Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

57. The Fruitful Field Project
for a greater proportion of formal
learning activity to take place in local
contexts. There will always be a place
for institutions, colleges and centres
configured as stable communities
of faith and formation. However,
qualitative evidence also suggests a
growing desire within the Methodist
Church for the development of
distributive learning programmes,
where learning for lay and ordained
people has, as its primary locus, the
context in which ministry is being
exercised and in which disciples are
being formed.
Local Preachers and Worship Leaders – a
case study
103 Patterns of resourcing and ministry
across the Connexion are changing,
and the support offered to emerging
expressions of ministry must be
effective and apposite. However,
there is an equal need to provide
support of the highest quality for
established ministries within the life
of the Church. Local Preachers and
Worship Leaders make an immense
contribution to the life of the
Connexion. It is hard to overestimate
the strategic importance of these
ministries as a crucial public face
of the Methodist Church, and as
catalysts for the discipleship and
mission of the whole people of
God. This sub-section looks at the
particular challenges of the Church’s
existing arrangements for forming and
training those called to preach and
lead worship.
104 The existing pathways for Local
Preachers and Worship Leaders are
outlined above in paragraphs 52-53.
A proportion of people report a very
positive experience of the current
mainstream courses: Faith & Worship
and the Worship Leaders Training
Pack. However, there is widespread
acknowledgement that existing
pathways for forming and training
Local Preachers and Worship Leaders
need significant revision. This is
seen in the number of Memorials to
Conference addressing this area in
recent years, as well as in the results
of several consultation processes
which have informed this section of
the report.
105 Some concerns focus on the
accessibility of the pathways which
are offered. This is particularly
the case for pathways for forming
and training Local Preachers.
Although many people report that
studying Faith & Worship was a good
experience, at least a comparable
number say that Faith & Worship has
been a significant barrier or hurdle.
105.1 Much of this may be to do with
learning styles that do not match
the way in which Faith & Worship
is delivered and assessed. Some
tutors manage to do excellent work
in adapting delivery and supporting
those on note and on trial in their
care. However, there is evidence that
considerable numbers of people
who sense a call to preach find Faith
& Worship an unrealistically timeconsuming
process. It was originally
Conference Agenda 2012 677