It's the last day of June. The 2011 Methodist Conference is due to begin in a couple of days.
A short walk from the Conference venue in Southport, 43 people are gathered for a pre-Conference Consultation – amongst them World Church representatives, partnership coordinators, a few mission partners and some members of staff.
High on the agenda for this consultation is the response to the All Partners Consultation which took place in London a year ago. The Methodist Conference appointed a working group to look into the APC's findings in detail.
“The challenge from the APC report was to follow up the opportunities of the possibilities that came out of it,” says Dr Daleep Mukarji, who chairs the working group. “But we couldn't have our discussions in isolation of what other churches were talking about, and what they were sharing with us.
“Our hope is that by this listening process, we will produce a mission statement, with a vision component and some understanding of mission, - and more importantly, will develop models of working together which will update the nature of the Methodist Missionary Society. But if we want partnership with churches overseas – and if we want to have equal relationships – it won't happen with Britain leading. And so we're looking to the World Methodist Conference, and the World Methodist Council, to provide that overall coordination and cooperation.”
“It's really interesting to see how an event like the APC stimulates people at the time,” says Christine Elliott, Secretary for External Relationships. “But the dynamic of going back and working in your own context and in your own situation – and the demands of that – means that you kind of put it on hold. And it's when we gather again and see each other face to face, we think 'Okay – now I need to think again and move on and be challenged.'
“This morning's session gave us the chance to look again and highlight areas where we need to think together. What does it mean to be addressing issues where women are in the majority in the church, but not in the leadership? How do we encourage young people to take up responsibility in our churches? What about our regional gatherings? We said we wanted to be part of a world-wide body of people, and we meant it – but we've done nothing with what we promised we would do!”
“For us, mission is about justice.,” says Daleep Mukarji. “It's about an inclusive world; it's about dealing with a broken society; it's also dealing with healing and reconciliation, and it's about making disciples of Christ who will then themselves be equipped and challenged to build a world in the perspective of the kingdom of God. And that's what I think this process is about.”
