For good reason many of us will mark the beginning of 2012 by sharing in a Covenant service: a recital of God’s faithfulness and a rededication of the calling we have received.
For the District staff the new year will immediately be marked by change and new ways of working, which will invite us to review what we as a team are particularly being called to be and do to further the District vision.

Early in the new year the MEDAL 2012 programme, including the significant residential Conference in February,   will encourage lay leaders to reflect on their  calling and the opportunities they have - or might need to create ! - to be involved in the mission of churches and Circuits across the District.

As the year progresses the new Ministerial Development Review will be introduced across the connexion, when the focus will again be on our sense of call and on ways in which that can be enhanced, supported and more fully expressed in local contexts.

Meanwhile the calling of the whole church to embody good news for our local communities will doubtless be further challenged by the impact of economic policies on the lives of local people, not least on the most vulnerable – even as preparations for the Olympics come to a head and impact on the city as whole, bringing unique opportunities for engagement.

Even from what we already know, we can confidently anticipate that 2012 is likely to be an exciting and demanding year for us all !  It may well be a year in which our calling and awareness of being a covenant people is well to the fore.

So let’s pray that it might also be a year in which our sense of common purpose and commitment is renewed and upheld by an awareness of God’s faithful and enduring love – beginning with that spine-tingling affirmation from the Covenant service itself:
’We are no longer our own but yours’.