Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

57. The Fruitful Field Project
for enabling and developing the
values, purposes, goals and direction
of the Network; with responsibility
also for liaising with the governance
structure of the Network, the
Ministries Committee and other
senior colleagues in the Connexional
Team; with overall responsibility for
coordinating the work of the other
seven directors, and for leading a
collaborative coordinating staff team.
179 The coordinating staff team brings
together those who have coordinating
responsibilities both in terms of
pathways, opportunities, programmes
and resources, and in terms of staff
and centre management, coordination
and development. The purpose
and goals of the Network are such
that the Committee believes that a
coordinating team of this size and
nature is required. Furthermore, the
Committee believes that collaboration
within the coordinating team is
essential. Such collaboration is
vital if the necessary synergy is to
be achieved across the Network;
it also models a collaborative way
of working which needs to be a
mark of the staff team as a whole.
Vital to the success and efficiency
of the Network is the ability of the
staff team to work cohesively as a
single team and to work jointly with
a number of volunteers and those
who lead and serve Districts, Circuits,
Local Churches and connexional
committees.
The work of the Discipleship & Ministries
Cluster of the Connexional Team
180 As the Committee developed the
concept of one staff team, serving the
whole Connexion and based regionally
and in centres, the Committee was
also able to reflect on the relationship
between this proposed staff team
and the Connexional Team.
181 The relationship between the
outcomes of The Fruitful Field and
the work of the Connexional Team
had been raised during some
consultation submissions, in direct
and indirect ways, including in
feedback from the deliberations of
the Methodist Council. Most directly,
some consultation submissions
advocated that certain functions
of the Connexional Team should
be included within the remit of the
project as they were very closely
related to work undertaken within
institutions or by staff posts
which were within the remit of the
project. More indirectly, several
consultation submissions raised
concerns about the Connexional
Team and connexionalism in the
context of centralisation. A District’s
submission noted the importance
of “accessibility – [it is] important
to ensure a real understanding
of regional need so that we don’t
fall into the centralisation trap.” A
Circuit leadership team’s submission
noted that “an integrated network
for delivery of training should be an
advantage so long as it does not lead
to centralisation which precludes
Conference Agenda 2012 717