Connexional Council Meeting 12 October 2026

The Connexional Council met at Methodist Church House on Monday 12 October. The meeting was opened with devotions led by the Revd Dr Jo Cox-Darling.

The Connexional Secretary presented an update on the work of the Connexional Team, and the Council discussed the volume of work the Team and the Council and its committees are required to do by the Conference. The Council plans to discuss the issue of overload and how priorities might be agreed in the December meeting.

Following up on the Missional Use of Property report to the 2026 Conference, the Revd David Goodall presented a paper on a review of the effectiveness of specific Standing Orders within the Methodist Church, focusing on reforms that support better governance and local church growth. The review aims to assess how these Standing Orders function in practice, especially regarding multi-site churches and local trustee roles.

The terms of reference for the review were approved, with two amendments: asking local churches whether they had declined invitations to join multi-site church proposals and appointing someone with experience of establishing an NPNP or multi-site group to the review group. Paul Spray and Dawn Wood agreed to join the review group as representatives of the Council.

Supervision

The Council received a report from the Ministries Committee, which included a number of matters relating to Supervision. The Council noted guidance will be issued to supervisors and third parties on the new records retention policy and agreed to extend the current supervision policy for one year, to 2028.

Resourcing Committee

The Council received a report from the Resourcing Committee covering a wide range of issues. In particular, the Council agreed to put proposals to the Conference to improve the financial planning process; reviewed the progress on developing a balanced budget by 2029; agreed the final payments to enable the wind-up of the lay pension scheme; agreed to disburse some historic funds for overseas students to the training institutions; and agreed minor changes to how it delegates some of its work. The Council also had an update on the work that is underway to review the Methodist Ministers’ Pension Scheme. It agreed that a survey of active ministers should be undertaken to better understand their views on finances in retirement.

Council Recruitment Update 26/62

The Secretary of the Conference presented a paper setting out the recruitment process for a new Chair of the Connexional Council and possible additional members when they step down at the end of August. The Council received the report and approved two resolutions: to agree the Chair of the Connexional Council role description and to appoint two Council members to work with the Nominations Committee on the recruitment process.

Jen Leeder, Property Legal Counsel, presented a paper proposing some changes to how applications to sell at an undervalue (under Model Trust 20) are considered. The Council asked that more work is done on this in an attempt to streamline the process and make it easier for managing trustees. The Council asked that this be done no later than 2028.

The Council considered the proposal to amend clauses 1(ix) and 16 of the Deed of Union under Special Resolution 7/15 of the 2026 Conference and confirmed its approval. The Council’s decision will be reported to the 2027 Conference.

Methodist Conference 

The Council needs to appoint seven representatives (in addition to the Chair) to the Conference of 2027. This will be confirmed outside of the meeting, once all the names of those elected by their Synods have been received.

The Deputy Chair of the Connexional Council shared her experience with the Evangelism and Growth team at festivals during the year. She explained that she had been at Greenbelt in the summer and said she’d gained a great understanding of how important it was for the Methodist Church to be at these events. Anna Malnutt encouraged other Council members to attend events like this one and 3Generate so they can see and support the work of the Connexional Team.