The Methodist Church of Ireland is a self-governing body, governed by the conference which meets each year. However, it values its place in the worldwide family of Methodist churches. The World Methodist Council (WMC) is a consultative body, but highly valued as a means of bringing together representatives of these churches for consultation on matters of international evangelistic and ethical importance.
To the smaller churches, and with a family of about 55,000 people Irish Methodism does fall into this category, it is of considerable value to experience the larger dimension. This happens every five years when the WMC organises a conference which gathers 3,000 representatives from 108 countries, representing a community of several millions. It is in the exchange of ideas and discussions of issues which affect other churches and, more immediately, that the representative of any one church can begin to see their own situation in a truer perspective.
Because the world council was largely dominated by men, another organisation developed beside it - the World Federation of Methodist Women. Methodist Church is now in a developing union with another denomination, but did not wish to lose the international Methodist contact This body changed its name to the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women. It also organises a quinquennial conference, a week before the WMC, and in the same country.
Women now play a full role in the WMC, with the present chairperson of the executive committee being Dr Frances Alguire.
The two conferences are meeting this month in England at Loughborough, and the WMC at Brighton early in August. Irish delegations will be attending both.
Morning service on RTE will be broadcast tomorrow morning from the Methodist church in Killarney. It will be led by Mrs Jean Ritchie and her husband Dr Edgar Ritchie. Since Dr Ritchie's retirement from practice in Cork they have been working as lay pastors to the small congregation which meets in this church each Sunday.
The president of the church, the Rev Harold Good, will be travelling to Brighton to attend the meeting of the World Methodist Conference.