06 July 2016
The Revd Loraine N Mellor and Jill Baker elected as Methodist President and Vice-President for 2017/18
The Methodist Conference has elected the Revd Loraine
N Mellor to be President and Jill Baker to be Vice-President. Both
will start their year of office when the Representative Session of
the Methodist Conference meets in Birmingham on 24 June 2017. They
will succeed the current President and Vice-President, the Revd Dr
Roger Walton and Rachel Lampard.
Loraine has been a presbyter since 1995 and is Chair of the
Nottingham and Derby District. A member of the Church's Strategy
and Resources Committee, Loraine is coordinator of the Larger than
Circuit group which is considering how the Church can best reflect
the missional needs of today's Church.
"I want to encourage and enable the Church to put God back on
the agenda in our communities and enthuse people to share the Good
News. The Church has reached a tipping point, the time has come for
us to take some risks in our mission and in our discipleship in
order to help us grow," said Mrs Mellor.
Jill is a local preacher and tutor in the Scotland District, exploring and leading pilgrimages. She enjoys writing and, in the past, spent eight years as a mission partner in the South Caribbean. Jill was President of Methodist Women in Britain between 2011 and 2013.
"I am thankful to the Methodist family for the prayer and for
the support it offers in hard times. I am committed to working
locally and connexionally for an inclusive, just, compassionate and
creative Church."
The role of President of the Methodist Conference is reserved for presbyters (ministers) and that of Vice-President for lay people or deacons.
Images of Loraine and Jill can be found on the Methodist
Flickr page here.