East Anglia (Not only but also.....)

Like Richard, the Vice-President, I travelled to the East Anglia District for the weekend and a couple of days leading up to it. On Saturday I helped celebrate Richard's birthday at an evening meal out. With Richard I lunched on Sunday and visited Stuart Luckcock.

My visit to the District started on Thursday November 26th, when I joined staff and students at Wesley House for an evening meal, followed by a session on ther work of the Joint Implementation Commission, led by Ely Diocesan Ecumenical Officer, Will Adam. The session was followed by evening prayers in the chapel. I also had a quick look at the House photo taken during my first year there, in 1972. Where did all the hair go?

Friday provided an opportunity to visit the new town of Cambourne, where the various Christian denominations are working together and have agreed to worship and work in one building. The new church building (pictured) is due to open in a couple of weeks time. I found this visit very exciting, and it was clear the church already plays a very significant part in this young community. An ecumenical church school is a key part of the picture and provides major links with many people in this predominantly young community.

From Cambourne we drove to the Leys School in Cambridge, where I had been invited to do the address at the end of week service. The school chapel is very impressive when filled for worship. It's well designed interior lighting also makes it an impressive and beautiful place when empty. Before the service we were given a brief conducted tour of the school by three senior students.

From the Leys, we went to meet one of the District's supernumerary ministers, David Salmon, and his wife and daughters.

Then we were off for our final engagement of the day, a 'meal out' at Old Newton Methodist Chapel. This was a great evening - good food, conversation and entertainment. I had been asked to do an after-dinner speech and had been told this was more about being a 'raconteur' than a 'preacher'. So I did my best.


On Saturday morning we visited Cromwell House MHA for morning coffee with some of the residents, including two local preachers both of whom shared my sister's name of Ruth. We held a shiort service in the lounge.


In the afternoon, we drove to Hunstanton Methodist Church for the rededication of their refurbished premises. This has been a very interesting scheme, which included turning the seating in the church round 180 degrees. The rededication service was led by the Superintendent Minister of the Hunstanton Circuit, the Revd Kim Nally.

And so on to my final full day in the District. Sunday Morning worship was at North Walsham, where, as well as celebrating Advent Sunday, we dedicated new chairs and I presented a certificate marking 50 years of service to the church as an organist by Godfrey Talford. It was a privilege to do this, particularly wearing one of my other hats, as assistant organist at Muswell Hill.

In the evening I preached in a (St Neots and Huntingdon) circuit service at Huntingdon. Here the worship was lively, the music modern and well led and we heard of some of the exciting new challenges being addressed by the Circuit, as well as hearing from some of the many people involved in the work of its churches. At the end of the service, while saying goodbye to members of the congregation, I met someone whose daughter I had baptised in Church Fenton, North Yorkshire, in December 1980. It's a small world, Methodism!

East Anglia District visit

I started my visit to the East Anglia District on Saturday morning at Thetford Methodist Church where a group of GPs, nurses and others with medical backgrounds from the District came together to discuss the ethical issues related to our ageing society. We had a stimulating discussion about how we should respond to the challenges and dilemmas of an increasing number of people with dementia, how our society often fails to place enough priority on the needs of its oldest members or respect their wisdom and experience, and how the Church should respond.

I then travelled with District Chair, Rev Graham Thompson, to Soham in the Ely and Newmarket Circuit, where the church hall along with the kitchen and other rooms had been extensively refurbished. We had been invited to take part in a service of dedication and re-opening of the building. A large number of people from around the circuit had come to support them and it was clear that the effort put in to the redevelopment had also re-invigorated the congregation.

The service was led by local minister Rev Edwin Myers. Someone had let on that it was my birthday and it was a wonderful surprise to be presented with a birthday cake by superintendent minister Rev Barbara Garwood.

On Sunday we returned to the Thetford, Diss and Mildenhall Circuit, this time being welcomed at Stanton Methodist Church where I lead the morning service. It marked the start of their 125^th anniversary celebrations and they have a programme of events planned for the year. They’ve clearly had 125 years of practice, but the singing was excellent as we celebrated not just their anniversary but the start of Advent. It was lovely to be presented with a picture of the church after the service and to meet members of the church, some of whom had been baptised here over 80 years ago.

Following the service we returned to Norwich were David and I had been generously hosted by Graham and Alison Thompson. Not only did they act as hosts but also as guides and chauffeurs throughout our stay in the District, for which we were very thankful. We shared lunch with representatives from the District and we were joined by General Secretary and past president Rev Martyn Atkins and his wife Helen. Martyn had been preaching nearby and was en-route to an evening service in Dunstable, 2 ½ hours away in the neighbouring district. We should appreciate more the time offered to the Church by many of our Connexional team members.

On Sunday afternoon we had the privilege of visiting Rev Stuart Luckcock at Eckling Grange in Dereham. Stuart is 101 years old and the oldest minister in the Methodist Church in Britain. We heard about his many years of faithful service, including his time as a mission partner in South India. He remains remarkably alert and was not afraid to challenge the President on the fact that David had more lines in the Minutes of Conference than he did.

On Sunday evening we travelled back across the District to a tea and circuit service at Haddenham in the Ely and Newmarket Circuit. A music group led by a local farmer and local preacher led the service alongside other members of the circuit. I was invited to preach. It was then time for me to return to Leeds, leaving David to continue to enjoy the warm hospitality of this friendly District.

London Days

Living in London has lots of advantages. One is that it is possible to fit a few extra events and occasions into the Presidential diary. So, last week, the day before driving up to Yorkshire for the weekend, Liz and I were able to go to a gig at which our younger son, Joe, was playing bass guitar with one of the two bands he plays in. The band is called Night Code. The venue was the Bull and Gate, Kentish Town (and this may be the first time that particular venue has been mentioned in the President's and Vice-President's blog!)

On Monday evening I went to the British Academy for the 5th birthday celebration for Roehampton University, of which Southlands College is a constituent part.

Then on Tuesday it was to Lambeth Palace for Christian Aid's AGM. I'm pictured, left, with Christian Aid's Daleep Mukarji, for whom this was his last AGM. Daleep and his wife Azra are good friends of ours, and attend Muswell Hill Methodist Church.

On Wednesday I went into Methodist Church House and was joined by Roberta Rominger from the URC and Jonathan Edwards from the Baptist Union, as together we signed a Christmas Card for Phil Woolas MP, the Immigration Minister. We're encouraging people to send him a Christmas card inviting him to do what he can to end the UK's detention of children seeking sanctuary.

Then it was off to URC Church House to meet the staff, discuss all sorts of things, and pray together. The picture (below) shows me with John Marsh, Moderator of the URC General Assembly, Roberta Rominger the URC's General Secretary and Richard Mortimer, Deputy General Secretary.

A Yorkshire weekend - November 21-22

So, while Richard went from Yorkshire to London, Liz and I did the opposite journey and went to Yorkshire for the weekend.

Saturday afternoon saw a service to celebrate the opening of Phase One of the COGS (Centre on Gracious Street) redevelopment at Gracious Street Methodist Church in Knaresborough. What has been built is a most exciting, creative, attractive and eminently useful building - well worth a visit to see what can be done when a church believes it is called to serve the community in which it is placed. The service was lively (with a world premier of a new Brian Hoare hymn!) and well attended, with lots of civic representatives and people from the wider Knaresborough community. There was a 'buzz' about the whole occasion. And, while we celebrated the completion of Phase One, it was also the time to launch Phase Two of the development - so there's lots more work to be done. But what a brilliant start! (Photo shows previous minister David Ely, present minister Gail Hunt, me and the Leeds District Chair, Liz Smith.)

On Sunday I returned to York South Circuit, where I had served as a minister in the 1980s. Morning worship was at Holgate, whose centenary year this is. (Liz and I posed by the banner made to celebrate the centenary)

Evening worship was at Central Methodist Church in the City Centre of York (left), where I had been the minister and where Liz and I were married in 1987.

A wonderful opportunity to meet up with old friends and hear the latest news. Also, to see how churches respond in the 21st century to the challenge of sharing God's love with the community in which they are placed

Hinde Street Methodist Church

Today I spent the day at Hinde Street Methodist Church in the West London Mission, a church that describes itself as being a conscience at the heart of Marylebone for nearly 200 years. It is also at the centre of a significant amount of social care activity and the Mission employs around 60 staff in this work. I reflected with the congregation that the only other time I’d been to the church was when I attended my first Methodist Conference in 1988 when Hinde Street was one of the venues for an ordination service.

The Church has a tradition of using a 1936 order of Holy Communion every Sunday morning and I joined the congregation to share in this. The main morning worship follows an hour later and today was led by the Superintendent minister Revd Sue Keegan von Allmen. I had been invited to preach.

Once a month different class groups volunteer to prepare lunch after the morning service and today Revd Leao Neto’s group were in charge in the kitchen. It gave a good opportunity to meet with members of the congregation in an informal setting.

Following lunch a group of us met to discuss the questions that arise from the recent debate about assisted suicide and advance directives. The group included health care professionals who reflected on how difficult some decisions could be as well as others who shared their thoughts when they had considered writing an advance directive for themselves. We reflected that the law can leave us in a messy place, but to try and clarify or change the law may makes matters worse rather than better.

MHA Multi-Faith Housing with Care Project – The South Leeds Appeal

This evening I was invited to attend a presentation given by MHA to describe their plans for Hemmingway House, a multi-faith housing with care project in South Leeds. Local residents and members of the various faith communities in Leeds had also been invited to hear about this ground breaking scheme which is a national first.

MHA is proposing to build a facility that will provide support for up to 90 residents in 45 apartments which will offer independence with the security of 24 hour staffing. The unique element of the scheme is to use the project to encourage the coming together of local faith groups in South Leeds focused on the care of older people from all faith communities. It is hoped that local residents will use the facilities in the building, like the planned vegetarian bistro, and so ensure that those living in Hemmingway House will continue to feel that they are full members of the community.

MHA now provides care and support to over 13,000 older people through 75 care homes, 50 retirement schemes and 49 community based projects, and they are applauded for their work to support people with dementia as well as their emphasis on nurturing a persons spirituality and by doing so helping to improve physical wellbeing. However they have never done anything quite like this.

The South Leeds Appeal is an attempt to raise £750,000 to make this dream a reality and I’ve no doubt that once people see the quality, scope and importance of this project the target will be quickly achieved.

Youth Assembly

David and I spent this weekend at the Methodist Youth Assembly which was held at Ushaw College near Durham. This is the first Youth Assembly and replaces the Youth Conference held in previous years. It has certainly been more successful in attracting young people, with 211 attending, almost double the numbers attending previous Youth Conferences.The Youth Assembly has also succeeded in reflecting the ethnic diversity of the Methodist Church in Britain, probably more so than Conference itself.

I was impressed by the large number of young people that had been involved organising the Assembly and who continued to act as stewards on the day. All the sessions (or Logins) were facilitated by young people trained for the task. The many senior members of the Connexional Team who came to support the event sat on beanbags in a corridor and acted as advisors only when called on to do so. This was very much an event that empowered young people to speak and be heard.

Login sessions covered a range of subjects including youth violence, sexuality, God and me, self esteem, equality and diversity, you and your rights and vocation. There can have been few Presidents of the Conference who were invited to attend a discussion group led by young people because he was “the expert on sex”.

Later in the day login extra sessions were added to discuss topics requested by those attending, including exploring Christianity in a multi-faith world, and considering the challenges that being in a relationship with someone who is not a Christian brings. All the sessions were well attended and by all accounts lively and thoughtful.

Throughout the weekend the process of selecting the next Youth President took place. Youth Assembly members were introduced to 5 possible candidates for the role and after a series of interviews and an initial election they were left to make a choice between 2. This morning Pete Brady, from Bradford, was finally elected to be the next President and will take up office almost immediately. X-Factor was nowhere near as exciting as this.

Pete was inducted during the morning worship that took place in the splendidly ornate chapel in the College. I can’t imagine that the ancient catholic saints that look down from the stained glass windows could have witnessed worship quite like this very often. The chapel was packed with young people as well as members of all ages from nearby Methodist circuits. The powerful and dynamic service followed the theme for the weekend, “be something beautiful...for you, for the world, with God”. We were reminded that God saw the worth in all people, whatever they looked like, and picking up a theme I articulated at Conference, God calls us all to work and witness wherever we find ourselves.

Contemporary songs were well led by the band Life Colour, with words and video clips on a series of screens distributed around the chapel.

It concluded a very successful weekend and I’m sure that even those that had long journeys back home left uplifted and inspired.