Minutes of the Birmingham District Methodist Synod
10September 2005 at West Bromwich Circuit
Present: Secretary: John Nodding
Together with 197 members of Synod
Chair’s illness
It was reported that the Chair, Revd Bill Anderson was ill and would not be attending Synod.
Opening Devotions
The Superintendent Minister, Revd Alan Jenkins, led the Synod in a Service of Holy Communion. An offertory was taken for the Methodist Ministers Children Relief Association amounting to £384.15.
Synod election of Deputy Chair
Revd Anne Smith had been nominated Deputy Chair of the District by the District Policy Committee. A vote was taken by Synod to elect Revd Anne Smith as Deputy Chair. Voting For 195 Against 0. Revd Anne Smith took over as Chair of the Synod.
Welcome from Revd Alan Jenkins
The Synod was welcomed to Hall Green Primary School and guidance was given for the various locations of the building.
Opening Business
The Deputy Chair welcomed to the District the following Ministers and Deacons who had newly arrived or had taken up new positions within the district:
Deacon Janet S Jenkins
Revd A Stephen Willey
Revd Kathryn R Darby
Revd Victoria A Atkinson
Revd James Pritchard
Revd Gillian H Le Boutiller-Scott
Revd Carole Challis
Revd Phillip A E Challis
Revd Victoria O Bravette
Deacon Hilary Smith
Revd Hubert E A McKenzie
Revd Tanja Luebben
Revd Carole J Holden
Deacon Malcolm Knowles
Revd Warren R Bardsley
Revd Robert J Powell
Revd Rosamy Murphy
Revd Jonathan R Musselwhite
Deacon Anthony Martin
Revd David T Meachem
Revd Mary E Jolly
Welcome to District Rural Life Officer
The Deputy Chair welcomed Deacon Lynne Tonge to this new position within the District.
Thanks to Retiring Deputy Chair
Revd David Easton gave thanks to Revd John Hellyer for the excellent way that he had performed the duties of Deputy Chair. Synod agreed that a letter should be sent to John to thank him for his work as Deputy Chair and congratulate him on achieving his M.A.
Apologies and Dispensations
The Chair had given dispensations to the following: Deacon Janet Thomas, Deacon Sue Fry, Revd Hannah Heim, Revd Jenny Dyer, Rev Helen Cameron, Revd John Hellyer and Revd Knut Heim for the afternoon.
Letters
Synod agreed that letters be sent to the following people: Catherine Field, widow of Revd Douglas Field; Revd William Hopkins; Rosemary Butler, widow of Revd David Butler; Deacon Sue Fry; Deacon Janet Thomas and Norah Foster.
Directory Amendments
A list of amendments was produced. The Synod Secretary requested that any further amendments should be directed to the District office.
Representatives to Conference
The following were elected to represent the District at the Conference held at Edinburgh in 2006.
Ministers
Molly Chitokwindo 138
David Easton 130
Jenny Dyer 118
David Meachem 94
Lay Representatives
John Nodding Synod elected
Ermine Mitchell 141
GaryHopkins 139
Diane Webb 127
Margaret Hollyoake 98
Keith Morton 90
Deacon
Sue Fry 138
Substitutes
Doreen Hare 87
Margaret Eales 86
Donald Pickard 82
Catherine Cambell Hyde 75
David Easton was also voted to attend Conference for the next three years.
Youth Conference
There was only one name for the nomination to the Youth Conference to be held at Stafford that of Naomi Dyer. The Synod Secretary appealed for more names to be given to him over the next few weeks.
Closure of Churches
Application to discontinue the holding of public services under Standing Order 943 at the following place:-
Stechford Methodist Church, Elmdon Circuit (5/3).
Synod approved the closure.
Confirmation for Authorisation of Marriages
All changes have been confirmed except one that was in progress. This one situation did not present a problem as far as marriages are concerned in the near future in the circuit concerned.
Talk by Revd David Gamble
David commenced with a few humorous comments about being brought up at a boy’s school in Rugby and being quite keen to get too acquainted with the opposite sex. He commented that reflections on life of the church issues were the title given but he would talk on issues facing the church from where he is now. He told Synod of the different committees that he sat on.
As an aide-memoir he wanted to talk on 5 things ending with “ty”:-
Charity, Society, Inclusivity, Captivity and Safety.
Charity
The Methodist Church has a charitable status. In 2007 or 2008 the law for charities will change. Many of the people at Synod who are trustees will be affected by these changes. Churches with a turnover in excess of £100,000 will have a separate charity status. Questions will then be asked such as: “What is your recruitment campaign?” referred to the recruitment of Trustees. He also said we would be asked about training programme for Trustees. He said that whilst we will still be able to state that our objectives are “to advance religion”, we will also need to answer the question “Show that your charity is in the public interest”. Religious people would have no problem with the church to be in the public interest, but atheists may have a different view. The area of discrimination about women was mentioned. The lowest figure of turnover where churches would not be affected was £5,000.
There could be difficulties in recruiting property officers when extra work would be involved in reporting. Consideration would need to be given to register the circuit as the charity instead of individual churches. He warned “Watch this space and be accountable”.
Society
In the case of marriage ceremonies there would be a change from a building to be authorised to an authorised person. The law would change where for a Christian marriage the couple could ask a person to preside at a location selected by them and this person would be called a celebrant. As long as the person believes it has dignity he or she can say yes. You could even marry in the back garden. This practise is already used in Scotland.
He made reference to the on going debate of “Pilgrimage of Faith” and the need of advice on blessings of civil partnerships.
Registrars can offer civil partnerships at the end of this year. Many people now live together without getting married and this is part of our society – how do we respond? People are getting hurt by the narrowness of Christian beliefs. We have to be sensitive regarding marriage breakdowns etc.
The way Government is computing all our records we will register on-line. There will be no need to complete the register in church. The Registrar will affirm certification.
Inclusivity
Our churches come in different shapes and sizes. Problems arise when there are gender changes and men become women and vice versa. Women can become men for example a women who wanted to become a priest can go through a gender change to become a priest. It would be possible for a Jewish woman to change the position in the Synagogue by having a gender change. Where are the young people in the church we hear that we have only one young person to be nominated to the Youth Conference? Where do the young actually fit into the life of our church? He then went on to mention the old – do they really matter? He also noted that the church was not representative of the race and ethnicity of the population at large.
Ability and Disability
The law says we have to do what is reasonable for a church to do, however we should not do it because the law says so, but because it is right. The highlight at Conference for him was the report on the Pilgrimage of Faith which was an important debate at Conference. It was important to continue the healing process, listening to people of both extremes of opinion and working out how to be inclusive. Another Conference report dealt with how can we make our church open and helpful to the victims of abuse? We must remember that God also loves those who commit the abuse.
Another important issue was our relations with other faith communities who asked to use our buildings which currently cannot happen due to the Deed of Union and the Methodist Church Act.
Captivity
He had the key to the drawer, which has the key to the safe which holds the filing cabinet that holds John Wesley’s Bible. When something stops being relevant it is OK to change it for something else. “Young Wives” become “Wives”. We hang on to things for ever, but you can stop things. There was a practice carried out at St Georges Church where the clock use to sound every 15 minutes. As Evensong lasted for half an hour they would shout “Douse the bells” to stop them ringing during the service. This is still called although the clock was removed in 1893. Methodists sometimes do not want change. Which bits of the past are still crucial? Buildings can also become millstones.
Safety
He prayed that the Church is a safe place for people to come and explore things that matter. Safeguarding is very important .We don’t agree on everything but that’s OK. People should be able to ask questions without being made to feel that they should know the answer. Some congregations don’t reflect the hymn “All praise to our redeeming Lord”. We should allow people to have diversity.
Greetings from Rt Revd G Devakadasham
Revd Israel Selvanayagam introduced the Bishop of Kanyakuman, Church of South India. He brought greetings from a three million strong Missionary Church. Kanyakuman is a vibrant diocese, and the Church of South India is blessed with 250 thousand people, over 500 churches and 245 ordained persons and over 300 other workers.
Despite the anti-conversion bill evangelism is in full swing adding people and new churches into the diocese.
The first missionary came on April 25th 1806 and they will celebrate there bi-centenary next year.
We broke up for lunch at 12.30 pm.
After lunch we returned to 12 discussion groups to answer questions and discuss the points raised by Revd David Gamble in his talk to us.
Report from Conference 2005.
Mark Aldridge put forward the Resolutions that had been submitted by the Conference to be approved by Synod. These were printed in the papers given to each representative. The first vote was on District Boundaries. Votes of 179 in favour and 2 against were recorded. The second resolution was concerning the chairing of Districts. Votes in favour were 169 and 2 voted against.
Mark then presented the Memorials that had been put forward at the Spring Synod and the replies were printed in the papers that were distributed. Mark said there was no need to vote as these were simply for information.
Those attended Conference had been as to talk for one minute on the points they felt were important to them.
Helen Woodall said the Report on “Time to talk of God” was important and she was glad the church can talk of something that matters.
Melissa Williams felt that 20-30 age groups needed far more work to be done. Young people want to be valued for their other gifts and relevant to their daily lives. They want to be challenged.
Richard Wilde felt that the atmosphere was more intense than the past. He felt conference offered many challenges.
Mary Shannahan said that she was ordained at conference. It was a milestone in the journey of faith. She was overwhelmed with the singing at her ordination service.
James Pritchard had worked hard to get a motion the MAYC Orchestra and Singers overturned. He was not happy with the reply.
John Nodding said there was a great deal of reading prior to the conference which gave you a feel for the subjects. Organisers had set a number of goals which in the main were achieved. It was not a rubber stamping operation. The Holy Spirit was present and it was a joy to meet such lovely people who had strong faith and loving feelings. It was a great leveller where no-one should feel more important than anyone else. He felt that the report on the Pilgrimage of Faith was most moving.
Jan Nendick said that there was so much reading to do. Conference had some very spiritual experiences and she felt that God was really there.
Nichola Jones said conference was facing frustrating challenges. Two issues came to the fore – Bishops and Sex. She urged us to discuss the sort of bishops we wanted in our churches.
Peter Hatton said that he went hopefully to the conference. Was impressed by Tom Stuckey’s address. Felt the Methodist church was being taken in a new direction, but is this where we really want to go?
Doreen Hare enjoyed conference in Torquay She felt the report “Time to talk of God” should be taken up in our churches. Women’s Network had promoted the report on Domestic Abuse, but this should not just be for women.
Margaret Eales said conference hard work with lots to read and take in. She felt the reports “Time to talk of God” and “Pilgrimage of Faith” were good. She was not impressed by the report of conference wanting to reduce representatives from 400 to 250, making it cheaper and more streamlined. She was glad this was thrown out.
Mark Aldridge said that he agreed with all the positive points mentioned. However he had a concern that a number of the discussions had been rushed because of a lack of time. Some people did not have a chance to speak.
Memorial
The following memorial was proposed by Revd John Atkinson and seconded by Revd Paul Donnison.
“The Conference notes the priority given to healing within the ministry of Jesus and his disciples and invites the Faith and Order Committee to review the current priorities within the Methodist Church in order to assess whether, in the area of health and healing, our priorities are or should be consistent with those of the early church.” After inviting Synod to make their comments on the memorial it was felt that the wording should be changed and the memorial presented again at the Spring Synod. A vote was taken and in principal Synod agreed with the substance of the memorial.
Soap Box Items
Revd Chris Shannahan appealed on behalf of the Asylum Seekers. He mentioned two people from Somalia, Joseph and Miriam, who are now living on the streets after they had been turned down. 2000 asylum seekers have been made destitute. He was seeking help and volunteers to set up Drop-in Centre at Small Heath Church. He had packs available for churches entitled “Welcome a stranger”.
Neil Johnson introduced an Arts Festival celebrating the season of Easter entitled “Life in the Face of Death” that included a Youth Art Competition. He asked for Synod to support this venture as part of the celebrations of Easter 2006.
Linda Atkinson wanted to encourage children to carry on drawing in the competition for which Art. Entertainer had offered prizes for the best entries.
Stephen Willey announced the faith and work of “power in the Supermarket” to be held on 29th September 2005 at 7.30 pm.
Revd Clive Fowle thanked Network for a cheque for £1928.65 which they had raised for the “Touch of Hope”. He wished people to know that he would be pleased to visit their churches to talk about the problems after the war in former Croatia. There is still a lot of work to do and they have launched a 4 year campaign to raise £35,000.
Sean O’Donnell talked about training that was organised by Birmingham Churches Together. A new programme had been devised where there were Learning Champions. Many people do not have word of God in their language.
Revd Israel Selvanayagam talked about the future of the United Church of the Ascension. Rapid changes are happening in Selly Oak. He said that Selly Oak was the centre for Mission Strategy and asks Synod to hold this in their prayers.
District Web Site
Mark Aldridge talked about the web site and portrayed images that can be seen on the internet on the screen. He said that now the web site is up and running more help is required to keep the information up to date. He appealed for anyone interested to contact him.
District Review
Mark Aldridge said that since the last Synod when we went into groups and reported back. These comments have been fed into the system. Questionnaires have been sent out to the circuits to be discussed circuit meetings and further discussions will take place in November.
Signed:
Rev Bill Anderson John Nodding
Chair of District Synod Secretary
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