All Partners Consultation: Re-imagining Future Mission Together. June 2010

This consultation was arranged as part of Methodist Church in Britain’s celebration of the centenary of the mission conference Edinburgh 1910; and in recognition that all the former overseas districts of the MCB are now autonomous Churches.

200 men and women from 60 countries and representing 44 conferences of Wesleyan and Methodist traditions, also including those from United and Uniting Churches and ecumenical organisations, were invited to an All Partners Consultation in London June 2010 by the Methodist Church in Britain. We celebrated the journey travelled in the century since Edinburgh 1910, the period that expected to bring people and churches together as friends. The four day gathering worked and worshipped together through prayer, Bible study, presentations, group discussions, conversation and fellowship.

Participants sought to discern the will of God in so far as it concerns the theory and practice of God’s mission through the instrument of the Church. Insights were shared as to how, in a world context that includes wealth, poverty, wars, inequalities of all descriptions, as well as ecological damage, the Church might help to bring about transformation into a world of justice in which the way of God might be discernable. To achieve the vision, all are to be involved; the local congregation, the Church regional, connexional and global – all witnessing and acting together in a spirit marked by togetherness, interdependence and partnership.

In the second half of the consultation the representatives looked at practical ways of realising this vision of God’s mission by working together, notably our use of resources. We recognised that in our interdependence we intentionally choose to be responsive in Church to Church relationships through the sharing of people, insights and money. It was also recognised that all Churches need to learn that self-sustainability is also spiritually healthy. While the invitation from the Methodist Church in Britain to her partners was ‘come over and help us’, it is clear that the participants gathered at the APC believe that ‘we’ are definitely re-imagining future mission together.

We believe that God’s Spirit is calling us to respond to this mission in the following ways:

A. To enrich Church to Church Relationships:
1.By bringing together various theological approaches and methods to reflect the Church’s unity which expresses itself in diversity; in particular rediscovering the emphases of Methodism in today’s context as a gift for all.
2. By valuing each Church’s gifts, experience, theological perspectives, programmes, resources and people; and where we can to share them in practical ways.
3. By working together on informed responses related to global issues such as justice and peace, migration, economy and climate change.
4. By sharing joys and pains, successes and failures, through the establishment of an effective Methodist and Uniting Church communication network.
5. By putting on the appropriate agendas of our national Churches, regional Church groupings and the World Methodist Council, the need to develop a world-wide family of Methodists and Uniting Churches engaged in effective action together.

B. To engage in people to people exchange:
1. By recognising the incarnational mission imperative of people crossing boundaries and learning to live alongside others.
2. By building exchanges of personnel based on deep respect, establishing good protocols and in a spirit of mutual partnership.
3. By enabling and facilitating encounters of many kinds that enrich our churches and our faith; and by committing ourselves to short, medium and longer-term exchanges of people.

4. By committing ourselves to the training and preparation for all personnel sharing, to be done in collaboration to ensure mutual accountability.
5. By promoting initiatives that build capacity such as scholarships and skills based training, notably south to south.

C. To use financial resources in the following ways:
1. By using them in responsive and responsible ways that include shared decision-making and clearly defined objectives; and could include a variety of methods such as investment, long-term loans and credit union facilities.
2. By enhancing the building of the Church globally through education, leadership development, personnel exchange and releasing local resources towards self sustainability.
3. By encouraging the use of technology more effectively to improve church to church communications, feedback and story-telling;
4. By encouraging and, possibly, developing imaginative trading consortia to promote fair-trade between partner churches, and other organisations, with the aim of helping congregations and communities to benefit from each other’s resources.
5. By developing a code of good practice for using money throughout Methodism and ecumenically, that embodies transparency and accountability, including mutual agreements in writing.




x/1 Conference receives the report.

x/2 Conference directs the Secretary for External Relationships to set up a working party to:
i. Explore how best to take forward and build upon the conversations initiated at the Consultation (at local, national, and international levels of the Church).

ii. Make specific recommendations regarding the future of the Methodist Missionary Society in the light of those conversations.

iii. Consider how the Methodist Church in Britain might explore with partners the best structure through which our ongoing and future mission partnerships might develop.

The working party will report to the Conference no later than 2012.
x/3 Conference directs its representatives to the World Methodist Council to inform the WMC of the Consultation and invite the WMC to engage with the issues raised by the Consultation in Durban in 2011.

Pilgrims on the Way Together: A Prayer of Commitment

Recalling how God raised up John and Charles Wesley to preach the Gospel
And respond to social need in their time and place,
We commit ourselves, under God and empowered by his grace,
to work together to preach the Gospel and respond to need around the world in our time.

That means that, by the help of the Holy Spirit
We accept God’s purposes for us
And the call to love and serve God in all we do.

Christ has many services to be done

- Some we can do as individual churches, others can only be done well when we work together
- Some demand that we give of our resources, others demand a readiness to receive resources and people from other places
- Some demand that we work out formal arrangements, others may thrive through informal links
- Some will come naturally to us and give us pleasure, others will challenge all we hold dear

Yet the power to do all these things is given in Jesus Christ, who strengthens us.


Response:

Eternal God, in your faithful and generous love
You call us to share in your mission to the world.
In obedience, we hear and accept your call upon us
And pledge ourselves to work together, that the world may believe.
As Churches around the world and as individual Christians
We willingly offer all we have and all we are to serve God’s people and bring the Kingdom closer.
We offer to serve you, as and where you choose
and ask that your grace be showered on us that we may accomplish your will.

This prayer we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Wednesday: A Recap (continued)

The day’s proceedings began in worshipful mode with a communion service. Revd. David Gamble (our outgoing president) led the service, emphasizing the point that communion is an inclusive thing, and that no Christian should be kept from receiving it.

Following communion, delegates set about looking at major issues in our working relationships, so as to facilitate future planning and policies.

The first speaker of the day was Ivan Abrahams, presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of South Africa. Ivan’s talk covered three issues: money, people exchange, and church-to-church relationships. After a very busy morning, there was some respite in the afternoon, during which some delegates went on a visit to Wesley’s Chapel.

For two regions, the day’s discussions had led to some major breakthroughs. When we gathered together again in the evening, we were presented with two joint statements. The first was from the Council of Latin American & Caribbean Methodist Churches, read by Bishop Moises Valderrama (their president). The full text of that report has already been posted elsewhere on this blog.

The second came from leaders from the Indian sub-continent: the Church of South India, Church of North India, Church of Pakistan, Church of Bangladesh and the Methodist Church of Sri Lanka – all represented by Bishop Kumar, moderator of the Church of South India.

Bishop Kumar told us of how their being together here had given them the opportunity to meet together and discuss ways of moving forward together. As a result, the Indian churches now plan to visit Pakistan in November, with the Pakistan church making a return visit in 2011. The South India and Sri Lanka churches have also made a commitment to work together on issues of reconciliation and restoration arising from the civil war and the 2004 tsunami.

Nearly There...

Thursday, 4.00PM: The Consultation has reconvened after a long break during which the Writing Group drew up a first draft of the statement to be presented to Conference. Here, Christine Elliott reads out the first draft (it's actually still being worked on; this is the first bit of it).

“Let Us Reason Together…”

Thursday, just before noon: As the All Partners’ Consultation works its way towards creating a 'credo for mission', this morning has been a time of hearing each others’ ideas from yesterday’s discussions.

A lot of pointers have been brought to the table. It’s been proposed, for example, that we do away with terms such as “receiving church” and “sending church”, as they foster old stereotypes of the churches in poorer countries being dependent on those in richer parts of the world for all their support. And the churches in those less well-off countries have a new determination to find ways of becoming financially self-sustaining.

Having listened to each other’s expectations, priorities and practicalities, the delegates are now having further discussion amongst themselves. The aim is that by the end of today, we should have produced a joint statement laying out exactly what we believe God is calling us to as a body of churches.

Like vuvuzelas in a South African stadium, the room is abuzz with the sound of conversation...

And we're off (again)...

The final day of the All Partners' Consultation has begun. We've just prayed and sang a song from New Zealand; right now Rev. George Mulrain is giving the assembly a recap of Wednesday's proceeedings. I'll be doing the same here later today.

When George's recap is over, it will be time to start the job of putting together what this consultation will present to Conference next week.

Behind the Scenes, #3: El Jefe

The last of our translators is Donald Reasoner. Donald is from the United Methodist Church; he’s based in New York, and his full time job is co-ordinating translation services at conferences such as APC in various parts of the world. At APC he has also been translating into Spanish and Portuguese, and he wrote the full text of the English version of the statement given by the Latin American church leaders yesterday.

Behind the Scenes, #2: Bonjour, tout le monde…

Let’s meet another member of our team of intrepid interpreters. This is Dr. Valentin Dedji, a circuit minister at the New River Church in north London, who is handling French translation duties here at APC. Enchanté

Wednesday: A Recap (part 1)

(Note from George: the blog was a bit thin on the ground yesterday, due to me suddenly becoming ill with an extremely sore neck. My sincere thanks to everyone who looked after me, prayed, and helped gather information while I was unable to do any blogging myself.

And with that, here’s a round up of what happened here yesterday.)

Actually, let’s start with the last few things that happened on Tuesday – picking up from where we left off, which was the first of our three visions of where the Church ought to be in the year 2020.

Our second ‘visionary’ was the Revd. Hans Baxby, representing UMC Europe (Eurasia). Hans had three points, the main theme of which was that he wanted to see the Church less dependent on outside finances. Churches should be self-sustainable, using their offerings to fund basic running costs and only applying for connexional grants for special projects. Conferences should also be self-sustainable.

Hans pointed out that the Church in his part of Europe is relatively young (the Russian church, for example, is only 19 years old). He concluded by saying that “We will only be a spiritually sound church when we are a financially sound church.”

Then the Revd Dr Joshva Raja (from India) gave his vision for the future. Obviously a keen sportsman, Joshva told us that mission was a ‘do or die’ game in which you needed to get good numbers (just like in 20:20 cricket).

Then, football in hand, Joshva gave a few other pointers –not just to the assembled delegates but also the England team (who must have heard him, since they went on to qualify for the next round the following day). His pointers were:

• Have one mind. Be single-minded, but not identical.
• Put the Church in the context of others.
• When necessary, change your approach.

After we’d heard the visions and had some time to think over them, it was the turn of Revd. Stephen Poxon (Secretary of the MMS) to speak. He gave us a historic background to the role of mission work within Methodism, telling us the story of Nathaniel Gilbert – a slave owner who had converted to Christianity and been baptised, along with his slaves. The first recorded Methodist from outside Britain was an un-named black female slave, illustrating the point that Methodism had always provided a spiritual home for people society deemed ‘nameless’, and that Methodists should continue to do so. He concluded with a challenge to us to consider how to move on in the future, and whether the time was right to form a World Methodist Missionary Society.

With the talking over, it was time for everyone to assemble in front of the auditorium doors for a group photograph. Much hilarity ensued as the photographer conducted the huge task of getting everyone in shot.

Statement from the Methodist Churches of Latin America

NUESTROS SUEÑOS PARA TRANSFORMAR LA MISIÒN IGLESIAS METODISTAS DE LA AMERICA LATINA

Para LA CONSULTA CON LAS IGLESIAS COMPAÑERAS EN MISIÒN Y LA CONFERENCIA ANUAL 2010 DE LA IGLESIA METODISTA BRITANICA

Que la Gracia de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo sea con todos nosotros iluminando nuestra visión misionera hacia el año 2020.

Las Iglesias Metodistas de la América Latina nos unimos en una sola voz para agradecer a nuestro Dios por la oportunidad de participar y encontrarnos en esta Consulta-Conferencia para reflexionar sobre la misión, convocados por nuestra hermana Iglesia Metodista Británica. Esta ocasión nos proporciona una extraordinaria oportunidad para fortalecer nuestra unidad y contribuir en el discernimiento del Proyecto de Dios para estos tiempos desafiantes y complejos.

Desde ya hace 250 años cuando se formó la primera Iglesia Metodista, en la isla caribeña de la Antigua, se inició una generosa relación de cooperación para la misión entre la Iglesia Metodista Británica y las iglesias Metodistas que desde entonces se fueron extendiendo en el Caribe y el resto de la América Latina. Esta ha sido una larga, generosa y rica historia de cooperación mutua. Miles de misioneros británicos han entregado su vida sirviendo en diversos ministerios para ayudarnos a construir la vida y misión de nuestras iglesias a lo largo y ancho de esta región. También hemos sido beneficiados con sustanciales recursos teológicos y financieros. De la misma manera nuestras iglesias, como iglesias del Sur, en tan diversas y dinámicas culturas, han contribuido enormemente, dando testimonio de su fe, con la producción teológica y la lectura bíblica contextualizada, con lo cual reanimó y ofreció otro método para teologizar y releer la Palabra de Dios. Damos gracias al Espíritu que con su luz nos ha permitido dialogar bíblica y teológicamente como iguales con las escuelas teológicas y las iglesias del Norte. También el Sur, aunque empobrecido por el proyecto colonial, ha contribuido sin reservas a la reformulación y práctica de la tarea misionera.

Sin embargo, los tiempos han cambiado, hoy enfrentamos una crisis generalizada que se manifiesta en lo económico, político, social, religioso y cultural en general. El debacle financiero que estalló en octubre del 2008 en EUA y que luego se extendió a todos los países ricos del Norte, produciendo enormes secuelas en los países dependientes del Sur, ha desestabilizado la parroquia global. Las estructuras de injusticia construidas y afincadas en el sistema global no solo han producido miseria, marginación y exclusión, sino que también comparten la violencia, el armamentismo y la guerra, la cual ha dejado de ser convencional, con el terrorismo, el narcotráfico y el paramilitarismo. El calentamiento global amenaza llevarnos al abismo. Igualmente perdura en este sistema global, la corrupción y la impunidad. El futuro es incierto, la profecía está callada y las iglesias prefieren encerrarse en los templos para escapar a la responsabilidad de salir a la parroquia y allí oír y atender el gemido de quienes buscan afanosamente la salvación. Estamos entonces en una crisis ética, una profunda crisis de humanidad. También necesitamos discernir lo que Dios espera de nosotros en medio de los desastres naturales como lo sucedido en Haití, Chile así como en las inundaciones en Centroamérica.
Ante esta realidad, la Iglesia Metodista de Inglaterra, ha tomado la iniciativa de convocarnos a esta consulta para repensar la misión para el camino que recorreremos juntos los próximos 20 años en esta parroquia en crisis. Por lo tanto, las iglesias latinoamericanas aquí representadas, deseamos responder como una sola voz a su llamado; leyendo los signos de los tiempos, con mucha imaginación, fe y con toda la libertad que nos da el Espíritu deseamos manifestar lo siguiente:

1)En primer lugar, reconocemos nuestra propia necesidad de transformarnos para una nueva misión y forma de ser iglesia, en la que se manifieste una real preocupación por la vida de las personas, según lo anuncia el kerigma del Evangelio.
Esto significa un cambio de Mentalidad. Es necesario reconocer que tenemos recursos, – humanos e historias con experiencias de superación, para no limitarnos a que vengan los recursos financieros, sea del Norte o de otros lugares.
Urge el cambio de mentalidad (metanóia) en el sentido de que podemos fortalecernos de diferentes maneras y utilizar la creatividad y el intercambio con fines de apoyarnos mutuamente. Queremos hacer esfuerzos de autogestión y autosuficiencia, aún en medio de nuestras múltiples necesidades.
2)Pero también reconocemos, que tal transformación requiere un cambio en nuestra eclesiología. El diagnóstico en nuestras iglesias indica que nos hemos acomodado a la institucionalidad en desmedro del carisma misionero. Por lo tanto, necesitamos reconstruir una eclesialidad que considere la bivocacionalidad en el ministerio. Además es urgente diversificar los ministerios para superar el pastor-centrismo, recuperando así el principio del “sacerdocio universal de todos los creyentes”. Esto nos exige identificar en el pueblo de Dios nuevos dones espirituales. Capacitar a quienes reciben estos dones y entonces organizar ministerios para responder a las necesidades y problemas de la parroquia.

3. Ecumenismo Metodista
Es necesario cultivar el espíritu ecuménico entre nosotros mismos, ejercer el respeto delante de las diferentes formas de pensar entre las líneas teológicas que conforman el pensamiento wesleyano en su amplitud.
Necesitamos con urgencia reconocer la riqueza de la “Unidad en la Diversidad” en forma efectiva, de tal manera que seamos realmente Cuerpo de Cristo y podamos complementarnos en las diferencias, según las culturas y empoderar a las personas de forma holística.
4. Rescate de la Esencia Metodista
Es necesario considerar la herencia de nuestra tradición, mantener y profundizar tanto la ortodoxia, ortopraxis y ortopatia wesleyana en el contexto de los signos de los tiempos del tercer milenio latinoamericano y caribeño.
Urge rescatar el liderazgo laico – que debe ser capacitado adecuadamente y actuar con pasión misionera; reconocer los nuevos paradigmas construidos en el siglo XXI y utilizar la comunicación como instrumento de largo alcance, considerando la necesidad de cambiar el lenguaje; enriquecer la conexidad de tal manera que se compartan los recursos y se diversifiquen los ministerios.
Es decir, ser coherente con la vocación para la cual fuimos llamados como Pueblo Metodista: no para formar simplemente una nueva iglesia, sino para transformar la iglesia y la parroquia, además de esparcir la santidad bíblica sobre toda la tierra – Según el legado de John Wesley.
5. Una de las grandes herencias que nos dejó Juan Wesley fue sacar la misión del templo y llevarla como movimiento a toda la parroquia. Entonces, necesitamos recuperar los carismas del movimiento para dinamizar la misión y volver a poner la institución al servicio la iglesia en movimiento.
Anhelamos seguir el camino juntos la iglesia Británica y de América Latina y el Caribe, porque nos necesitamos mutuamente para complementarnos y seguir siendo eficaces. Hoy más que nunca necesitamos fortalecer nuestros lazos de cooperación mutua, pero sobre todo buscar la unidad para que el mundo crea (Jn.17:21)
Dado en la ciudad de Londres el día 23 de junio del 2010, justamente teniendo de trasfondo el campeonato mundial de futbol, en Sudáfrica.

Firmas:
Obispo Moisés Valderrama, Bispo Joao Carlos Lopes, Bispa Marisa Coutinho, Obispo Mario Martinez, Obispo Frank de Nully Brown, obispo Salomón Cabezas, Obispo Juan Alberto Cardona, Obispo Javier Rojas, Presidenta Inés Simeone, Presidente Mario Chanchavac, Presidente Francisco Guzmán, Presidente Francisco Mendoza, Rev. Joyce Torres, Rev. José Duque, Elsa Tamez, Magali Cunha, Humberto Shikiya.

(English translation to come)

Behind the Scenes, #1: Las traductores

While the delegates are busy discussing their visions for the future, let's take time out to meet some of the people working behind the scenes here at the APC as translators...

Estas hermosas mujeres son Monica Abdala y Lucy Ramirez, que hacen la traducion para los Hispanohablantes aqui.

Or in English: these two lovely ladies are Lucy Ramirez (in the black top) and Monica Abdala (in the red), our two Spanish translators.

Visions of the Future

Part Two of today’s deliberations looks ahead to the year 2020. What will the Church look like in 10 years’ time? Where will it be?

First to share his vision is Stephen Lindridge of Fresh Expressions. Stephen visited Nigeria five years ago, and found that people responded to his dog collar much more favourably there than they do back home…

Spurred on by this, Peter has been thinking of where he would like to see the Church in the future. “I would like to see the person on the street loving the Church,” he said. “They would see all we stand for, and love us for it.” Home groups and initiatives such as Street Pastors all have a part to play in making this possible.

Time to reflect…

We’ve heard five short Bible studies this morning, and in the process learnt a little about how the Gospel has impacted upon different people groups – not just in terms of culture, but also in terms of gender.

The delegates here have spent some time in groups, mulling over all they’ve heard. Here are some of the comments they’ve come back with, in response to this morning’s Bible studies:

“We are ready to pay the price.”

“We believe that as Christians, we should not strive to be ‘successful’ so much as we strive to be faithful. In faithfulness we seek transformation, but in seeking success, we easily conform to the dictates of the world.”

“Being transformed begins with the individual before it becomes the experience of the Church.” (Or to put that another way: “This is personal.”)

“We need to revisit the prophetic tradition of speaking out, but recognise that this is easier in some countries than in others – such as in Burma.”

“Two things: 1) Be watchful. 2) Reflect.”

“Risk – then obey.”

“Mission begins with three things. Acceptance of guilt, acceptance of forgiveness available to us in Christ, and forgiveness of ourselves.”

“Transformation is a journey, not a destination.”

“We wondered if we would value culture if it came without imperialism.”

“Mission is a continuous process of change; losing our pride as church, and aligning as the Body of Christ with the poor and marginalised in humility and vulnerability, with a deepened spirituality.”

“I don’t do starts; I just do kicking.”

Sammy Azariah (from Pakistan) has just given the last of this morning’s five Bible studies. Taking Isaiah 12:4-5 as his text, he spoke about forgiveness and the daily struggles faced by Christians in his home country.

Sammy said that life in Pakistan offered Christians “a real challenge to implement the new commandment of Jesus Christ.”

“It’s a real struggle,” he said,’ “But we try our best. We make the effort, and we have seen good things happen as a result.”

Sammy used clips from a documentary called Burning Paradise: Swat Valley to give some idea of what Pakistani Christians were up against, then added a few stories of his own. We were all left with touching examples of how forgiveness has helped a body of believers make progress in an environment where violence and intolerance are commonplace.. As Sammy himself put is, “Forgiveness is the bridge.”

(By the way, if you’re wondering what the title of this post means, it’s what Sammy said to Chris Elliott earlier today, when she asked him to give us a kick-start.)

Harriett Olson: How are we to be the Church?

We’re back for the last two of the five Bible studies for this morning. This time, it’s the turn of Harriett Olson from the USA. Her text is Romans 12:1-2, alongside which we’re having a briefing on the history of the role of women within the context of mission work.

According to Harriett, one of the big challenges the Church faces is rejecting conformity and opting instead for transformation. How do we do that? She offers some pointers based on the text.

"Power is to bless, not oppress."

We're now listening to Lo Lung Kwong teach on Acts 1:6-8 and give a brief account of Christianity's growth in China. And he's introducing us to a new concept: 'Glocalisation' (and no, that's not a typo)!

João: “Diversity is Good”

The first of this morning’s special Bible studies is from João Carlos Lopes (from Brazil), who is teaching on Matthew 28:16-20. He’s offered some great insights on diversity in his short study. “Different ethnic groups are not a punishment,” he says. “People often look at the Tower of Babel story in the Old Testament as a punishment from God, but it wasn’t. Babel was God’s way of preserving diversity. Diversity is good; it is God’s gift to us.”

Next up: Simon Dossou from Benin, speaking on Exodus 19:5-6.

Day 2: Welcome…

Good morning!

Breakfast time’s nearly over, and a slow, steady trickle of people is gradually filling the main auditorium.

We were been given a lot to think about yesterday. The job description for mission work within the Methodist Church in Britain is due for an overhaul, and our friends from around the world are here to share ideas as to how things should go. We’ve been challenged to embrace justice as part of our Christian walk; we’ve sung a lit and prayed a lot.

That conversation continues today – starting in about ten minutes’ time with a series of five short Bible studies from the regions around the world. Then in the afternoon, we’ll hear some scenarios of where we would like the Methodist Church to be ten years from now.

I’ll be back with more later. See you in a bit…

Speaking for Justice

Monday, 3:15PM: Lunch has been had, a lot of new friendships have been made... and now it's time for business again.

This afternoon's keynote speaker, Dr. Daleep Mukarji, has just taken the stage. The title of his talk is "A Wider World Perspective", drawing on his experiences both as a doctor and as a pasionate activist for social justice. He's only been speaking for just over 15 minutes, but he's already touched on climate change, poverty, unfair international trade rules, HIV/Aids, Israel/Palestine, globalisation and its effects on the price of basic food - and tomorrow's budget!

Question and answer time...

Monday, around 11:45AM: Prior to this week’s events, the Methodist Church of Great Britain had sent out three ‘Missiological Questions’ to everyone who was due to attend the All Partners’ Consultation – questions such as “How is the Good News impacting on finance, politics and development where you are?” and “Where do you expect your church to be in the next five to 10 years?”

Diane Clutterbuck has just been talking us through some of the responses received. Some great examples of the Church’s commitment to justice have arisen from the questions, many of them from Latin America. We heard of the Dominican Republic, where more and more Protestant and Evangelical Christians are getting involved in government, legislation and politics.

Christians in Benin and Hong Kong were also commended, as were the ‘Street Pastors’ who patrol Britain’s streets on a Saturday night, offering a helping hand to worse-for-wear nightclubbers.

On the question of where the Church will be a few years from now, a number of challenges to the Church were listed. These included: the persecution of Christians, declining church membership, elitism, limited resources, and the rise of Islam.

Asked what their vision for a future Church would be, Methodist and United churches from around the world said, “A uniting, joyous and prayerful church; a forgiving church; a spiritual church; a witnessing church, and a transforming church.”

Once again, the delegates are in small groups discussing what they’ve just heard – under strict orders from Diane not to turn their discussion time to show off their theological knowledge!

And so it begins...

Monday, 10:01 AM: Day One of the All Partners' Consultation is off to a flying start. We've just had a great time of morning worship led by Revd. Jennifer Potter (with a little help from Chris Elliott, Mike King and the Bishop of Ecuador).

Martyn Atkins is in the middle of his keynote address, "This is where we've come from; this is where we are... and together we will forge a new mission."

"We will not ditch the word 'Partnership,'" he has said. "Rather, we will re-think it." - echoing Chris Elliot's earlier comment: "We need to re-think what mission means. And that is the point of these consultations.'

Right now, delegates are discussing the first half of Martyn's address. He's just gone back onstage to continue with the rest of his address. Watch this space for more on what he has to say...

"The World is Our Parish"

The All Partners' Consultation kicked off in grand style on Sunday evening with a worship service at Westminster Central Hall.

Mike King welcomed representatives from over 50 countries who had come to the UK for the consultation. The Revd. Martin Turner (team leader at Westminster Central Hall) welcomed us to Westminster Central hall, and shared a bit of its history. Methodist Central Hall was the chosen venue for the inaugural General Assembly of the United Nations in 1946, making it a rather fitting venue for such an international gathering as this.

During the service itself, passages from Genesis and Acts were read in Mandarin and Urdu respectively, and a Ghanaian choir (a big, swaying wave of voices dressed in yellow) sang songs – both on their own, and together with the regular Westminster Central Hall choir.

It was during the gifting that the service really came alive. The Ghanaian choir came up to the altar bearing gifts for everyone (we had a choice of either a rose, a loaf of bread or a candle). The entire hall erupted into dance as people went up to receive a gift. Next minute, someone was hitting a djembe, and a purple banner went flying round the room at breakneck speed! The whole gifting process was full of colour, life and joy!

Dr Richard Vautrey (our soon-to-be ex Vice President, as he introduced himself) and Revd. George Mulrain (President of the Methodist Church of the Caribbean & the Americas) gave a joint reflection, in which they shared stories from Chile, Guyana, Haiti, Uganda, South Africa, Malta, Gibraltar, Spain, Macedonia, India and Palestine. Richard reminded us through his stories of the ongoing role of Methodists in standing alongside the poor, the marginalised and the outcast. “You and I are God's gifts to each other,” George Mulrain said. “Community is one of the gifts God has given to us.”

The APC starts on Sunday!

The Methodist Church's All Partners Consultation will be kicking off on Sunday, with a celebration service at Westminster Central Hall at 6pm - all are welcome to attend. If you are unable to attend, but would like to particpate in worship, a special liturgy is available online here for churches to use.

The full programme of business, covering Monday-Thursday is available here.

George will be blogging from Sunday through to Thursday, so watch this space!

Anna

Anna Drew
Lead Media Officer