One of John Wesley’s decisive innovations was to institute an order of lay preachers, both men and women, within the Methodist Church.
Today, seven out of ten Methodist services are led by local preachers who are thoroughly trained and tested before being fully accredited to a circuit.
A dozen members of Chilwell Road Methodist Church are active local preachers in the Nottingham Trent Valley Circuit. They come from very different backgrounds and have widely varied experiences of the world to offer to the church, as these autobiographical profiles show.
At a Circuit Service on Sunday May 13 2007, Dr Stephen Travis received a certificate marking 40 years of service as a preacher. It was awarded by the Connexional LP Office and presented by the Circuit LP Secretary.
June 24 is celebrated as Local Preachers Sunday in the circuit. Twenty-three of the 26 preaching services in our 16 churches will be taken by local preachers, of which ten (43%) will be led by Chilwell Road preachers.
Ian Wragg
Ivor Moon
Peter Bush
Stephen Travis
John Patrick
Colin Firbank
Ray Heasley
Glenda Taylor
Martin Weir
Malcolm Wilson
Janet Patrick
|