METHODIST CHURCH IN IRELAND Minutes of Conference & Directory 2021 Contents MINUTES Ministerial Session 3 List of Stations 8 Ministries: Policies and Procedures 16 Representative Session 21 Connexional Team 23 Authorisations 24 Ministries Team (BMLD) 25 Church Development Board 28 Home Missions 29 Property Board 31 Prison & Healthcare Chaplaincy 33 World Mission Partnership 34 World Development & Relief 36 MWI 37 Youth & Children’s Team (IMYC) 40 Child Care Society 44 Ministry of Healing 45 Council on Social Responsibility 46 Faith & Order Committee 47 1 General Committee 48 Safeguarding 52 Governance Board 53 Stipends & Allowances 55 Ministers' Retirement Funds 59 Ministers' Medical Fund 65 Ministers' Children's Fund 68 The Trustees 70 Connexional Finance 72 Comprehensive Assessment 73 Inter-Church Relations Committee 78 Covenant Council 79 Board of Education 80 Colleges 82 City Missions 85 Eastwell Residential Home 87 Methodist Historical Society 88 Connexional Calendar 90 DIRECTORY Mission Partners 167 Chaplains 168 Ordained Ministers and Probationers 173 Ministers’ Widows and Widowers 195 Circuit Lay Workers 198 Local Preachers 201 Lay Officers of Boards etc 210 Church Departments 215 2 MINUTES of the TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY SECOND (Two Hundred and Fortieth Annual) CONFERENCE of the people called Methodists in the Connexion established by THE LATE REV JOHN WESLEY, AM ON WEDNESDAY 9 JUNE 2021 MINISTERIAL SESSION REV THOMAS R McKNIGHT, BA, MDiv, JD, President of the Conference and President of the Methodist Church in Ireland REV HEATHER M E MORRIS, BSc, BD, PhD, Secretary of the Conference REV ALAN G WARDLOW, BA, Senior Assistant Secretary REV COLIN D GRACIE, BA, MA, MDiv, Editorial Secretary REV RUTH E PATTERSON, BTh, Journal Secretary REV KENNETH CONNOR, FdA, BA, Letter Writer 3 1. MINISTERS NOW RECEIVED INTO FULL CONNEXION WITH THE CONFERENCE Samuel R Campbell Nigel E Gill (PT) 2. PROBATIONERS REMAINING ON TRIAL Daphne Hanna W. Michael Jones (NS) who have travelled two years Susan Gallagher who has travelled one year 3. RECEIVED AS PROBATIONERS Tanita Lee Leah McKibben Peter K Morris (PT) Philip W J Patterson 4. TRANSFEREE PROBATIONER Edem Dzunu 4. APPOINTED TO EDGEHILL COLLEGE Jackie McNair Richard Wright (NS) for a second year Fadzanayi Jongoro Andrew Topley for a first year 5. ANNUAL ENQUIRY CONCERNING THE CHARACTER AND EFFICIENCY OF MINISTERS AND PROBATIONERS They were examined one by one. 6. MINISTERS RETIRING Ruth Craig William A Davison M Louise Donald Maureen Hassard Richard C Johnston Edward Kirwan Thomas R McKnight William D Mullally 4 7. MINISTERS OF OTHER CONFERENCES SERVING IN IRELAND R Andrew Robinson, BTh, BA (Methodist Church of Southern Africa) Janet Rossall (Methodist Church in Britain) Marlene Skuce (Deacon) (Methodist Church in Britain) Tawanda Sungai, BA, BD (Methodist Church in Zimbabwe) Robert Thomas (Methodist Church in Britain) 8. PERMISSION TO SERVE WITH OTHER CONFERENCES John W Purdy, BD (Methodist Church in Britain) 9. CEASED TO BE RECOGNISED AS MINISTERS AMONGST US Their names are recorded in the Journal of the Conference. 5 Obituaries Wilfred Denis Bambrick, BSc, BD, who was born in Belfast on 2nd April 1931. The second child of Sydney and Marie Bambrick, he joined the Youth Fellowship at Knock Methodist Church and committed his life to Christ under the preaching of the Rev James Wisheart. While studying at Queen’s University he felt a call to ordained ministry. Following training in Edgehill Theological College he was stationed in Greencastle. He met Marian Mullen while helping at a summer camp run by the North Belfast Mission. They were married in 1959 and had four children, Christine, Michael, Jane and Sara. They subsequently served in Dungannon, Arklow, Sutton, Ghana, Lynn Memorial, Holywood and Bloomfield. He served as Superintendent of Colportage and Open Air Work, as General Secretary of the Methodist Missionary Society (Ireland) and ran many popular annual missionary conferences. He was one of the visionaries behind the Castlewellan Holiday Week. Always a pioneer, he organised mission teams for Brazil, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Uganda and other places which changed the lives of countless young people. He would often hide his keen intellect under an irrepressible sense of humour. Whether in the fairs and markets of Ireland or in his work in retirement as a prison chaplain, the gospel he preached always sought to reach out to those on the fringes of the church. He was a committed ecumenist and during the ‘troubles’ he tirelessly sought reconciliation between segregated communities. After his retirement in 1996, he lived in Holywood. As his health deteriorated, Marian and his children lovingly cared for him at home. He died on 6th February 2021 in the ninetieth year of his age and the sixty-fourth year of his ministry. His body was laid to rest in Redburn Cemetery, Holywood, Co. Down. William Irwin Hamilton was born in Belfast on 5th June 1929, the son of William and Sarah Hamilton. He received his education at Belfast Technical High School and Shaftsbury House, Belfast. It was in his home and at Woodvale Methodist Church, where he was a keen member of the Boys’ Brigade, that he was nurtured in the Christian faith. In his late teens he felt called to ordained ministry and was appointed as a probationer to Lisnaskea and then to Edgehill College. Following training, he served in Dundonald and then Cregagh, where he met Winifred McCausland. They were married in 1958 and were blessed with four children: Lynne, Lesley, Jeremy and Julian. His ministry was marked by wisdom, kindness and a deep pastoral concern for his congregations. These fine qualities were experienced by the societies he served at Braniel, Carlow, Portadown, Sydenham, Knock, Hamilton Road, Bangor and Joanmount. He believed that the Good News was to be proclaimed by both Word, and deed. Thus, his preaching emphasised an intolerance of injustice, prejudice and sectarianism. He was committed 6 to building bridges within communities and caring for the needs of the elderly, which was reflected in the naming of a new retirement home “Hamilton House” in Knock, in recognition of his work. He was elected President of the Methodist Church in Ireland in 1987. It was during this year that one of the many tragic events of the “Troubles” took place: the Enniskillen bombing. He paid many visits to Enniskillen to offer sympathy as well as condemnation of the perpetrators. The establishment of the Stipend Augmentation Fund, which addressed an unfairness for a small group of retired ministers and widows, owed much to his concern and initiative. In retirement, he was an enthusiastic member of the Retired Ministers’ Fellowship and the Golfing Union and he retained a life-long interest in agricultural issues. After a long illness, he died on 5th August 2020, in the ninety-second year of his life and the sixty-sixth year of his ministry. His body was cremated at Roselawn Crematorium, Belfast (Rev Hamilton’s Obituary was included in the October 2020 Conference Agenda and Minutes of Conference, however as his death occurred in the 2020/21 Connexional year it is included here for completeness) 7 Methodist Church in Ireland Stations of Ordained Ministers and Probationers JUNE 2021 SOUTHERN DISTRICT District Superintendent: Andrew J Dougherty 1. Dublin South City (Centenary Leeson Park, Dublin Korean Church, Rathgar and Tallaght), Andrew G Kingston, Yongnam Park. Retired Ministers: John Parkin, Vanessa G Wyse Jackson. 2. Dublin Central Mission (Abbey Street), Laurence A M Graham, Tawanda Sungai (Blanchardstown and Lucan) 3. Dublin North, Ivor N Owens. 4. Dublin South (Dundrum), Stephen R Taylor. WESLEY COLLEGE, Nigel D Mackey, Chaplain. Julian I Hamilton works as part-time Chaplain to Trinity College, Dublin. 5. Dublin, Sandymount Christ Church (United Presbyterian and Methodist), Katherine P Meyer (Presbyterian Minister). The Superintendent is Laurence A M Graham. 6. South East Leinster, David H Nixon, Mark S Forsyth, Katherine M Kehoe. (The Superintendent of Urban Junction is Andrew J Dougherty) SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT: Andrew J Dougherty. Retired Ministers: R Donaldson Rodgers, Desmond C Bain, Paul Kingston (C), Eric Duncan, E Rosemary Lindsay. 7. Kilkenny and Carlow, Susan Gallagher, who works under the direction of Andrew R Robinson who is Superintendent of the Circuit 8. Waterford, Sahr J Yambasu, PRESIDENT OF THE METHODIST CHURCH IN IRELAND 9. Portlaoise, ____________. The Superintendent is Andrew J Dougherty 10. North Tipperary, Steven G Foster (who shall act as Chaplain to Gurteen College). Retired Minister: Thomas M Kingston. 8 11. Galway and Ballinasloe (United Methodist and Presbyterian), Helen Freeburn (Presbyterian Minister). The Superintendent is Steven G Foster. 12. Birr, Athlone and Tullamore, Nigel E Gill (PT), who works under the direction of Andrew J Dougherty, who is Superintendent of the Circuit. 13. Cork South and Kerry, R Andrew Robinson, S Alison Gallagher, ___________. Retired Minister: Geraldine H W Gracie 14. West Cork, Gregory J Alexander, Denis M Maguire. 15. Limerick, Christ Church (United Presbyterian and Methodist), Stephen Hancock, The Superintendent is Andrew J Dougherty. Victoria M Lynch has permission to continue a course of study while serving for the present with the Church of Ireland in a part-time capacity. 16. Adare and Ballingrane, Ruth H Watt (PT). W Michael Jones (NS) works under the direction of the District Superintendent. Philip R Meadows has permission to serve with Inspire and Asbury Theological Seminary. William D Mullally, Retired Minister, resides in England R Andrew Robinson is a minister of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Tawanda Sungai is a minister of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. Sarah E A Lowe, a minister of the Methodist Church in Britain, resides in the Dublin Central Mission Circuit. Irene Morrow, a Supernumerary Minister of the Methodist Church in Britain, resides in the Birr, Athlone and Tullamore Circuit. Deacon Gordon Wallace, a Supernumerary Minister of the Methodist Church in Britain, resides in the West Cork Circuit.