Methodist Conference Wednesday 1 July

The last day of the Conference opened with worship.

Methodist – United Reformed Church Liaison

The Revd Dr David Chapman, Chair of the Bedfordshire, Essex and Herts District, presented the Methodist – United Reformed Church Liaison Group report to the Conference. The Revd Chapman told the Conference that there are 300 Methodist and United Reformed Church (URC) partnerships which enables the sharing of resources for mission and ministry. The Conference heard that the relocation of Methodist Church House to be closer to the URC building in London has meant closer working together. This report will be presented to the URC General Assembly next week. The Conference received the report and voted in favour of the resolution for a proposed consultative meeting between District Chairs and Synod Moderators, with a report to come before the 2027 Conference.

Report of the Chairs’ and Warden’s Meeting

The Revd Helen Hollands from the East Anglia District presented a report from the meeting of the Chairs and Warden earlier in the week which proposed urgent work to oversee supporting ministers who are subjected to abuse. The Revd Helen Hollands told the Conference: “The volatility of our time is spinning over into the lives of those who are dear to us. By way of example, we have ministers who we believed would be safe in a particular appointment but now feel unsafe given political tensions. One minister had a bag of excrement left on their doorstep...another has had services interrupted by noisy criticism.”

The Conference heard that several of the incidents have been reported to the police but the Chairs and Wardens are requesting that a one-point referral system is set up by the Connexional Council which offers pastoral, legal, safeguarding and media support. The Conference voted in favour of the resolution and a report will be presented to the 2027 Conference with an update on the situation.

Other news from the Conference:

Pre-Conference Consultation

Representatives from 11 Partner Churches and the Methodist Liaison Office gathered in Telford for the Methodist Church in Britain’s Pre‑Conference Consultation (PCC), meeting in a spirit of connexionalism to listen, build relationships and prepare for the Conference. As a space of shared discernment, the PCC brings global church leaders together to exchange experience, reflect theologically and attend to God’s work across diverse contexts, ensuring that Conference is shaped by a range of perspectives. Participants spoke of both challenge and hope, naming realities such as persecution, climate crisis, migration and renewal. A visit to John Wesley’s New Room in Bristol prompted reflection on Methodist origins alongside honest engagement with the Church’s historic complicity in injustice, shaping contemporary responses to justice.

These themes were deepened in a joint session on peace, where global and British perspectives addressed conflict, division and the Church’s call to respond with clarity, courage and sustained commitment. The importance of koinonia (global fellowship) was affirmed as essential in a fractured world, reinforcing the Methodist Church in Britain’s commitment to international relationships as integral to its mission and witness.

Beckly Lecture

Roland Fernandes, General Secretary of Global Ministries for the United Methodist Church, delivered the 2026 Beckly Lecture on 29 June at the Methodist Conference in Telford – the 100th anniversary of a series founded in 1926. Mr Fernandes gifted us an evening of theological honesty and transatlantic partnership, grounded in hope.

Mr Fernandes reminded us that mission is God's, not ours. Drawing on the World Council of Churches' report Together Towards Life, he compared God’s mission to narratives that have long conflated Christian mission with Western civilisational expansion.