No urge to merge (From Bournemouth Echo)

No urge to merge

8:00am Saturday 20th February 2010 in

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THE Rev David Gamble, president of the Methodist Conference, generated headlines last week when he indicated that Methodists were ready to “cease having a separate existence” and merge with Anglicans.

But his remarks have puzzled at least one prominent Methodist in Bournemouth, who thought the prospect of a merger “unlikely”.

Mr Gamble was reported to have told the General Synod: “We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission but for the sake of mission.”

During the last two decades, there has indeed been growing anxiety among Methodists over falling membership.

We are up for change but not a change to merge with the Church of England

But the Rev Bob McKinley from Bournemouth Methodist Circuit told me that Methodists in Dorset were “upbeat” about growing congregations.

“There is a definite sense that we’ve turned the corner,” he said.

“I can’t understand why the Rev David Gamble would have made these comments,” he added. “But he was talking off the top of his head and not on behalf of the Methodist Church, so I think the media got things out of proportion. “There has been talk about union with the Church of England for the last 30 years but I think that’s unlikely.”

In recent years Bournemouth has seen several Methodist church buildings close, but Bob explained that money is now being spent not on bricks and mortar but on people – by employing lay workers to engage with the local community.

“We are up for change but not a change to merge with the Church of England!” he said.

“We have wasted decades in thinking about structural changes and now we need to concentrate on how to better relate to the local community.”