The Irish Methodist Conference will meet from Wednesday, June 15th, to Sunday, June 19th. Conference 2016 will be held in Thomas Street Methodist Church, Portadown.
The Conference is the final authority in the Church in all matters of doctrine, worship, discipline and order, and has been since the early beginnings of the Methodist Church.
The first Conference in Ireland was called by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, in 1752 and was held in Limerick.
With a few exceptions, the Irish Conference had been chaired by the successor of John Wesley, the President of the Methodist Church in England, until recently. In the past number of years the president of the Irish Methodist Church has chaired the Conference.
Each Conference is made up of lay and ordained people. This year there are 130 ministers and 130 lay people, male and female; for the Methodist Church in Ireland has ordained women since 1978, and women may serve in all positions in the church.
Decisions will be made on a variety of issues about the life and governance of the church, as well as deciding by election the president elect and the lay leader elect of the church.
This year the incoming President of the Church is Rev William D Mullally. A native of Zimbabwe, he served with Scripture Union and the Methodist Church in South Africa, before moving to Ireland in 2000. Since then he has ministered in west Cork, Lucan, Tallaght and latterly, Cork.
Following his installation at this coming Conference, Rev Mullally will chair the Conference and other committees throughout the year, as well as visiting Methodist congregations all over the island and representing the church in the public sphere.
His theme for the year will challenge the church to fulfil the biblical call to “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans12:2) and ask what God is calling the church to “be” and “do” in this day and age.
The incoming lay leader is Dr Fergus O'Ferrall, a native of Abbeyderg, Kenagh, Co Longford. Dr O'Ferrall holds a doctorate in Irish history from Trinity College Dublin. Amongst his publications are Catholic Emancipation, Daniel O'Connell and the Birth of Irish Democracy 1820-1830 (Gill & Macmillan, 1985) a short biography of Daniel O'Connell (Gill & Macmillan, 1981 and 1998) and articles in various journals including Studies, An Irish Quarterly and the Dublin Review of Books.
Dr O'Ferrall has held the following positions: Adelaide Professor in Health Policy, Trinity College, Dublin; Director of the Adelaide Hospital Society; Director of the National Bible Society of Ireland; Chief Executive of Macra na Feirme, President of the National Youth Council of Ireland; Chairman of The Wheel, the co-ordinating body of the Irish voluntary sector. He is currently a governor of The Irish Times newspaper.
Recently, too, he has been asked to co-chair a new initiative by the Carnegie Trust and The Wheel to stimulate a national People’s Conversation directed towards producing a New Vision of Citizenship in Ireland being launched this year.