Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

57. The Fruitful Field Project
and “overwhelmingly pointed to the
appreciation in the Districts for the
work of TDOs, for two main reasons:
(1) the capacity to do vital work that
having a TDO provides and (2) the
way in which the TDOs strengthen a
sense of connexionalism within the
Church.” However the report also concluded
“that the current TDO scheme
is unnecessarily complex in its management
structure.”
64 The conclusion of a number of
reports to the 2007 Conference was
that the training and development
functions previously held together
within the role of the TDOs should be
split into two distinct roles, that of the
District Development Enabler and that
of the Training Officer.
65 The District Development Enabler role
was:
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to facilitate and organise the
District’s implementation of
initiatives arising from the
Priorities for the Methodist
Church
to facilitate changes within
the District in response to the
changing context of its mission
and ministry, including support
for the Regrouping for Mission:
Mapping a Way Forward process
to encourage the implementation
of these initiatives across
the District and within the
Circuits, in particular the use of
resources – people, property, and
finance.
66 Each English District received funding
for a half-time District Development
Enabler with separate arrangements
being made for Scotland, Wales and
the Island Districts. Twenty-one District
Development Enablers were appointed
in England, nine of whom had
been TDOs.
67 The District Development Enabler
posts are funded as a fixed-term
project, finishing at the end of
2012/2013.
68 The creation of the role of Training
Officer was closely tied to the
simultaneous creation, by the 2007
Conference, of Regional Training
Networks. The report of the Training
Institutions Review Group to the
2007 Conference led to the creation
of five Regional Training Networks
in England and one each in Scotland
and Wales. 13 The Networks were
to:
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assess the training needs of the
region
deliberate on the distribution of
connexional and other resources
to meet those needs across the
network
maintain the best possible
training systems for the region
13 The five Regional Training Networks (RTNs) in England are: North-West RTN (districts 6, 9, 11, 15, 18, 19 and
21); the Yorkshire and North-East RTN (13, 16, 20, 25, 27 and 29); Midlands RTN (5, 17, 22, 23 and 28);
South and South-West RTN (7, 10, 12, 24 and 26); South-East RTN (14, 34, 35 and 36)
Conference Agenda 2012 665