President and Vice-President elected and inducted for 2023/2024
The Revd Gill Newton has been elected and inducted as President of the Methodist Conference. The induction took place on Saturday 24 June at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole, during the Methodist Conference.
Gill is a lifelong Methodist, raised in Cornwall, with experience in circuit ministry and has served as the Sheffield District Chair since 2014. Gill chairs the Ministries Committee overseeing the development of the church’s ministry in many varied contexts. She also serves on the Strategy and Resources Committee and on the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes Board and has previously chaired the Ministerial Candidates and Probationers Oversight Committee and served as Chair of the Chairs.
In her Conference address, Gill reflected on her theme for the year, calling on all Methodists to look for ’Hidden Treasures’. She said: “It’s my hope that during this year I will discover hidden treasures as I spend time with the Methodist people across the Connexion and that I might encourage others to discover the treasure that God has hidden for them.”
The Vice-President, Deacon Kerry Scarlett, was also elected and inducted today. Ms Scarlett has been a Deacon since 2008, having previously worked for the Methodist Church in Ireland’s Children and Youth Department. Kerry is part of the Learning Network, aligned to the Birmingham District. As a Deacon, she has a passion for justice, community organising, and seeking to enable and amplify the voices of others. She founded Adavu, which supports survivors of human trafficking and was involved in the development of the West Midlands Anti-Slavery Network for practitioners. Kerry has served the church in a number of ways including circuit ministry, theological education, the Learning Network, a variety of committees including the Candidates Committee and has contributed to and worked on the Candidating Review report and Walking With Micah
In her address to the Conference on the shared Presidential theme of ‘Hidden Treasures’, Kerry called for: “The Methodist Church in Britain, to re-discover our treasures, both old and new. We need to seek the courage to understand who we are, as a church, and what God is calling us to be. We are also called to seek outwards, beyond the walls of our established churches, to the communities around us, where God is also at work, amongst God’s beloved people there. To find out the glimmers of where God is, in the unexpected people and places where transformation is taking place.”
The role of President of the Methodist Conference is reserved for presbyters and that of Vice-President for lay people or deacons. During his lifetime John Wesley chaired the Methodist Conference but after his death, the Conference determined to elect a President annually.