Just over a year ago the hall at Antrim Methodist church was destroyed by fire, and the various organisations making use of it had to find other venues for the meetings and activities. Just 12 months later, the hall has been reopened and rededicated by the President of the church, the Rev Dr Kenneth Wilson. Once again the various groups in the Antrim circuit have a convenient premises for their activities.
Writing in the Methodist Recorder last week, the Rev David Mullan, ministerial treasurer of the Church's Property Board, has said that in the last few years the Methodist Church in Ireland has spent more money on the building, alteration and refurbishment of property than ever before. This has been motivated not by the wish to have impressive property, but by the need to have property suited to the mission of the church. In this respect, the redevelopment of churches and halls can be an effective measure of the life of the church.
Mr Mullan was writing in an Irish supplement published by the Methodist Recorder, a weekly publication of the British Methodist Church. The supplement was designed to inform our sister church in Britain of what is happening in the Irish church, particularly in relation to the new millennium. The articles reflect the rising spirit of optimism and confidence in the church in many places throughout Ireland.
Small congregations facing the high cost of redeveloping their buildings to meet new challenges have in many instances found the courage to begin through the promise of substantial aid, either in the form of a simple grant, or of a "£1-for£1" grant matching money raised in other ways. For Methodist churches in this island as well as elsewhere the main source of such grants has been what is simply known to members as the Rank Trust.
The Joseph Rank Benevolent Trust, to give its full title, is an amalgamation of a number of charities established between 1918 and 1942 by Mr Joseph Rank, the founder of the flour milling business. A lifelong Methodist, his charitable foundations were mostly directed to the support of Methodist churches and institutions.
His son, Lord Rank, of the film and photocopying organisations, emulated his father in the establishment of further charitable trusts. The Methodist Church in Ireland continues to be very grateful to the Rank family for their help in so many of its building projects.
The Methodist Churches in Ireland and Sri Lanka have enjoyed a most friendly relationship over many years, and several Irish ministers have served in Sri Lanka, among them the Rev Dr Norman Taggart. During his year as President of the Methodist Church in Ireland he initiated an appeal for financial help to assist the Sri Lankan church in the work of reconciliation and reconstruction necessitated by the civil conflict there.
In two years the Irish church has raised £22,000 in this gesture of sympathy and concern. Among the personal contributors were friends from other churches including Archbishop Brady and Archbishop Eames of Armagh.
At least two Irish Methodist ministers are planning to lead parties on tour in Europe next year to visit the Passion Play at Oberammergau. One of these is the Rev David Cooper of Knock, in Belfast, and the other is Rev Ivan McElhinney of Mountpottinger, Belfast.
The President of the Church, the Rev Dr Kenneth Wilson, will visit the Gorey circuit, Co Wexford tomorrow. On Wednesday he will visit the Junior Ministers' Convention, which is meeting in Brookeborough, in Co Fermanagh. This convention, which meets at a different venue each year, brings together ministers in the first 10 years of their ministry for discussion of theological and social questions. On Sunday, November 7th, Dr Wilson will preach at Bray Methodist Church, in the morning, and at Dun Laoghaire in the evening.
Also on November 7th, RTE Radio 1 will broadcast morning worship from Dundrum Methodist Church in Dublin. It will be led by the minister, the Rev Thomas Kingston, who is also chairman of the Dublin District.
On Saturday, November 6th, at Stranmillis College, Belfast, ECONI is holding a conference on "Christian Citizenship in Times of Change". There will be seminars on education, justice, equality, partnership, political structures and health. The conference begins at 9.30 a.m. and concludes before 5 p.m.
The Irish Church and Parish Exhibition takes place in the RDS, Dublin, on November 9th and 10th and includes information and material relating to many aspects of church life and work.