There is a long tradition of field preaching in the Methodist Church. Originally John Wesley and his preachers adopted the practice in order to reach the working classes who, in the 18th century, would not go to church as they lacked respectable clothes and felt unwelcome.
The term "field preaching" was used even when the venue was not literally a field. It might have been a market place, a crossroads, or anywhere else that a crowd could be gathered.
Today such meetings are held in fields, and are important gatherings of Methodists and their friends, partly to honour a tradition, and partly as a social event, though primarily, of course, for worship. Several of them are held annually throughout the country. Some of these have a very long succession, while others are quite modern revivals of traditions allowed to lapse earlier in the century.
The first of these has already passed this year, having taken place last Sunday at Meenies, near Drimoleague in Co Cork. Tomorrow afternoon there is another near the Battlehill Church in the Portadown circuit. The Derry anvil Church in the same circuit has a field meeting on Sunday, May 24th, the anniversary of John Wesley's conversion experience in 1738. On the same afternoon there is a meeting at Sidaire near Ballinamallard in Co Fermanagh, on the site where John Wesley preached more than once. With the Armstrong's of Sidaire he found ease and comfort after a stormy reception in Enniskillen one year, when his coach was pelted with stones.
All of these meetings are in the afternoon, but the Adare field meeting is unique in more than one respect, the first being the fact that it takes place in the morning. This year the date is June 2nd. It is unique also in being the only one held in the middle of a golf course. The Adare Manor Golf Club kindly closes play that morning to allow the Methodist people and their friends to maintain an unbroken tradition which goes back to 1819. It is held beside a stone which marks the place where Mr Wesley preached to the people of Adare in or about 1756.
On the afternoon of June 28th this year's Borrisokane field meeting will be held in north Tipperary. It rotates around three local farms. The same afternoon will see the Methodists of south Donegal gathering at Doorin Rock for the first of three field meetings in that county. On July 5th the field meeting at Feaugh, near New town butler in Co Fermanagh is planned to take place in the old fort. August 2nd is the date of the second field meeting in Co Donegal, this time at Loughrospoint. On the same afternoon there is another at Ballinabeck, near Tandragee in Co Armagh. Co Donegal closes the sequence with a meting at the Moat near Dunkineely on August 9th.
If field meetings have a long history in Methodism, church family weekends are quite new. They provide an opportunity for members of a particular church to spend a few days together in worship, reflection and recreational activity. This weekend members of the Carnalea Methodist Church, near Bangor, in Co Down, are holding their fifth such event at Castlewellan conference centre.
Tomorrow the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Dr Norman Taggart, will be preaching in the morning at the Ballynahinch Church in Co Down. In the evening he will be at the Mossley Church in Newtownabbey. On Sunday, May 24th, he will visit the Donaghadee Church in the morning, and Hydepark, Newtownabbey in the evening.
On Saturday, May 23rd, the annual half-day pilgrimage of the Wesley Historical Society will visit Newtownards and will be given a tour of the historic sites by the Rev Robin Roddie.
On Wednesday at Lambeth the Archbishop of Canterbury will confer the degree of Doctor of Divinity on the Rev Brian Beck. Lambeth degrees are not honorary, and are conferred in recognition of major contributions to the life of the church generally. During his years as secretary of the British Methodist Conference and as its president, Mr Beck was a regular visitor to Ireland.