Methodist General Secretary to step down in 2015

The Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the MethodistChurch and Secretary of the Methodist Conference today announcedhis intention to step down from his current post in August2015.

Dr Atkins shared this news at a meeting of the Methodist Counciltoday in Leamington Spa. His full statement follows:

"I will be leaving my current post as Secretary of the Conferenceand General Secretary at the end of the next Connexional year,2014-15. I have requested the permission of the President of theConference to this effect, and she has kindly agreed.  By thattime, God willing, I will have served in this appointment for sevenyears, and will have reached the age of 60, enabling me to offer ahandful of years to a further appointment of some sort prior toretirement. My decision has been made over a period of time, in aspirit of prayerful discernment and arising from conversations witha small number of people, not least my wife, Helen.

"Many months of hard work still lie ahead and the Council can beassured that I intend to continue to undertake my responsibilitiesas best I can and with integrity, vigour and passion: indeed theremay well now be an even greater sense of urgency about my work inrelation to those issues about which I believe progress andtransformation is critical to the life of our Connexion at thepresent time. This work will continue to be enabled by my closecolleagues who are among the finest and hardworking people it hasbeen my pleasure to know, and to whom the Connexion and thisCouncil should rightly be proud and care for.

"It has been - and will remain for some time yet - a deepprivilege to serve Christ, among the people called Methodists andbeyond, through this significant appointment.

"Thank you."

"There will be an appropriate time for tribute and reflection,"added Connexional Secretary Doug Swanney, "but for now I hope thatpeople will join with us in praying for Martyn and Helen as theytake the next steps on their journey of discipleship. We are hugelygrateful for Martyn's faithful service to the Church and lookforward to seeing what more he will bring in the final year of hiswork in this role."

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1. A selection of high resolution photos of Martyn is availableonline here.
2. The Methodist Council is meeting at Leamington Spa, 5-7 April.The Council papers are available online here.