Words from Bede Circuit
This week, the annual Methodist Conference is meeting in hybrid form, for the first time. Due to continuing Covid restrictions, some representatives are meeting in person in Birmingham whilst others are joining by Zoom. Proceedings can also be followed by livestream each day via the Methodist Church website. Decisions made at the Conference will then be fed back to the Districts, Circuits and Churches. Having been to Conference several times, I know it involves long days, is hard work, busy and tiring but it is also a time of real spiritual blessing. As ever, there is much to employ the Conference and some important decision making to be done. The “God in Love Unites Us” report is one of particular relevance this year as it attempts to address good and loving relating amongst people of different gender and sexuality, a response to marriage and cohabitation plus providing appropriate liturgies for times when relationships break down. The oversight and trustee structure of the Methodist Church will also be discussed, with the aim of providing greater support; enabling ministry, mission, and broader strategic thinking. And these are only some!
Sessions begin and end with worship and prayers are said at important moments within debates, especially those where people hold significant and different points of view. On Saturday afternoon, the President and Vice-President of Conference were inducted, Rev Sonia Hicks and Barbara Easton, respectively. The tradition is that the outgoing President and Vice-President (Rev Richard Teal and Carolyn Lawrence) pass on the office and symbols of it to their successors. The weekend of course also included the Reception into Full Connexion and the Ordinations of the ordinands. I know many of you were able to join in via livestream with Rev Matt Sheard’s ordination on Sunday.
I recently found a report from last year’s conference entitled “Post Covid-19 Church” which had included a workshop on the topic, some of which reads: “In 1820, the Wesleyan Conference met in Liverpool and in the light of a fall in the number of members, the Conference started a process of critical self-examination and renewed attention to Wesley’s Twelve Rules of a Helper (1753) from which they recommitted themselves afresh to God and rededicated themselves to their pastoral responsibilities. The fathers of 1820 could not have imagined the circumstances in which the successor Conference would be meeting today. The Church, society and their future have been changed by the Coronavirus pandemic. There are many questions and challenges posed by this pandemic for the church, and there is a need for reflection, to consider what is being learnt through this season, and how we can embrace new patterns and priorities in the future. This needs to embrace not only church-centred concerns but also how we can speak and act prophetically to the world about, for instance, climate change and economic policy.”
I was pleased to find this report even if it is one year on because as we are only now returning to our churches, the points raised are still wholly significant. Each workshop was asked to design ‘Twelve Rules for a post Covid-19 Church’.
The results are interesting and can be found on the Methodist website here:
https://www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/the-methodist-conference/conference-2020/workshop-the-post-covid-19-church/
For those without access to internet, it invites us to consider such things as being attentive and caring to each other, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, as we move from lockdown to a new situation; setting priorities but not trying to do too much too quickly; letting go of things we may have outgrown or which may have come to a natural end; and not simply “going back to things” but instead, being open to God’s possibilities for now and into the future. Please pray for the Conference and for each of our circuit churches as we step out in faith to follow where God is leading us.
SERVICES AND ONLINE DETAILS
No weekly Zoom services until September and after Sunday 4th July no Why-Pay services.
However, there will be an Easter Offering service on Zoom on August 22nd at 6.00pm. More details to come.
Zoom Bible studies continue on Mondays at 7pm and Thursdays at 10.30am – led by Ian Stimpson our Evangelism Enabler on Faith sharing.
Wednesday prayers at 10am continue as well on Zoom
There are still service sheets for use at home. For more information, please contact your pastoral visitor or minister.
With good wishes and prayers
Revd Deborah Wainwright on behalf of the Bede Circuit staff team.