Connexional Council meeting 6 December 2025

The Connexional Council met online on Saturday 6 December.

Strategy Review

The Connexional Secretary, Mr Doug Godfrey-Swanney, presented a strategic update to the Council, which provided a summary of the work so far. Having identified two key strategic objectives for the wider Church (growing the Methodist Church by making more members and offering excellent worship) it reaffirmed the strategic direction of the Council with three groups working on the areas of property, easing compliance, and refining our focus.

This work should help the Methodist people feel less overburdened and more able to focus on being a growing, inclusive, evangelistic and justice-seeking Church. The Council received the report, and directed its Main Committees to study this update, to subsume the overall principles into their work plans, and to make any changes to existing work that may be necessary.

Resourcing Committee

The Executive Director of Finance and Resources presented a report from the Resourcing Committee. This noted that a framework for making decisions in relation to connexional property was being developed and progress was being made on emerging plans in relation to the North Bank Estate and the Wesley Hotels.

The Council approved the creation of a working group for the Methodist Ministers’ Pension Scheme and noted the progress with the wind up of the lay pension scheme. The Council approved financial planning parameters against which the budget for 2026/27 will be set, noting in particular the action taken to embed economic justice in the planning framework. The Council also agreed that financial support from the Connexional Priority Fund would be required for the Connexional Central Services budget in 2028/29.

The Council affirmed the work of 3Gen and the Council requested that the Mission Committee and asked the Connexional Team to consider future venues and a plan for the event from beyond 2028 and report back to the Council as soon as possible. It was confirmed that 3Gen would continue to take place at the NEC in Birmingham until 2028.

Action for Hope

The Council heard from Dr Hamish Leese, Director of Environmental Engagement. The Council recognised that there are challenges ahead with regard to the Methodist Church hitting its ambition to be net zero by 2030.

The paper examined current challenges and possible mitigations. These included implementing a mechanism for churches to record and assess their carbon footprint which will provide some concrete data for the Church to draw on and work to establish the baseline carbon footprint of the Methodist Conference, Superintendents’ Conferences, 3Generate, and Diaconal Convocation with a view to reducing the footprint.

Council members expressed concern about the workload that this will create for the Connexional Team and the Connexion and what impact that will have. The Council asked the Connexional Secretary to take forward the actions that can be implemented by the Connexional Team and the Director of Environmental Engagement will report to the Conference with options to encourage the engagement of circuits and districts with the 2030 aspiration bearing in mind the capacity of those bodies to implement the actions.

Ministries Committee

The new chair of the Committee, Mrs Barbara Easton, presented the report from the Ministries Committee which included the workplan for 2025-2026. This will include further work on the Stationing Review following the response of the 2025 Conference. There will also be a review of the Ministerial Development Review process across the districts with proposals being brought to the 2027 Conference.

The Council received reports from the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and the Mission Committee which included an update on the reparative justice work. An interim report will be presented to the 2026 Conference and a full report in 2027, following a one-year delay to allow for deeper engagement with global partners, particularly in the Methodist Church of the Caribbean and Americas (MCCA) and Methodist Churches in West Africa.

Contested heritage

The Mission Committee brought a paper and resolutions to agree to start work on arrangements to return a font to the MCCA in Antigua which was previously sited at Methodist Church House. The Council voted in favour of these resolutions and the Mission Team will work with Global Relationships and the Global Relationships committee to start the work on these arrangements.

The Council is scheduled to meet again on 10 February 2026.