At their annual conference, in Wesley Chapel, Ardfallen, Cork, Irish Methodists yesterday installed two new presidents. In the evening the Rev Dr Kenneth A. Wilson was installed as president of the Methodist Church in Ireland.
His father's work as a civil servant required the family to move quite frequently, and in his childhood Dr Wilson became familiar with several areas in Northern Ireland.
His first appointment as a Methodist minister brought him into the Republic, serving as junior minister in the Dublin Central Mission. After that he spent several years in the Caribbean, serving churches in Nevis, Dominica and Antigua.
Since his return to Ireland in 1977 he has ministered at Cullybackey in Co Antrim, Glenburn in Belfast, Lisburn and, currently, Bray.
Dr Wilson's warm evangelical zeal has made him an effective conductor of circuit missions, but his vision is not a limited one. He has been active in ecumenical relations for many years and was one of the founders of the Evangelical Contribution on Northern Ireland. He will hold office as president for just one year.
During the afternoon Mrs Rosemary Fletcher was installed as All Ireland president of the Methodist Women's Association. Mrs Fletcher is a Londoner and a former nurse. It was while working in Cheshire that she met and married the Rev Brian Fletcher, a Northern Irishman.
He transferred to the Irish Methodist ministry in 1980, and this brought Rosemary to live in Ireland for the first time. She has experience of living in the Republic at Birr, and in Northern Ireland at Moy in Co Tyrone and Belfast.
Mrs Fletcher has served as president of the MWA in the Belfast District. She will hold office for two years, leading the association as it begins to respond to a questionnaire circulated last year which asked members what they believed they ought to be doing in the new Millennium.
By long tradition the British Methodist president is a member of the Irish Methodist Conference. The British Methodists do not refer to their presiding officer as president of the church, though effectively he or she is such.
The official title is president of the Conference. This year the holder of the office is the Rev Prof W. Peter Stephens, who was born in Cornwall. Apart from two short periods in circuit ministry, he has spent all of his career in theological college or university posts in Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham, and is currently professor of Church History and Provost of the Faculty of Divinity in the University of Aberdeen.
For some time chairman of the Conference of European Methodist Churches, he has published a history and directory of Methodism in Europe.
On Monday evening Prof Stephens will address the Conference Mission Meeting, which will be open to the public. It will commence at 7.30, and the theme will be "Hear what the Spirit says to the Churches."
This evening, also at Wesley Chapel, Ardfallen, the Conference Youth Night will celebrate faith in music, drama and worship. It commences at 8 p.m.
Some years ago the Upper Erne Methodist Circuit, with churches at Brookeborough, Lisnaskea, Newtownbutler and Dromady, began a twinning arrangement with the Methodist Centenary Circuit in Dublin.
Visits are exchanged annually, and just recently the members of the Centenary Circuit spent a Sunday in Upper Erne, sharing in a programme of worship and social events. This has been of value in helping the members of each place to appreciate the views of those on the other side of the Border who are sometimes expected to hold the same views, but do not always.