Superintendent's Pastoral Letter – Summer

PASTORAL LETTER from the Superintendent – Summer 2024

As we look forward to the Summer months of, hopefully, sunshine and warmer weather we also look to the annual season of change within Methodism. August is the time when the removal lorries begin to arrive at manses, transporting Methodist ministers and their families from one station to the next as part of our tradition of itinerant ministry. I must say that I am glad we don't move every 3 years as our predecessors will have done until the 1970s!

As I mentioned in my last letter, we will be saying goodbye to Rev'd Helen Cameron and to Rev'd Fred Ireland. We will also welcome our new Chair Rev'd Dr Sonia Hicks and our new probationary minister Rev'd Sue Jacobs. Helen leaves at the end of May and Sonia arrives at the beginning of August, so please note that Chair of District duties will be covered by our current deputy chairs Rev'd David Alderman and Rev'd Kate Strange as Acting Co-chairs during June and July. Any requests should be directed through the District Office.

Summer is also the time when many of us take holidays and this is no doubt one contributory factor to the number of LA's that appear on the current plan. We are grateful for our preachers who work very hard for us throughout the year and certainly deserve a break. I am also aware that some have been unwell and we offer them our prayers. But the situation also highlights how dependent we are on our preachers and how tight it gets when there are a few absences. The current ratio of preachers available to number of services required by churches on a Sunday morning is fast becoming unsustainable and so, at the recent Circuit meeting, we asked churches to discuss seriously how we might find creative ways to reduce the number of preachers required on a Sunday morning. The intention is to continue this conversation at the next meeting. If you have any suggestions for how this might be achieved then please talk to your Circuit Meeting reps. Ideas being considered include: more sharing of services; some churches choosing to change their time of worship to allow preachers to take more services on a Sunday; greater use of technology enabling services to be streamed or recorded.

In the meantime if you have several LA's, please remember The Vine resource that we have subscribed to and which can be used by anyone leading worship, as well as the resources available on the Methodist Church Web site.

I hope that you all have a very blessed and peaceful Summer.

Every Blessing,

Andrew

Rev'd Andrew P Biggs, Superintendent Minister