Welcome to the District Website
The Methodist Church is one of
the largest Christian churches serving Great Britain, with nearly 300,000
members and regular contact with over 800,000 people. It has about 5,800
churches in Great Britain, and also maintains links with other Methodist
churches totalling a worldwide membership of 70 million. Its activities, both
alone and with ecumenical and secular partners, are based on four aims known as
Our Calling:
- To increase awareness of God's presence and to celebrate God's love
- To help people to grow and learn as Christians through mutual support and care
- To be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice
- To make more followers of Jesus Christ.
In these pages you can find out what the South-East District of the Methodist
Church does to support the work that is done in about 250 Methodist churches in
the South East of England, Malta and Gibraltar.
If you want to find out more about Jesus and being a Christian there are links
on this website that you can follow. There are also links to the website of the
Methodist Church in Britain, where you can find out more about Methodism.
Mapping a Way Forward – Regrouping for Mission
Throughout 2008 I held a series of eight meetings which involved representatives from 26 of the Circuits in the District to explore the “Mapping a Way Forward—Regrouping for Mission” recommendations of the 2007 Conference. Each meeting involved a mixture of lay leaders and ministers from more than one Circuit.
The purposes in holding the meetings were:
- To introduce the 'Mapping a Way Forward' proposals;
- To explore the theological background to the proposals;
- To set the proposals in the wider Methodist and ecumenical context;
- To offer people an opportunity to respond to the proposals.
This paper is an attempt to summarise the main issues raised during these conversations and to offer some of my reflections on those issues. I also highlight some possible action that those responsible for leadership in the Circuits could consider taking as they work with “Mapping a Way Forward.” These meetings were the start of a process in which I and the District.
Development Enabler, Graham Hindle, would welcome opportunity for further engagement with any Circuit or group of Circuits. We can be contacted through the District Office.
This is a large print version of the original paper. Please click on the attachment to read the full paper.
 Forward_Mission_Spring_2009_Large_Print_Version.pdf | 331 Kb |