Rev. John Alderdice Director of Ministry, Methodist Church

The Methodist Church in Ireland, as a small and for the most part traditional, denomination is facing tremendous challenges related to the future sustainability of congregations, especially in urban areas. These challenges raise difficult questions for local church leadership, ordained and lay, around the nature of mission and ministry. In addition, working through these questions is often painful for congregations and individuals, in some cases, causing high levels of stress and a sense of loss of vocation. Personally, and as a denomination, we have found the input and support of organisations such as Thrive Ireland to be invaluable in terms of creating safe space for church leaders to grapple with some of the difficult questions and to support one another as they go on a journey of discovery in terms of their missional calling today.  We look forward to partnering with them further in the years ahead.