and chapels, supporting them as they take risks for
Christ.
All are called to join in God's mission and all are needed.
God calls us all, and that means all are included. I mentioned
earlier that we sometimes run in to communication problems. We
assume everyone talks the same language as we do, and understand
words and phrases in the way that we do. It happens to all groups
and professions, the medical profession being a case in point, and
it can be hard not to fall in to the trap of using words and
concepts that I and my colleagues are very familiar with but which
mean absolutely nothing to those outside. The result is that we can
create barriers between ourselves and those we are trying to reach
out to.
As an example of this, let's just for a moment focus on sex, drugs,
and rock and roll. Sex sells; it also has a habit of waking up a
hot congregation. Any mention of sex triggers a Pavlovian response
in the media and the related story is sure to get coverage. Mix sex
and the church and you'll hit the headlines. Now I don't know what
the after service conversation is like in your church, but talk
about sex over the coffee and biscuits after the service is not
commonly heard in the churches I've attended. Maybe I am going to
the wrong churches. And yet according to the media, all churches
are obsessed and divided by it.
Now clearly we must challenge those that use sex in an exploitative
way, in a degrading or dehumanising way. The excellent work done by
Network highlighting the appalling situation of sex trafficking is
exactly what we should be doing. However the Church is stereotyped
as being riddled with homophobia. We're also seen as hostile to
sex, yet this is something that is one of the most natural and
beautiful of God's gifts. An image is created of the Church being
almost less Christian and charitable than our largely secular
society. Where society has made great strides to challenge
discrimination and encourage equality and diversity, the Church is
stereotyped as being bigoted, backward and blatantly obstructive to
change.
Yes these issues are important, yes they need to be sensitively and
carefully handled, and yes, were the stereotype has evidence of
some foundation it should be challenged, but my experience is that
when Christians meet and get to know their neighbour, they reach
out in love towards them. Their sexuality counts for little. Love
breaks down the barriers that may have been there in theory but in
the reality of a real relationship they melt away.
So much for sex, let's turn to drugs. Can a Methodist Conference go
by without mention of alcohol? Just in case it becomes an expose in
the Sunday tabloids, I ought to come clean now. I have to admit
that I gave up drinking alcohol when it became legal for me to do
so. I didn't stop drinking through any religious conviction, but
because I didn't actually like it, and despite the best efforts of
my friends and family, many sitting up there, I still haven't
acquired the taste for it.
However, I am forever trying to explain this away when people
assume I don't drink because I'm a Methodist, and frankly I'm fed
up of seeming to apologise for being a Methodist. I find myself
saying that most Methodists I know drink, although to be honest I
don't say how much some of you drink. I do though try to dispel the
commonly held stereotype that we are nothing more than puritanical
nay-sayers and party-poopers.
Again we've got major communication problems. There is absolutely
nothing wrong with reasonable and responsible drinking, indeed the
evidence is that I'm less healthy by not drinking alcohol than you
are that do. Alcohol can be good, but it can also be devastating.
With levels of binge drinking and alcohol abuse rising rapidly,
especially amongst the young, there is no more important time for
the Church to be leading an informed debate on raising the price of
alcohol, setting standards for labelling and the responsibilities
of the drinks industry.
I know we try to do this but our messages are largely ignored
because of the assumption that we are completely anti-alcohol, or
alternatively we're seen as hypocrites because we don't generally
practice what the wider world thinks we preach. If we were more
honest and open about our current use of alcohol, may be more
people outside the church would take us more seriously when we try
to address the bigger picture. And it is not just on alcohol that
we need to re-think our communication and undermine the stereotype,
there are a whole host of moral and ethical issues that the Church
should be taking a lead on and seizing the agenda. How we care for
people at the end of their lives, or with serious mental illness,
or learning disability; the benefits and pitfalls of embryo
research; rationing health care at a time of national emergency
such as a serious flu pandemic when it is possible that we'd have
to make decisions about who can or cannot be admitted hospital
care; or how we balance the health care needs of developing
countries with the wants of our own affluent society or the impact
of multinational companies.
These are just a few of the many issues where we should be
informing or leading the debate. We live in a world of challenges
and uncertainty. The recent financial melt-down and the rise in
unemployment levels across the world will only add to these
problems. Our Church did great work on the issues relating to
unemployment back in the 1980's, it time we urgently revisited that
so that we are in a position to proactively support those affected
as well as challenge the systems that have led to this situation
happening all over again. It is for us within the Church to ask the
difficult questions and support others as we all look for the
answers.
And finally rock and roll, well to be honest hymns and choruses. It
never ceases to amaze me how heated we can get about this. In his
Methodist Recorder article at the end of last year's Conference, my
good friend Leslie Griffiths felt compelled to voice his concern
about the hymns sung, or should that have been the lack of
them.
We have a rich and treasured musical heritage and how we blend the
new and the old is a constant challenge, but we shouldn't expect
everyone to like the same music. As the President has already said,
we cherish peoples' differences and diversity so it should be no
surprise that we all find slightly different ways to worship and
connect with God. Whether it be songs, hymns, chants or silence it
is important that we embrace and enhance this ability to connect,
and we are relevant to where people are. Again, to quote from the
same Smiths song that I started with, Morrissey goes on to
sing:
"Hang the blessed DJ,
because the music that they constantly play,
it says nothing to me about my life".
Now I sense a degree of fear in the organists amongst you. Don't
worry, I've got Wesley hymns on my iPod, for if anyone speaks to me
about my life then Charles Wesley certainly still does. But how
much of our church music truly speaks to our congregations, or
perhaps more importantly those outside our congregations?
Driving down to Wolverhampton we had the same discussions as we
often do about which CD we would listen to or which radio station
to tune in to. I don't expect to convert Anne to the music of
Radiohead, although much to my two sons' frustration she keeps
trying to indoctrinate them in to listening to our local radio
station Magic 828 - sounds of the 60s and 70s. So far they're still
holding out but they do need your prayerful support.
During this Conference and over the coming months as we continue to
discuss the music, hymns and songs that we will use within the
Church life let's look for the broadest range of resource that
reflects our faith and belief, recognising too the need to help as
many as possible to hear God speaking to us through the words that
we sing. God calls us all, that's all of us with our differences
and our diversity, our likes and our dislikes.
Communication failures and stereotypes, whether justified or not,
act as barriers and keep people apart. This is certainly the case
when it comes to the missing men in our Church. Paul talks of there
being neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus, and yet when you look around the
vast majority of our churches, where are the men, and in particular
where are the fathers of school age children?
Even after 35 years of women being ordained as Methodist ministers
we still have some way to go to remove all the barriers that
prevent women from taking a full role in senior leadership within
our Church. However that should not stop us from also asking the
fundamental reasons why boys and men are staying away from our
churches. You don't need a medical degree to know that men and
women are different. Just as we like different types of music it
may be that men have a perception that elements of worship or
church life are designed with feminine characteristics in mind
rather than masculine ones and therefore they may think that the
Church is not for them.
In days gone by some churches had football and cricket teams,
snooker rooms and even tennis courts. They found ways of engaging
with young men that made them feel valued and understood.
Replicating what was done then may not be the answer today, but we
do need to learn from those who have adapted and changed what they
do in order to remain relevant to the boys and young men within our
churches as well as to reach out to those on the fringes.
I was struck by the fact that all the Methodist churches I visited
recently in Bulgaria had areas within them to provide free use of
computers and internet access. It was just one way they were using
to engage with young people and boys in particular. We urgently
need to ask young men themselves what it is about the Church that
puts them off setting foot within it, for it is within our power to
adapt our activities, our mission and our worship to respond to the
changing pattern of society and the changing needs of young men in
particular.
It's also possible for us to look at the times we hold evening
meetings and consider how easy they are for working parents to get
to them. It's possible for us to provide parenting support, and
indeed pastoral support if Mum and Dad go their separate ways. We
may see Mum and the children in church, but how much effort do we
make to keep in contact with Dad? I don't come with any easy
answers, but I do call on us all to take the issue of reaching out
to the men on the fringes of our Church more seriously than we do
before we lose touch with them altogether.
God calls us all - and that also means all people everywhere. We
are richly blessed in the Methodist Church to have so many strong
and dynamic links with our world church partners. We are bombarded
with negative images from around the world on a daily basis, and so
it does us good to reflect on the wonderful things being done in
the name of the Methodist Church right around the world. So often
this is work with people on the edge of society, the vulnerable or
the outcast, the poor or the marginalised, a work that continues to
demonstrate our valuable tradition of social holiness.
In Macedonia the Methodist Church has a long history of working
alongside the most vulnerable and marginalised people. In Kocani I
met a man from the Roma community who told me how he and his family
had struggled to be able to worship as Methodists for 20 years, and
who had faced abuse and prejudice from many in his community as a
result. The small Methodist congregation there had been forced to
move from rented accommodation that they'd used as a church at
least four times, once finding their belongings thrown out on to
the street at midnight. But this only served to strengthen their
faith and determination to maintain their discipleship and
Christian witness. Through the wider support of Macedonian
Methodists, and their connexions with the wider church, they now
have a church building of their own, and can worship freely without
fear of attack. Despite the great adversity they have and continue
to face, they worship God with joy and thanksgiving. And they send
you, their sisters and brothers in Christ, warmest greetings and
thanks for your prayers and support.
It saddens and shames me therefore to come from a Yorkshire region
that has just elected its first British National Party member to
represent our great county in the European Parliament. Despite a
concerted effort made by religious leaders both locally and
nationally a political party advocating division and discrimination
has managed to persuade enough people to vote for it. And it also
horrifies me that in 2009 we can witness a group of Roma men, women
and children being hounded out of their homes and even a church
building by a small minority of people in Belfast. We cannot ignore
or play down what is happening in some of our communities. We must
redouble our efforts to reconnect and communicate with everyone who
seems to believe that this is the way that society should go.
God calls us all. He calls us all, women and men, lay and ordained.
He calls you, he calls me. He calls us all to remove the remaining
barriers of misunderstanding, prejudice or tradition that get in
the way. He calls us all to work alongside men and women who may be
very different from ourselves, but who have the same calling - to
tell of the good news of God's love for all and to show that
through our love of one another. It is our calling. It is a
wonderful thing that God thinks we are up to the task, but he does,
and we are.
God calls us all - it's time for us all to respond.