Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

57. The Fruitful Field Project
maintain a separate institutional
infrastructure.
CODEC
212 The Committee recommends that
the objectives which the Methodist
Church currently achieves through its
sponsorship of CODEC (the Centre for
Biblical Literacy and Communication)
are achieved within and through the
Network. The Church’s sponsorship of
CODEC is a welcome manifestation of
the Church’s commitment to support
scholarship, research and innovation.
As noted in paragraphs 125-126,
166.2, 174.2 and 178.7 above and
264 below, capacity will be created
and sustained within and through
the Network to undertake academic
study projects, research projects,
and innovative and creative thinking.
The Church’s sponsorship of CODEC
is also a welcome manifestation
of the Church’s commitment to
support the development of the
means for apt and effective witness
and presence in our contemporary
society, using contemporary means.
As noted in paragraphs 124, 164.4,
173.2 and 178.6 above, capacity
will be created and sustained within
and through the Network to focus
innovatively on such needs. Again,
coordinating such activities within
the Network will permit welcome
cross-fertilisation between these and
other activities. The Committee has
given consideration to the impact
of such a change on CODEC and St
John’s College, and the Ministries
Committee is confident that its
recommendation is sound and
reasonable. Further discussions
about the implementation of this
recommendation will be able to
be taken forward by the Methodist
Council’s representatives on CODEC’s
Management Committee; however,
the Committee wishes here to record
its thanks to St John’s College for its
ready partnership in this context.
MIC
213 The Committee recommends that
the Methodist Church should, in an
organised and structured manner,
move to designate Methodist
International Centre as an institution
which generates an income to
support the wider activities of the
Network.
214 The charitable activity currently
undertaken at MIC – the provision
of student and educational
accommodation – has its roots
in the 1950s, when a committee
was maintained by the Conference
(the Committee for the Care of
Overseas Students) in order to
oversee the provision of affordable
and secure accommodation for
students, and especially students
from overseas or from non-urban
backgrounds, studying in London
and other major conurbations. Over
the years countless students have
acknowledged their gratitude for the
support they have received in the
Christian environments supported
by the Committee and the Church.
However, over recent decades, the
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