I remember watching my dad, when he was �山ǿ�� General Secretary back in the 1980s, in what was then the Vinery (complete with grape vine, unless my memory is playing tricks), doing his meanest swerving serve at table tennis as he tried to remain in the annual tournament. Where now there are big new accommodation blocks at the Hayes, there used to be a putting green, where some of us attempted miracles which never quite made us a threat to the likes of Rory McIlroy.

Thus, my visit as Moderator this late August had elements of re-walking memory lane as much as it was a delight to meet this year’s participants. Thank you for the chance to share with you all. Thank you for joining me in the art workshop which had us creating amazing collages based upon the event’s theme. That theme of “cultivating a flourishing faith” was drawn from the work and writing of the Revd Leslie Newton, Chair of the Yorkshire North and East Methodist District.

“we were led into the wonders of grace”

I only got to hear one of Leslie’s talks, but was deeply moved by his exploration of a question we’ll all recognise: What equipment does God want us to have for faith in the future? His answer? God gives us the precious gift of grace and longs for us to be captivated by it. Drawing upon the thoughts of Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, we were led into some of the wonders of grace and how our lives can be lived in response: through worship and prayer; as we open Scripture; as we share the bread and wine of communion; when we fast and abstain from things to refocus attention upon God; as we talk together about our beliefs; and as we care for others and creation.

Leslie opened up the encounter Jesus has with a Samaritan woman at the well (in the Gospel of John, chapter 4) as an illustration of grace breaking into the world and a life; wave upon wave of unexpected joy.

Why not enjoy �山ǿ�� Holiday Forum next year? The Revd Tim Meadows, a past Moderator of the �山ǿ��’s General Assembly, will be the theme leader, exploring “” from 22 to 27 August, 2027.

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A recent August weekend of formal visits to Northern Synod brought together General Assembly and Youth Assembly Moderators for what we think is the first time ever for such an opportunity. Even as I was preparing to be inducted it was a joy to be planning with Youth Moderator, Kacie Hodgson, and Youth Moderator Elect, Alex Clements. All three of us are now on our travels around the �山ǿ��; an abundance of Moderators!

For me, the weekend was abundant many times over. Bethel �山ǿ�� (Chester-le-Street) kicked us off with a pie and pea supper on Friday and shared its journey of congregations coming together and creating deep friendships; a place of welcome where tables are regularly laden with a meal and the conversation and faith go deep.

Saturday began at Cromer Avenue �山ǿ�� (Gateshead), joined by members of Denewell Avenue �山ǿ�� and by Kacie. The building becomes a pre-school throughout the week and everywhere I looked there were the bright and glorious signs of games, pictures, nooks and crannies for story times and awesome constructions. We got to be creative ourselves alongside lunch. A time capsule was being completed as a throw-it-forward gift to whoever might open it long after we’re gone. We dedicated a new prayer leaflet which gives a local focus for each day of the month. Abundant life enfolded in prayer!

“the art studio space particularly grabbed me!”

Alex joined our caravan of Moderators at our afternoon with Waddington Street �山ǿ�� (Durham). Nestled in the shadows of the train viaduct, we popped in on the converted houses next door, which are the Waddington Street Centre. Begun in the church hall in 1981 and now in its purpose-built home, this mental health resource centre hums with life. The top floor art studio space particularly grabbed me! Before more welcome refreshments, we walked to the nearby Flass Vale nature reserve where prayers were offered beside the trees the church planted to celebrate the �山ǿ��’s 50^th birthday (pictured below; Alex and Kacie, 4th & 5th from right).

Time to earn my keep a little. Woodhouse Close Church in Bishop Aukland unites Anglicans and Methodists with �山ǿ�� friends. It was a joy to preach and share in communion and then to hear of Messy Church, a 24-hour prayer vigil (as part of the Global Week of Prayer), and a host of ways in which congregation and community share. An afternoon visit to the quite incredible Aukland Palace, Faith Museum, and Mining Art Gallery rounded off an amazing weekend.

Why abundance? I came away with a deep sense of the overflow of love, creativity and sustained hard work that faith seeds and that the Spirit nurtures. And I got to share with Kacie and Alex in a �山ǿ�� first!

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As we resolved to encourage United Reformed congregations “to observe the Feast of Creation in Christ on the first Sunday in September from 2026”, we focused on God’s creation and how deeply we belong within it; our lives inextricably and wonderfully part of all life on Earth.

We warmly welcomed the global ecumenical focus upon the importance of creation care and the suggestion that we mark the first Sunday of September each year with special attention in our worship upon creation and all it means to belong within it. This can lead on into whatever ways this theme can be explored locally in subsequent weeks.

In the light of recent heatwaves and the unfolding of climate and ecological crises, there could hardly be a more critical time for us to bring out this profound theme within our theology and our reading of scripture.

I was kindly invited to write something for as this year’s Season of Creation approaches. I hope this meditation might also speak more widely…

You speak, and the stars begin their burning.
You speak, and lands emerge from the waters of chaos.
You speak, and the emerald greens of plants beyond number dance in fresh breeze.
You speak, and the seasons begin to weave their rhythms.
You speak, and the oceans and rivers team with amazing life.
You speak, and the stunning flocks fly free across a dazzling sky.
You speak, and the myriad creatures roam within the gardens of your glory.
You speak, and we arrive.

You see the intricate beauty and delicate balances, the interconnection that brings life to a world of wonders; everything depending upon the flourishing of everything else.
And you see that it is good.

We want to see as you see.

We want to listen to the heartbeats of your world, feel the beauty as much as see it, love the fragility and the splendour as you do.

Let us touch your Earth gently.
Teach us the wisdom we risk forgetting;
that life is made from sharing,
restoring what is damaged begins with understanding,
understanding our powerful selfishness is humbling…

humbling and transforming.

Transforming, because we find the place you always made for us:
our home within creation’s sanctuary,
our work with the wonders of your world of generosity,
our peace in treasuring the gifts of your abundance,
our life within the sharing.

You speak, and long for us to listen.

Image: Sudipta Mondal | Pexels

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Lord, do you choke as the smoke turns the sky dark and smothers the sun? Do you feel the heat that rises in waves from soil baked hard as rock? Do you see the leaves igniting? Do you hear seeds popping and explode as generations yet to be die? Does the fierce wind blow at your command in judgement and disgust at our carelessness? Do you hate what we are making of Eden?

Dear God, you have given us over to the havoc of a world that burns. The horrors and losses hem us in. We are caught and fearful like the badgers sensing a glowing disaster they cannot outrun. The horizon is red. Clouds rise in a wall ascending.

Creator, are you also destroyer?

So much lost; centuries undone in days. Such precious cargo…

Woodland and Heathland and Dartford Warblers and Night Jars and Red Deer and Ant Lions and Meadow Pipits and Red-Footed Falcons and Skylarks and Stonechats and Whitethroats and Grayling Butterflies and Norfolk Hawker Dragonflies and Rabbits and Beauty and Work and Treasure and Hope and…

We sit in the silence after the storm; walk amidst the ruins of so many lives, smell the smoke that still rises from a blistered ground, see ash floating like snow, know that death has visited. We can record the loss. Can we ever calculate the cost?

Do not close your eyes and ears, Lord.

In your mercy, help us.

Teach us of more.

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed. Your compassion never fails. New each morning is your love. Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return. Renew our days.

* Towards the end of July and on into the start of August, wild fires raged across more than 350 acres of Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast, destroying one of the only remaining areas of such habitat in the UK, the only place in which some rare species have flourished.

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Much resonated: smaller and aging congregations of deep faithfulness increasingly stretched by demands of compliance; worries about too few ministers; an ending for a beloved institution (Fulneck School in West Yorkshire, opened in 1753); seeking financial stability; re-imaging structures and staffing; renewing commitments to outreach. We have so much in common. There was a deep desire to journey together with ecumenical partners, like us, wrestling with such comparable agendas. The �山ǿ�� shares in four local congregations with Moravians.

I was a little stunned to be welcomed as coming from a big Church; a new experience! As of 2025 there were 28 British Moravian congregations, with a total of 919 members. Each congregation was represented at the Synod, which meets every two years. We all had our names at our places and a seating plan showing who everyone was. This felt to be a very real family gathering, with everyone addressed as “Sister” or “Brother,” including their two bishops.

But that Fulnek date tells a story. The Moravians are the oldest in the Protestant family. John Hus, professor in Prague, challenged Roman Catholicism. He was burned for heresy on 6 July, 1415. His followers regrouped and, by 1457, established the Unitas Fratrum (the Unity of the Brethren): the Moravian Church. That’s 60 years before Martin Luther’s first public acts of reform! By 1517 they numbered 200,000 with over 400 parishes across Bohemia and Moravia.

Brutal persecutions followed. In 1722 many found sanctuary on the lands of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf in Saxony. Moravians created the community of Herrnhut and, from here, established settlements across the world. It was while worshipping at the Moravian church in Fetter Lane, London, that John Wesley felt his heart “strangely warmed” and thus began the journey that would give rise to Methodism. Today, there are over one million Moravians, mostly in eastern Africa, the Caribbean, Honduras, Nicaragua and South Africa.

Fulneck was established as a Moravian settlement after Zinzendorf visited the area in 1743; deep roots indeed.

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The Revd Neil Thorogood, Minister of Thornbury and Trinity-Henleaze �山ǿ��s��in��South��Western��Synod, who will serve as General Assembly Moderator 2026-2027, called the role an��“honour”.����

Born in Sydney, Australia,��while his parents were serving as missionaries in the Cook Islands, Neil was ordained in 1992 at the age of 28. He served in local churches in Halifax and Welwyn Garden City before serving as Director of Pastoral Studies and then Principal of Westminster College in Cambridge.����

A��visual artist and writer,��Neil��returned to local ministry in Bristol and Thornbury in 2020.��

He regularly contributes to the �山ǿ��’s Daily Devotions,��the��annual���山ǿ����Prayer Handbook, and��Reformed��magazine. During the Covid lockdown, Neil made small sketches each day and published them on Twitter (now X). These pictures were the basis of his book��, published by the �山ǿ�� in 2023.����

He was inducted��as Moderator at the �山ǿ��’s 2026 meeting of General Assembly, the denomination’s key-decision making body,��held at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick,��Derbyshire, on��3–6 July.��

Neil said: “I’m very conscious of the privilege of being elected Moderator of the General Assembly and hope I can fulfil this new chapter of ministry in ways that can be a blessing for everyone I share with.”��

A theme he hopes to explore throughout his term in office is “Christ’s conspiracy of goodness”.����

Neil explains: “It is inspired by a book about mission written by an American Methodist which has spoken to me ever since reading it in the 1990s.”��The book takes inspiration from rural French Christian communities who protected Jews from the Nazis during the��Second��World��War; undermining evil with faithful goodness.��

As well as��representing��the �山ǿ�� at significant ecumenical and national events and gatherings, Neil��adds: “I��aim to visit many parts of the �山ǿ�� and discover more of the amazing mosaic of faith and action that is our life together.”����

The Revd Dr Susan Durber,��a �山ǿ�� minister��who serves as President of the European Region of the World Council of Churches, was elected��as��General Assembly Moderator-Elect��and will��serve��in the role from July��2027-2028.��

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