The Methodist Church met in conference in Leeds this year, and some of us travelled across the Pennines to be present with Rev. Catharine Hughes at her ordination, the final stage in her training to become a minister. It was a wonderful occasion and we were delighted to celebrate with Catharine and her family.
There were other good things about this year’s Conference, and to my mind, the best was the Conference’s wholehearted commitment to work towards becoming a justice-seeking church. In her presidential address, our new President Rev.Helen Cameron said this:
‘I seek to share with you this year, a vision of the Church and the world transformed, not by might or power but by love and justice, mercy and compassion, truth and grace.’ Later in her address, she described justice as ‘what love looks like in public’.
The Manchester Methodists have attended to justice ever since John Wesley preached in Oldham Street. We were there in Ancoats when it was the first industrial suburb in the world. We supported city children with a holiday home in north Wales, and we ran a food depot, a home for men, another for older women – the list goes on. The President’s invitation to share in God’s call to world-changing justice sits well with our past.
What about our present situation? We have some amazing justice-centred projects and partnerships held within the life of the circuit. We make a difference, and need to keep asking ourselves how we could make a bigger difference. And yet I notice above all that in serving our communities, we ourselves are enriched through new relationships. We grow in faith and hope and love as we recognise God at work in our neighbours. Our work for justice goes hand in hand with our mission as Jesus’ disciples in this city, where we seek, serve and share Christ.
