Each year, Edgehill Theological College, Belfast, hosts a refresher course for ministers. This year's course takes place in the college on September 5th and 6th. The speaker will be Dr Raymond Gillespie, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. His approach will be somewhat different from most historians, as he discusses the theme "Methodism in 2020 - Taking the past into the Future".
The Edgehill Christian Education Centre, the college's lay training department, has announced its programme for the year 2000/2001. A new development this year is that an access course, which gives mature students a qualification for entry into the theology degree courses in Queen's University, of which Edgehill is a recognised college, will provide entry into the religious studies course at Stranmillis University College. The usual day and evening courses are offered on subjects such as Old Testament, New Testament, the early church, world mission, worship and art and writing in relation to faith.
September sees the resumption of various activities in the local churches after the holidays, and within the next 10 days, the Synods of the eight districts in which the Irish Methodist Church is administered will meet. At the Conference in June, the title of the presiding ministers was changed. No longer called chairmen, they are now district superintendents. The new term has no sexist connotation and ends the debate as to whether the officer in question should be addressed as chairman, chairperson or chair.
The Methodist Women's Association is holding its annual Fellowship Weekend from September 15th to 17th. Women from all parts of Ireland will gather at the conference centre, Glenada, Newcastle, Co Down. The group will be addressed by Mrs Margaret Parker of Cheadlehulme, who is a past vice-president of the British Methodist Conference. The theme will be "Small is Beautiful". Many of the MWA groups throughout the country work with small numbers and Mrs Parker will offer practical help and advice in maximising the potential of such groups.
The president of the church, the Rev Kenneth Todd, will be preaching tomorrow morning at Glengormley in north Belfast and in the evening will visit the Newtownabbey Mission. He will attend the Edgehill refresher course on September 5th. On Sunday next, he will be at Castlederg in the morning and Portadown in the evening. On September 15th he will be the guest at a reception by the Youghal Urban District Council. The Youghal Methodist Church is part of the Cork Circuit, of which Mr Todd is minister at present.
A recent conference of preaching evangelists at Amsterdam brought together over 10,000 evangelists from over 200 nations, including Methodists from at least 32 countries.
The Rev Philip Clarke of Cliff College, writing in the Methodist Recorder, commented that several of the speakers dealt with issues related to culture and postmodernism, and expressed the view that many of those present would have wished to see this aspect further developed.