Regulations, Discipline and Government of The
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REGULATIONS, DISCIPLINE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE METHODIST CHURCH IN IRELAND TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 The Methodist Church 2 Membership 3 Means of Grace 4 Ministry 5 Ordained Ministry 5A The Office and Duty of an Ordained Minister 5B Ordained Ministry Committee 5C Candidacy 5D Training, Probation, and Ordination 5E Formation for Ministry Oversight Committee 5F Itinerancy 5G Modes of Ordained Ministry 5H Leave from Ordained Ministry 5I Special Committee 5J Resignation and Reinstatement 5K Retirement and Death 5L Disciplinary Proceedings 5M Ministerial Supply in Emergencies 6 Lay Ministry 6A Lay Ministry Committee 6B Local Preachers 6C Disciplinary Proceedings for Local Preachers 6D Lay Presidency at the Lord’s Supper 6E Lay Employment 7 The Conference 8 Connexional and Other Committees 9 The General Committee and the Boards 10 Districts 11 Circuit Organisation 12 Local Officers 13 Ministers’ Residences 1 14 Circuit and Connexional Finance 15 Home Mission Department 16 Church Development Board 17 World Mission Partnership 18 Methodist Women in Ireland 19 World Development and Relief 20 Methodist Youth and Children’s Department 21 Board of Education 22 Wesley College of Dublin 23 Methodist College 24 Gurteen College 25 Edgehill Theological College 26 Ministerial Training Fund 27 Committee of Faith and Order 28 The Trustees of the Methodist Church in Ireland 29 Church Property 30 Stipends and Allowances 31 Ministers’ Retirement Schemes 32 Ministers’ Medical Fund 33 Funds for Ministers’ Children 34 Council on Social Responsibility 35 Child Care Society 36 Childhaven and Craigmore 37 Orphan Education Fund 38 Eastwell Residential Home 39 Ministry of Healing 40 Prison and Healthcare Chaplaincy Committee 41 Connexional Communications 42 Committee for Inter-Church Relations 2 REGULATIONS, DISCIPLINE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE METHODIST CHURCH IN IRELAND CHAPTER 1 THE METHODIST CHURCH 1.01. "The Church of God which He purchased with His own blood"1 has been or- dained and established by Him for calling people into fellowship with Himself and with one another, according to His eternal purpose in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord. Within this Church the Methodist Church holds a true place. For the Church of Christ exists as a visible community wherever two or three are gathered together in His Name and in obedience to His Spirit. It is the company of His disciples, consisting of such as confess Him to be the Son of God, accept Him as their Saviour and Lord, love one another and unite in the fellowship of those who serve the coming of His King- dom on earth. In the providence of God the Methodist Church has been raised up to spread scriptural holiness through the land by the proclamation of the evangelical faith and experience. It preaches the gospel of "a free, full, present salvation"2 for everyone who repents and believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This gospel is the of- fer to the most unworthy of a new heart and the power to live a new life. The Methodist Church declares that all believers in Christ may know their sins for- given, live day by day with the peace of God in their souls and, rejoicing with "joy un- speakable and full of glory,"3 may be enriched with all the privileges that belong to the children of God. It proclaims also the possibility, here and now, of Christians be- ing made perfect in love through the obedience of faith. Membership in the Methodist Church is not conditional upon the acceptance of any theological tests, nor dependent upon any traditional authority or ecclesiastical rit- ual. All persons are welcomed into membership who seek salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who evidence the same in life and conduct and service, and who seek fellowship with Christ Himself through fellowship with His people. After adequate training, those who are approved by the Church Council are admitted to the full privileges and obligations of membership, and, at the earliest opportunity, 1 Acts 20:28 AV 2 MHB 316 v.3 3 1 Peter 1:8 AV 3 are recognised at a service conducted by the minister in the presence of the congre- gation; the observance of the Lord's Supper being associated with this service. In the case of any persons about to be received into membership who have not been bap- tised, the Sacrament of Baptism shall be administered either before or in connection with this service. Those who take upon themselves the duties and privileges of mem- bership of the Methodist Church have their names entered upon a Class Book and are placed under the care of a Class Leader. They are also expected, as far as they are able, to contribute to the funds of the Church and to engage in some form of Chris- tian service. The Methodist Church makes due provision for the regular and ordered Service of Holy Communion. It is the duty and privilege of all its members to avail themselves of every opportunity to partake reverently and in faith of the Lord's Supper. For in His Sacraments the presence of Christ, through His Spirit, is realised in response to the obedient faith of His people. As the law of love is the law of Christ, the spirit and practice of Christian love is the supreme test of membership in the Methodist Church and an indispensable condition of abiding faithfully therein. Upon the same foundation of Christian love rest the so- cial obligations and the sacrificial service for the Kingdom of God to which those who confess Christ commit themselves, after the example of their Lord and Master. As union in Christian fellowship is the natural expression of Christian love, the distinc- tive Methodist institutions, and especially the Covenant Service, are based upon the assumption that those who love the Lord Jesus will become helpers one of another. Fellowship is, therefore, incumbent upon all the members of the Church. None may be counted as discharged from this debt of love, save those who are debarred, or physically unable to attend at the means of grace, and to these the Church owes spe- cial and tender care. Methodism in Ireland 1.02 Methodism was introduced into Ireland in 1747. It met with formidable diffi- culties but the lives and labours of its preachers and leaders overcame persecution and prejudice, until in every part of the land its Divine mission was manifested by the multitudes turned from darkness to light, the quickening influence exerted on other Churches, and the raising of the standard of public morals. Throughout the entire period of its history hundreds of its members annually found a home in other lands, where many of them were the earliest standard bearers of the Cross. Its numbers and influence in world-wide Methodism have been so great that the Methodist Church in Ireland is one of the least results of the Methodist Revival in this land. 4 In the years 1797-8 a controversy concerning the course taken by the Conference, in regard to the administration of the Sacraments and as to lay representation in the District Meetings and the Conference, resulted in a small secession which became united with the English Methodist New Connexion in 1799, and was the nucleus of the mission established by that Church in Ireland in the year 1825. Another and a more serious division took place in the years 1816-18, when the Conference permit- ted its ministers to administer the Sacraments, and the Primitive Wesleyan Method- ist Society was then formed. Happily both these divisions have now been healed. In the year 1878 the Wesleyan Methodist Society and the Primitive Wesleyan Method- ist Society united as the Methodist Church on terms made possible by an Act of Par- liament obtained by the latter body in 1871. In the year 1904 the Methodist New Connexion successfully negotiated the transfer of its stations in Ireland to the Meth- odist Church, while in 1910 the few societies in Ireland belonging to the English Prim- itive Methodist Church were also transferred to the care of the Irish Methodist Con- ference. General Rules of the Society of the People called Methodists 1.03 No code of rules can comprehend all the obligations of membership, but "The Rules of the Society of the People called Methodists," drawn up by John and Charles Wesley in 1743, still enshrine the spirit of fellowship and universal goodwill to which members of the Methodist Church acknowledge allegiance in the social, civic and economic conditions of the present day. These Rules, published in the year 1743, under the title, "The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies in London, Bristol, Kingswood, Newcastle-upon- Tyne, etc." are as follows: - 1. In the latter end of the year 1739 eight or ten persons came to me in London, who appeared to be deeply convinced of sin, and earnestly groaning for redemption. They desired (as did two or three more the next day) that I would spend some time with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the wrath to come, which they saw continually hanging over their heads. That we might have more time for this great work, I appointed a day when they might all come together; which, from thenceforward, they did every week, viz., on Thursday, in the evening. To these, and as many more as desired to join with them (for their number increased daily), I gave those advices from time to time which I judged most needful for them; and we always concluded our meetings with prayer suited to their several necessities. 2. This was the rise of the United Society, first in London, and then in other places.