Front row , from left : Editor , N . Raddon , A . Trotta , R . Morris , I . Nimmo-Smith , Back row : S . Cooper , T . Macquiban , R . Newbury , A . Morris , H . Anderson .
conversations to minister grace . Conferencing is one of the means of grace , the works of piety , that John Wesley encouraged his followers to pursue in their quest for the Holy Living started in the Oxford days of the Holy Club . From the beginning John Wesley invited his helpers to meet with him annually to shape this Methodist missional renewal movement which became a Church . Its heart was in small groups of mutual discipline and accountability in this crucible of holy living and practice of a sanctified life . And in that the role of women and lay people was significant from the beginning , though somewhat differently valued by different branches of Methodism over the years .
Being connexional , of the different aspects of local , regional and national identities interlocking and relating closely to each other , is fundamental to Methodism , British and worldwide , though expressed in widely differing ways . Being connexional entails a sense of belonging , mutuality and interdependence . And right from the beginning part of this has been the stories and expressions of lived experience which form part of the discernment process of what it means to be Church in its ministry and mission . But inevitably , just as in the time of Jesus and the squabbles amongst the disciples as to who should be at his right hand , there are tensions between a desire for unity and a need to express the variety of gifts that the apostle Paul highlights in his letter to the Corinthians . Yes , there is a need to celebrate diversity while holding to the unity of the one , holy , catholic and apostolic Church which , in the
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