 In the days leading up to taking up her post, Revd Dr. Barbara Glasson, President Designate of Conference, set out to walk the 130 miles by canal towpath, from her home base in West Yorkshire, to the Methodist Conference in Birmingham. With a small group of supporters from her West Yorkshire District she started from Aspley Basin, Huddersfield, aiming to arrive two days before Conference started, at which moment she would start her year of office as President of the Methodist Conference.
The aims of the walk reflect the story she wants to get over during this presidential year:
- Because the earth matters and we want to reduce our carbon footprint
- Because the Methodist Church matters and we want to tell people where we are going
- Because we want to raise the profile of the Methodist Church
- Because life matters and we want to listen better and share our stories
- Because faith matters and needs to be seen
Read more: President Designate goes walkabout
 By November 2018, there were seventeen Street Pastors, including three new ones who, having been out as observers, began to be officially part of the team going out on patrol.
It’s encouraging to see different groups coming together to help our Community. Rumba restaurant, now established on Swan Bank, provides a good stop in order to connect with people.
New volunteers are always welcome, especially for Street Pastors. If you’d like to volunteer for the Street Pastors please contact Revd Andrew Lindley and for the Prayer Pastors please contact Anne Argent.
Read more: Congleton Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors
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A Circuit Together event was held in February 2018 at Trinity Methodist Church, to celebrate and give thanks for seven Local Preachers with a total of 275 years service.
The event started in the afternoon with a workshop led by Rachel Lampard, past Vice-President of the Methodist Church and who is currently Team Leader of the Joint Public Issues Team, churches working for peace and justice. see http://www.jointpublicissues.org.uk
The workshop was entitled “Politics is too important to be left to politicians and political parties! What can WE do?”. Rachel was engaging and enlightening and the workshop was enjoyed and appreciated by over 40 participants.
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Read more: 275 Years of Preaching!
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JPIT have produced a briefing note in which they identify specific steps we can all take to reduce the carbon footprint.
Personal Steps, e.g. specific green energy providers you can swap to;
Church Steps, e.g.score your church overall, such as its management of buildings and land;
National Steps, e.g. join the campaign to get your MP to be a 'Hero for Zero';
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David Bradwell, refugee co-ordinator for 'Scottish Churches Action for Refugees', is visiting Lampedusa, and Italian Island near the north African coast, to take part in a Protestant churches' conference on borders and to attend a service commemorating the thousands of people drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach safety. He has sent his reflections....
I've seen more police than I would have expected for a community of just a few thousand inhabitants. They are a reminder that tiny Lampedusa is now at the vortex of global forces driving displacement.
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| Before I came to Lampedusa, the conference had been taking place in Sicily for the previous few days. For many centuries Sicily has been a border place where cultures and people meet – Etruscans, Greeks, Normans, Spanish and many others. The border was not a barrier but a place of exchange: a meeting place where diversity is an everyday reality of life. Today the border has become a barrier, a wall which has a purpose to keep people out. |
Read more: Lampedusa: Borders and Refugees
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