In recent days the change in the numbers of ministers serving The United Church and the Winchester Methodist Circuit has been having a significant effect on the demands placed on Local Preachers and Worship Leaders. The reduction in the number of ministers has meant that not only are more services being led by Local Preachers, but it’s also more difficult to plan the number of Communion Services that our congregations have come to expect. As you will possibly be aware for the last two ‘church years’ we have been able to obtain special dispensation for me to conduct Communion Services in our circuit for this very reason.

It is worth clarifying the difference between a Local Preacher and a Worship Leader - Local Preachers are members of the church who have undertaken training and have been accredited by the Methodist Connexion to lead worship and preach in all the churches of a circuit. Worship Leaders are members of a church who are called and trained to lead and support the worship in their own local church.

The Methodist Church has of course always depended very heavily on Local Preachers and now also Worship Leaders to lead its worship Sunday by Sunday – you may find these statistics to be of interest:

There are some 10,000 Local Preachers in the whole of the UK, 367 active Local Preachers in the Southampton district and 11 active Local Preachers in our own Winchester Circuit. We far outnumber the ordained ministry! We are now also served by eight Worship Leaders in our circuit.

My task as the ‘Southampton Methodist District Local Preacher and Worship Leader enabler’ (what a mouthful that is) is to try to ensure that Local Preachers and Worship Leaders are supported throughout the district. This involves travelling to meet with and encourage them in their own areas, as well as arranging training courses and dealing with the occasional problem.

I remember a discussion with a member of a congregation in my previous circuit in Hertford – they were quite surprised to hear that Local Preachers undergo a rigorous period of training. They thought it was something I just DID! The ‘Faith & Worship’ course to train Local Preachers normally takes two to three years to complete and covers a wide range of subjects, and is assessed and marked both by local and Connexional tutors. Many preachers have to fit all this into their ‘spare’ time and around their family life.

We do well also to remember the time that Local Preachers invest in their training and then in the preparation of a service – I reckon it takes me about six hours of working/thinking/praying to put together a service. Normally candidates for the Methodist ministry are expected to become Local Preachers first and then proceed to ordination training.

The course for Worship Leaders is less demanding but nevertheless very thorough.

A lot of work is going on ecumenically to promote the joint training of Anglican Lay Readers and Local Preachers and Juli Wills (the Southampton District Training Officer) and I are actively involved in working with the C of E and other denominations to develop a shared training programme.

So at this difficult time for The United Church, I invite us all to give our Local Preachers and Worship Leaders the recognition and support that they both deserve and need. I am sure our ‘preachers’ will be very busy as we approach the season of Advent and Christmas … Blessings to you all. Tom Belshaw