In this challenging moment in our nation and Methodist’s history and mission, let us thank God for the election of the Revd Dr Roger Walton and Ms Rachel Lampard , President and Vice-President of the Conference as they take over on 2 July 2016 from Rev Steve Wild and Dr Jill Barber, current President and Vice President. Roger who is currently the Chair of the West Yorkshire Methodist District and the Methodist representative to the General Synod of the Church of England was the Director of the Open Learning Centre for ten years, and the Director of the Wesley Study Centre in Durham for eleven years. Rachel is the leader of the Joint Public Issues Team, which has for many years been at the forefront of campaigns about UK poverty, nuclear weapons and climate change. She has been a Commissioner with the Gambling Commission since 2006 and is an active member of Winchester Road Methodist church in Walthamstow.
Let us give thanks for their elections and their willingness to accept the mission work, and pray that the gifts of reconciliation and discernment will be abundantly upon them. Let us ask God to bless their ministries with good health, shelter their families and bring comfort in the midst of difficult and lonely discernment and decisions.
Let us pray for our Roger and Rachel for grace to facilitate renewal, mutual cooperation and encourage the missional integrations that are waiting to be born. Let us pray that the transition from Steve Wild to Roger Walton would bring renewal, fresh skills and anointing to the role of Conference President and Vice President, including strategic planning and evangelism.
Let us ask God to anoint Roger and Rachel with knowledge for the immense challenges of the nation and the world in which Methodist Church in Britain seeks to evangelise and partner in the service of God’s mission to heal and reconcile, especially in such a time as this when our nation is divided in many ways. Let us pray for Roger and Rachel for effective engagement in the social and political realms that ‘complements the gospel imperative to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, heal the sick, visit the prisoner and free the captive.’ Let us pray for God’s grace upon them to take some risks and move beyond the status quo so that Methodism seen in the future in much clearer light than today.
O Lord, in the power of the Holy Spirit, use the pastoral, teaching, prophetic, and administrative instincts of Roger and Rachel as blessing and source of renewal, holiness, and growth in the Methodist Church in Britain.
O Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.
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