The Methodist Church in Holland is the youngest Methodist Church in Europe. It was formed just 12 years ago by people who migrated from the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curaco, St Eustacia, Aruba and St Maarten, and remains a circuit of the Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas. The church has congregations at Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Zoetermeer. An important step in the development of the church took place recently with the dedication of its first three presbyters.
A recent article and correspondence in the Methodist Recorder has highlighted the need for "sacred space". As people are becoming more pressurised by the pace of modern living, and not only in urban areas, they are looking for space, both in place and in time, where they can be quiet and reflect. It is not easy to find. It has been estimated that nearly three-quarters of people visiting churches in Britain are not seeing them as historic buildings, but as places of quiet, where they can pray.
The need in Ireland is almost certainly no less. What deters many churches from opening during the day is the need for somebody to be present as a deterrent to vandalism.
It is, however, something that should be given more consideration.
The Junior Ministers' Convention met this week in Newtownards under the chairmanship of the Rev Alan Wardlow. The members are ministers within the first 10 years of their ministry. The Rev David Martin of Cheadle Hulme spoke on the role of the minister as sharing the brokenness and pain of those to whom he or she ministers, both receiving and giving encouragement.
Public services were addressed by Mr Martin, and by the Revs Michael Gregory and Alan Wardlow.
The Methodist Women's Association of the Dublin District hold their Autumn Reflection in the Litton Hall of Wesley House, Leeson Park, on Saturday afternoon next, November 17th. It begins at 3 p.m. The Reflection will be led by the All-Ireland president of MWA, Mrs Margaret Taggart.
The President of the Church, the Rev Harold Good, will tomorrow preach in the Methodist church at Waterford. Mr Good was minister there in the 1960s, and his wife, Mrs Clodagh Good, is a native of the city.
On Tuesday next the President and the Archbishop of Armagh will attend a special meeting of the Joint Theological Working Party which will be held at the Irish School of Ecumenics.
On Sunday, November 18th, the president will preach at Dungannon and Cookstown Methodist Churches, and in the afternoon will attend a celebration in St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, of the 40th Anniversary of the Samaritans in Northern Ireland.
The Dublin Central Mission flag days take place in Artane on November 16th and 17th and elsewhere in the city on November 22nd, 23rd and 24th.