What We Do
This page gives an explanation of the running of the District and of how members of the team work.
District Synod
Synod is the place where policy is set. It provides a link between the wider Methodist Church and local churches and circuits (groups of churches). There are two meetings of Synod; one for all representatives and one meeting only for presbyters.
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Presbyteral Synod
This is a meeting for all Methodist Presbyters. It meets once a year, usually in March.
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Representative Synod
Representative Synod meets twice a year, on the third Saturday after Easter Day and on the second Saturday in September.
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District Leadership Team
This is a meeting for the main officers of the District and is used as a thinking space and sounding board as vision is formed and actions considered. It reports to the District Policy Committee.
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District Policy Committee
Members of the District Policy Committee are the legal trustees for the District. The Committee considers and approves policy matters for the District and receives reports from the various District projects.
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District Resourcing for Mission Group
This group oversees financial matters, grant applications and the Methodist consents process and reports to the District Policy Committee.
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Any queries about the committee structures within the District can be addressed to the District Administrator or the Synod Secretary who will be pleased to help.
How We Work
Decisions in the District are made in a number of different meetings.
In recent years the District has sought to prioritise the planting of new congregations or the re-seeding of congregations in churches where the former congregation has ceased to worship.
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We aim to encourage creative approaches to developing new forms of church. The distinction between church plants and Fresh Expressions of church is sometimes blurred and we seek to encourage any attempt at forming a new Christian community for a particular local context.
Church Planting
Local churches, Circuits and Districts find themselves holding a variety of personal data including details of members and employees. The information accessible from the Data Protection link below explains the obligations imposed on Managing Trustees in relation to this data under Data Protection legislation. The guidance helps Managing Trustees to identify what personal data is, how to hold it securely and for what purposes that personal data can be used. This includes Circuit and District directories.
Managing Trustees will find it helpful to refer to the following documents and guidance in the GDPR toolkit.
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TMCP (Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes) is the Data Controller for the Methodist Church and there is a wealth of information on its website.
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The Privacy Notice for all Local Churches, Circuits and Districts within the Methodist Church in Great Britain can be found here.
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Our District GDPR Champion is our District Administrator who can be contacted at chester.stoke@btconnect.com.
Data Protection
EDI
The Church's history of its journey towards inclusivity is, and always has been, central to its understanding of what it means to be disciples witnessing to and sharing God's love.
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The 2017 Methodist Conference passed a resolution that confessed the sin of racism, and in seeking to confess that sin, recognised the considerable amount of work still required by the Connexion in order to achieve greater equality, diversity and inclusion.
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This develops the long, active and pioneering tradition of engaging with EDI issues which effectively started in 1928 when work on gender justice was taken to the Wesleyan Methodist Conference that year.
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The report from the EDI Committee recognised that even though the membership of the Church is declining, its diversity is increasing. In the London District, for example, it is estimated that more than 66% of members had their places of family origin outside the UK.
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The Conference agreed to urge all churches, Circuits, Districts and Connexional bodies to engage with the EDI Toolkit which looks at the law, theological underpinning, age, class and economic justice, disability and impairment, gender, race, sexual orientation, same sex couples and their families, poverty, being made in God's image, domestic abuse and most recently the definition and guidance about homophobia, which was adopted by the 2016 Conference.
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The toolkit is designed to support the discipleship and mission of the Methodist Church and enrich the life of the Church in seeking to equip Methodists to go beyond legal compliance, being based on the principle that all humankind is made in God's image, and therefore worthy of dignity and respect.
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It's also about the gospel values and behaviours that Christians want to share with the wider communities in which they live, work and serve.
To find out more, please visit the EDI section of the Methodist Church website: EDI toolkit modules - The Methodist Church.
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The EDI Officer for the Chester & Stoke-on-Trent Methodist District is Revd Julie Hassall.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
For documents giving guidance on lay employment, please click the buttons below.
Any church or circuit which is considering employing a lay worker should in the first instance inform the Lay Employment Secretary, email: layemploymentsecretary@gmail.com.
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The essential information for recruitment and employment can be found on the Methodist Church website's Lay Employment Resource section.
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Additionally some matters not covered fully on the Connexional website can be found in the North West & Mann Region's practice guide for Supporting Lay Employment which is the attached Word document on this web page.
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Also on this page are the Authorisation to Recruit form,
Notes to Aid Completion of the T&Cs or Contract and
Help Sheet for Applications for a Lay Worker Post.
There are also documents regarding Lay Salaries and
Annual Leave.
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To download a copy of the Line Managers' Handbook
click the image:
Lay Employment
For documents giving guidance on safeguarding, please click the buttons below.
The District Safeguarding Officer, Thomas Simm, can be contacted by phoning:
07305 141 501 or emailing safeguarding@chestokemethodists.com.
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As Christians we believe that each person is made in the image of God and is of infinite worth and value. We are charged to love and care for each other. This is particularly true where the most vulnerable members of our community are concerned whether they are children, young people or adults.
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Safeguarding is about creating a safe environment where all can flourish and know themselves to be of worth. We are committed to doing that. Each church, group or activity will have a Safeguarding policy and seek to work with best practice.​