The Beckly lectures

The Beckly Social Services Lecture takes place every year, as one of the fringe events at the Methodist Conference.

John Henry Beckly, a lay Wesleyan Methodist, founded the trust which is responsible for the lectures in 1926.

According to the original charter of the Beckly Trust "the function of the Lectureship shall be to set forth the social implications of Christianity and to further the development of a Christian sociology and the expressions of the Christian attitude in reference to social, industrial, economic and international subjects."

2018 - Gillian Shephard,The Baroness Shephard of Northwold 
Social Mobility

2017 - His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the UK
Religious Freedom: A God-given right, not a privilege 

2016 - Shami Chakrabati, Former Director of Liberty
On Liberty: Conscience and Belief

2015 - Andrew Caplen, President of the Law Society 
Magna Carta, the rule of law and access to justice in an age of austerity: a concern for the Church?

2014 - Philip Graf CBE
Gambling: Sin, Vice or Legitimate Leisure Activity?

2013 - MPs Sarah Teather, John Glen, Stella Creasy
Challenges and Choices: do we have faith in the future of politics?

2012 - Richard Murphy
The Courage to Pay: tax, faith, honesty and business 

2011 - Nick Spencer, Research Director, Theos - the public theology think tank
"What has the Bible ever done for us? History, Politics and the English Bible" 

2010 - Dame Anne Owers, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons
The Other Side of the Wall: what do we need to learn?

2009 - Chris Moorhouse
Shall I cast the first stone?  A Christian reflection on the financial crisis

2008 - Rt Hon Hilary Armstrong MP
Building the New Jersusalem - a still unfinished task?

2007 - Malcolm Rae OBE FCRN
Valuing Mental Health - A matter of concern, hope and inspiration

2006 - Elish Angiolini (Joint Lecture with the Scottish Churches' Parliamentary Office)
Justice and Religion - Converging or parallel paths?

2005 -  Rt Hon the Lord Archer of Sandwell QC
John Wesley's Parish - Politics and theology in a globalised world

2004 - Ann Morisy
Without power and at risk of being overwhelmed - a new strategy for mission

2003 - Alan Bookbinder
Religion's Public Space - religion, the BBC and beyond

2002 - Professor A F Markham
The Ethics of Gene Therapy

2001 - Professor Philip Dale
GM Crops - Motivations and Challenges

2000 - Martin Bell MP 
The New World Disorder - the political reflections of a war zone thug

An incomplete list of previous lecturers and their topics are shown below

1999 - Mr Paul Spray
International Economics Department, DFID
Jubilee 2050 - World debt and world poverty

1998 - Mr Russell Sparkes
Overseas Fund Manager, Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church
Through a Glass Darkly - Thoughts on the Ethics of Investment

1997 - The Revd Dr Leslie Griffiths and the Revd John Kennedy
Dialogue: Self-interest and the common good - aspects of a political theology for Europe

1996 - Professor Alan Deacon BSc(Soc) PhD
Dean of Economics, Social Studies and Law in the University of Leeds
Should we worry about the character of the poor?

1995 - Professor Phyllida Parsloe PhD
Professor of Social Work in the University of Bristol
Ethical Issues in Care in the Community

1994 - Mr Peter Ludlow
Director of the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels
The Churches in the European Union

1993 - The Revd Dr David Hardy
Human Genetic Engineering - Good or Evil?

1992 - The Revd Brian Duckworth MA
Faith in Social Work - Social responsibility in the decade of evangelism

1991 - Dr Stuart Mews
Lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University
Governments and Gospels

1990 - The Revd Ward A Jones
Partners in Caring? Church and medicine in the quest for good health care

1989 - Adrian Spellar
Secretary of the Housing Centre Trust
A Safe Foundation?

1988 - David L Wigley MA MSc
Director of Methodist Homes for the Aged

1987 - Alan Beith MP
Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed
To serve the present age - Christians and politics today

1986 - The Revd Rowland Goodwin
Industrial Chaplain, Manchester and Stockport Methodist District
Social Responsibility and Technological Change

1985 - Pat Welch
Former Vice-President of the Methodist Conference
In the midst…at work: a study of the roles necessary to a successful working group and their reflection in Jesus

1984 - Giles Ecclestone
Former Secretary of the Board for Social Responsibility of the General Synod of the Church of England
Choosing Life - Christian Spirituality in a Nuclear Society

1983 - The Revd J David Bridge
Puzzling Reflections in a Mirror - Cinema and Society in post-war Britain

1982 - The Revd Elliott Kendall
Former Director of the Community and Race Relations Unit of the British Council of Churches Christianity and Race

1981 - The Revd Dr George Lovell
Director of AVEC, a service agency for church and community work
Human and religious factors in church and community work

1980 - The Revd John H Atkinson
People and Medicine

1979 - Raymond T Clarke
Secretary of the Personal Social Services Council and Vice-Chairman of the Division of Community Affairs of the British Council of Churches
Lifespan and the family framework

1978 - W Eric Pigott
Editor of the Methodist Recorder
Armament or Freedom?

1977 - The Recvd Ronald C Gibbins BSc
The Undeserving Poor

1976 - Douglas Tilbe OBE JP
Director of Shelter, former Director of Community and Race Relations Unit of the British Council of Churches
Aspects of Christian Social Responsibility

1975 - The Revd Leslie J M Timmins
Director of the Churches Television Centre
Truth to tell - the churches and broadcasting

1974 - The Revd G Thompson Brake
Methodist Attitudes to Temperance

1973 - Rt Hon Reginald E Prentice MP
Labour MP for East Ham North, Former Minister for Overseas Development
World Poverty - what must be done in the 1970s

1972 - Bishop John A T Robinson
Bishop of Woolwich, Dean of Chapel, Trinity College, Cambridge
The place of law in the field of sex

1971 - The Revd William Gowland
Principal, Luton Industrial College

1970 - The Revd Alan Booth
Director of Christian Aid for the World Council of Churches, former British Secretary of the Council of Churches Commission on International Affairs
Christian Nonconformity in Contemporary World Affairs

1969 - The Revd John Lawson
Associate Professor in Church History at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
The Sovereign Lord of Nations

1968 - Baroness Stocks
Educationist, suffragette, broadcaster and writer
Where is Liberty?

1967 - Lord Brockway
Former Labour MP for Eton and Slough, Co-founder, War on Want and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
This shrinking, explosive world

1966 - Lord Caradon
Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, son of Isaac Foot (1948 Beckly Lecturer)

1965 - Sir Ronald Gould MA LLD
General Secretary, National Union of Teachers
The new pattern of education

1964 - The Revd Dr Norman Goodall
Associate Secretary, World Council of Churches
Christian mission and social ferment

1963 - The Revd Douglas Hubery
The emancipation of youth

1962 - The Revd Kenneth Greet
Secretary of the Christian Citizenship Department, the Methodist Church
The mutual society

1961 - Sir Philip Morris KCMG CBE MA LLB
Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University
Christianity in a changing world

1960 - Professor C A Coulson FRS
Theoretical chemist and author
Science, technology and the Chrisitian

1959 - T George Thomas MP
Labour MP for Cardiff West, Vice-President-Designate of the Methodist Conference
The Christian Heritage in Politics

1958 - Rt Hon James Griffiths MP
Labour MP for Llanelli, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, former Secretary of State for the Colonies
Africa - Yesterday and Today

1957 - The Revd Edward Rogers MA BD
God's Business

1956 - Professor John Traill Christie
Principal of Jesus College, Oxford
Education for Freedom

1955 - Sir John Russell
Ex-President of the British Association
The Changing Impact of Science on Modern Life

1954 - Mr Claud Mullins
Marriage Failures and Children

1953 - Professor Herbert Butterfield
Historian and philosopher of history, Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge Christianity

Diplomacy and War

1952 - Professor T Jessop
Christian Social Ethics

1951 - Sir George Schuster
Human Relations in Industry

1950 - The Revd E Benson MA
Gambling - the modern situation

1949 - The Revd Henry Carter
The Refugee Problem Today

1948 - Rt Hon Isaac Foot
Former Vice-President of the Methodist Conference and Former President of the Liberal Party
John Wesley and his New Testament

1947 - The Revd Dr Maldwyn Edwards
Our Increasing Purpose

1946 - The Revd Dr W W Sweet
Professor of Church History, University of Chicago
The American Churches - An interpretation

1945 - Dr W G S Adams
Warden of All Souls' College, Oxford
The Creative Sources of the Good Community

1944 - The Revd William F Lofthouse MA BD
The Family and the State

1943 - The Most Reverend Dr William Temple
Archbishop of Canterbury
Evangelism and Social Witness

1942 - The Revd E C Urwin MA BD
Religion in a Planned Society

1941 - T Edmund Harvey MP
Quaker and Deputy Warden of Toynbee Hall
The Christian Church and the Prisoner in English Experience

1940 - The Revd W W Simpson MA
Jews and Christians Today

1939 - Dr William Paton
Secretary of the International Missionary Council
The White Man's Burden

1938 - Unknown

1937 - Sir Charles Grant Robertson
Religion and the Totalitarian State

1936 - Unknown

1935 - Herbert G Wood
Communism, Christian and Marxist

1934 - Unknown

1933 - Unknown

1932 - Unknown

1931 Christopher Addison (1st Viscount Addison)
Religion and Politics

1930 - W R Inge
The Social Teaching of the Church

1929 - Unknown

1928 - Unknown

1927 - Eleanor Florence Rathbone
The ethic and economics of family endowment

1926 - Sir Josiah Stamp
The Christian Ethic as an Economic Factor