16 October 2007
The October meeting of the Methodist Council
The October meeting of the Methodist Council was held on
October 15 and 16 at High Leigh Conference Centre in Hertfordshire.
The first of three meetings planned for the current Connexional
Year, it addressed a wide range of topics.
As part of the Team Focus process, the Council considered the
appointments of the next General Secretary and the three new posts
of Team Secretaries, who will jointly form the senior leadership of
the Team from 1 September. The Council nominated the Revd Dr Martyn
Atkins as General Secretary and Secretary of the Conference, and
his name will go to the annual meeting of the Methodist Conference
in July for confirmation. Mr John Ellis has been appointed to the
post of Secretary for Team Operations; the Revd Dr Mark Wakelin to
Secretary for Internal Relationships; and Ms Christine Elliott to
Secretary for External Relationships. All will take up their
appointments on 1 September, but will where possible start doing
some work under the direction of the current leadership.
The Revd David Deeks, current General Secretary of the Methodist
Church, said "we wish them well as they prepare themselves in the
coming months to carry out their leadership responsibilities. The
Church faces both challenges and exciting opportunities, and both
the current and the designated team will work hard to meet
these."
Another major report is into the appointment of pioneers to build
new congregations. The Fresh Expressions organisation, which is
jointly sponsored by the Methodist Church and the Church of
England, has been successful in developing new forms of church and
growing new church groups. But most of those attending Fresh
Expressions-style churches are those who previously have had some
contact with traditional churches. The pioneer scheme is designed
to reach out to those who have never had any significant contact
with any church, and this group includes a growing proportion of
young people. The innovative and exciting scheme aims to fund about
20 pioneers for five years to build new young congregations across
Great Britain and to support up to 60 more local initiatives.
Council agreed the plan in principle.
The 2006 Methodist Conference directed the Council to conduct a
consultation on the 1993 resolutions on human sexuality. In
particular, the consultation should see if there is a wish to
revise the 1993 resolutions. Following a lengthy and thorough
process, the working party conducting the consultation judged that
there is no wish to revise them. A little over half of the greater
than 1,000 responses said that they were happy with the resolutions
as they stand. Of the half who felt that there should be change,
there was a wide range of opinions as to whether they should be
relaxed or made stricter. As a result, the Council will recommend
to the Conference that there be no revision.
All of the non-confidential Council papers are available on the
Methodist website at
http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=1714.
The Council next meets on 6-7 February.