Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

57. The Fruitful Field Project
base at which the Methodist family
can gather and within which insights
and challenges from across the world
can be shared and nurtured.
Making the most of our people
98 The resources of skilled and
knowledgeable staff in institutions
and in regional and District teams
have been a catalyst for many
developments within the life of the
Church in recent years. The role of
tutors in developing supervision
courses for Superintendents, the
role of District Development Enablers
in the Regrouping for Mission:
Mapping a Way Forward process,
and the role of a range of officers in
delivering EDEV pathways are three
examples of activities which have
made a real impact within Circuits
and Local Churches. Expert staff
have been able to operate effectively
to enable connexional priorities
to be interpreted contextually and
appropriately within Local Churches,
Circuits and Districts.
99 As the funding packages for some
of these posts come to an end, it is
important to seek a secure footing for
some of these activities in the future.
As this is done, it will be important
to include, alongside paid staff, the
great contribution made by volunteers
within the life of the Church. In this
area, as in many others, building
up effective teams of lay, ordained,
salaried and volunteer individuals will
be crucial for future effectiveness and
sustainability.
Learning in communities
100 An important opportunity arises
from the hunger discerned across
the Connexion for more of the work
of learning and formation to take
place within a greater number of
communities. Such an appetite is,
in many ways, a natural corollary of
an emphasis on the Church as a
discipleship movement shaped for
mission. This invites the widest range
of people to receive and share in the
ministry of God, and invites the whole
Connexion, in turn, to prioritise the
wherewithal to equip and resource
this vibrant activity.
101 The result is a need for resources
to be deployed to sustain or
create a wide range of formational
communities. In addition to the
collegiate communities at institutions,
colleges and centres, and in addition
to the ad hoc gathered communities
required for certain training events,
there is a widely-discerned desire
to nurture and sustain formational
communities within the Circuit,
District or region, and as web-based
virtual communities. Our tradition
of small groups, classes and bands
gives us rich examples of what
it means to have and to support
formational communities within the
life of Circuits and Local Churches.
102 A vision for a wider and more
dispersed group of learners chimes
with the desires expressed both
by student ministers and also by
institutions, colleges and centres
676 Conference Agenda 2012