This blog aims to connect Methodists who are involved in ecumenical work locally, in counties and Districts, nationally and internationally. The aim is to help those who are working locally in Britain to appreciate something of the huge, complex and impressive context in which they are working. If local events are recorded, it will also help national and international organisations follow what is happening in the British Methodist Church.
So, by following this blog, you will ...
- find out what is happening, wherever Methodists are involved in ecumenical work
- find out about significant ecumenical events
- pick up ideas and inspiration for ecumenical activities
- ask questions and offer answers
- share problems and solutions
- read announcements of relevant decisions made by Council or Conference and changes to policy
Obviously it will not be about Methodists only, the blog will be an opportunity to explore what's going on under the banner of Ecumenism wherever it is happening and of interest to Methodists.
Who will contribute?
There's an upper limit of 100 contributors and so this blog is open to any Methodist who has news and ideas to share. In addition anyone will be able to share comments on the posts.
Our hope is we will have reports of local events through to international conferences, so that everyone has an opportunity to learn about what's going on.
If you would like to follow this blog, go back to the home page and click on the 'follow' button in the top right. If you have not followed a blog before, you will need to join Google. If you use Google as your home page, the blog should show up there, displaying the last three posts. This means you will be alerted when there are new posts on the blog. If you can't work out how to do this, please contact me (see below) and I may be able to help you.
Don't forget to comment on posts. Comments are, amongst other things, an opportunity to ask questions and suggest ideas for future posts. Comments are moderated and so will not appear on the site immediately. Alternatively, send ideas for posts to me by email (address below).
If you would like to write posts for this blog, please write to Chris Sissons. Please include your name, your District, any relevant office you hold and a brief account of what you would like to contribute to the blog (if you're not a British Methodist, please provide something similar). I will also need your email address. Everyone who contributes as an author will be asked to follow the same guidelines as members of the Connexional Team. This is not an unreasonable constraint. Our main concern is that confidentiality is maintained and no-one is subjected to personal attacks. The guidelines can be found here. More details can be found in a pdf document here. If you could confirm you have read and accept these guidelines, that would be helpful.
I will in time create a 'Authors' page with brief details of those who write for the blog. I will use this information (but not the email address) to start that page. You will be able to request amendments to it. Please let me know if you would rather not appear on the page.
This is a new initiative and if a team of writers develops, this could be a useful resource for the Methodist Church. Please remember posts need to be respectful of other people's work. If you want to be critical of something, try a comment (I'm moderating them) or you could run a draft post past me first. I want to encourage all contributions but hope we can develop a supportive atmosphere, even where there is controversy.
