Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

57. The Fruitful Field Project
169 Given the desire to bias the allocation
of resources towards the support of
expert staff, the Committee is able
to recommend the establishment of
the equivalent of ten regional teams
made up of five full-time posts each.
The Committee recognises the likelihood
that it will not be proportionate
to maintain a regional staff team of
five full-time posts within every region,
should some of the regions cover
smaller areas or a lower number of
members than others. The Committee
is particularly conscious of the
need to provide appropriate provision
for Scotland and Wales and for
the Island Districts, and of the need
to explore the best type of regional
configuration to support activities in
these Districts and Synods. In the
case of the Scotland and Shetland
Districts and the Cymru and Wales
Synods, for example, it is realistic
to ask smaller national teams to
serve each respective nation, while
acknowledging that such teams would
need sufficient capacity to support
the distinctive cultural, linguistic and
geographical needs of the Methodist
people in those nations (and that,
within Wales, this will need to include
Welsh-language provision). However,
even within smaller teams, it is anticipated
that responsibility for each of
the five core areas described above
will be allocated to individuals within
the team. The Committee therefore
wishes to recommend the establishment
of a regionally-deployed staff
cohort of fifty posts, which are likely
to be coordinated within approximately
ten to thirteen regional teams.
170 Further work during 2012/2013 is
needed to establish the boundaries
of the regions to be served by the
teams. The Committee has been
conscious during its deliberations
about regionally-deployed staff posts
of the work being undertaken by
the Methodist Council’s “larger than
Circuit” working party. As noted in
the Methodist Council’s report to
the Conference, the working party
was established by the Council to
oversee the processes by which
the Regrouping for Mission initiative
can be developed at the level of the
Districts. The working party’s paper to
the Methodist Council built on work
already being undertaken across
the Connexion, and discussed the
history and constitutional position of
Districts and District Chairs, as well
as highlighting a number of recent
developments which have had an
effect on the responsibilities and
functions of both Districts and District
Chairs. The paper also outlined the
processes which the working party
will now adopt to enable proposals to
be brought to the 2013 Conference.
171 The Committee has welcomed
the opportunity to feed into the
deliberations of the working party,
and is grateful that the working
party has identified the work of The
Fruitful Field as being an important
part of its considerations as it
prepares its proposals for the 2013
Conference. The Committee’s hope
is that the working party’s proposals
to the 2013 Conference will assist
the establishment of the regions
712 Conference Agenda 2012