About Us
The mission of The London District of the Methodist Church is to share the good news of Jesus Christ throughout Greater London and the surrounding areas, and thus to strive for the flourishing and fulness of life of both people and their communities.
The London District of the Methodist Church serves to enable and champion the work of Circuits and Churches in the Greater London area. It is set up in a collaborative structure, currently with two Chairs, Revd Dr Jonathan Dean and Revd Faith Nyota, working together with a team of paid and voluntary officers to support and develop the life of the District.
​​
The team serves all registered Methodist Churches in London, and many more people who are involved in our work and worship. To find out more about what the London District is involved in, check out 'What we do'
The calling of the Methodist Church is to respond to the Gospel of God's love in Christ and to live our its discipleship in worship and mission. It does this through:
Worship
Learning and Caring
Service
Evangelism
Our District
The London District is comprised of 32 Circuits and some 211 churches. The District is therefore home to a growing population of more than 9 million people, who represent a vast array of cultures, who practice all of the world's major religions, and who speak a great diversity of languages.
​
Patterns of migration continue to shape and enrich the communities we serve, with more than 40% of the District's people having been born outside of the UK: a figure much higher than most ofther parts of the country.
​
The District also encompasses the full range of economic conditions experiemced by people in Britain: with around 25% of those in the London District living in relative poverty, and/or in conditions of marginalisation1.
Our Mission.
Our Strategy.
2025-2030
Our Mission
We are striving towards a vision of being a
Growing, Inclusive, Evangelistic and Justice-Seeking Church.
Our mission is shaped by our calling to be God's people, and the followers of Jesus, in a world of rapid change, constant uncertainty, political fragility, climate crisis, sharp divisions, rampant injustice and enormous human need and pain. We seek to bear witness in work and action to the "hope that is in us" because of the Good News of God's extravagant love for the world, and for all that God has brought into life, revealed most beautifully in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
​
We commit ourselves to pray constantly, to reflect deeply, to listen carefully, to God and to our neighbours, and to take sriously the calling we have as the people called Methodists, to participate in God's work of renewal, reconciliation, healing and transformation.
Building on the firm foundation of District-wide resourcing and our collective gifts, we will act to support and enable the interpretation of Connexional priorities2 within the London District, in ways which recognise and respond to our particular opportunities, character and needs.
​
We will seek to live out this mission through three 'pillars' of work and witness:
1. Seeking Growth
2. Reaching Out
3. Embracing God's World
Our Strategy:
Three Pillars - Eight Priorities
Seeking Growth
A. Deepening Discipleship for All
We will encourage and enable Methodist churches and communities in London to deepen their faith, nurture their discipleship and grow in their following of Jesus.
​
B. Developing Lay Ministries
We will support circuits and churches in learning and development opportunities for local preachers, worship leaders and other authorised forms of lay ministries, to promote engaging worship, effective ministry and pioneering initiatives.
​
C. Enabling Evangelism to make Every Church a Growing Church
We will work to enable and encourage all our members to speak of their faith to others, and every congregation to engage with its neighbours in life-giving and dynamic ways.
Reaching Out
D. Creating New Places for New People (NPNP) / Church at the Margins (CaM)
We will launch District NPNP project(s), and encourage, enable and support circuits across the London District to join the growing NPNP/CaM movement by developing contextually-relevant new forms of church, with an emphasis on Church at the Margins projects.
​
E. Being a Justice-Seeking Church
We will offer resources to our churches in the work of listening carefully to our communities, engaging passionately with questions of justice, and working tirelessly for the Kingdom of God.
​
F. Welcoming Children and Young People
We will enable, equip and support circuits and churches in developing, maintaining and growing creative, welcoming children's and young peoples ministries. We will foster and enable the leadership of young people in the District and its churches.
Embracing God's World
G. Pursuing Action for Hope
We will pursue climate justice at the District level, and will support our circuits and churches in working towards a sustainable future through the Action for Hope strategy. This will involve both a review of the physical property stock and that of the churches' culture towards sustainability.
H. Cherishing our Place in the World Church
We will cherish our place within the world church, and seek to deepen our connections with it. As part of this, we will nurture the work, and the wider District's support, of our culture and language specific fellowship groups.
So, how will we do this?
Our 'golden rules' for how we will approach the implementation of our priorities will be as follows:
Prayerfully
Undergirding everything with prayer, individually and together, and keeping ourselves open to the challenge of God's Spirit and the gift of Christ's risen life and power.
Ecumenically
Building on our historic partnerships, seeking to re-invigorate our collective witness and mission, and forming new friendships with other Christians.
Faithfully
Exercising prayerful stewardship of all that we have been given – finances, buildings, human potential, the natural world, our inheritance from previous generations, and our dreams for the future.
Collaboratively
Sharing best practice between circuits and churches across the District.
Attentively
Listening carefully to God, to our neighbours in all their diversity, and to the needs and challenges of the world around us.
Intentionally
Holding all that we do in all our gatherings and meetings (Council, Exec, DAF, Staff Priorities etc.) accountable to the strategy and its aims.
Transparently
Sharing the work of our groups widely and seeking input to their decision-making.
Generously
Cherishing and celebrating our diversity as a gift of God in creation and a sign of God’s presence and purpose for us.
Safely
Ensuring that we create safer space for all our activity and hold to the highest standards of Safeguarding practice.
