For a number of years, there have been discussions about the oversight and trusteeship of the Methodist Church and whether the current structures enable us to best fulfil Our Calling.
Alongside this, The Methodist Conference asked us to address the concerns of equality, diversity, and inclusion. We need to have a clear focus for training and equipping those who make decisions which will also look at ways to include those in our decision-making structures who better reflect the diversity of Christ’s Church.
Over the past 18months, the Methodist Council, the Connexional Leaders’ Forum, and the Strategy and Resources Committee have discussed how we might give greater support and promote better coordination. Their work has identified two main aims:
In considering this in the light of the Church’s ecclesiology and polity, the following five ‘in principle’ issues were identified:
The Oversight and Trusteeship co-ordination group was tasked with identifying specific areas where change is most urgently needed and ensuring the issues are addressed in a co-ordinated and consultative way. These were discussed at the January meeting of the Methodist Council.
The Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler has written about why this is a ‘moment of opportunity’ (including a link to the full 2020 Conference report) which you can read here.
You are invited to make comments on the proposals and can do so by clicking here