Sonia Hicks, the new President of the Methodist Conference, has set out a vision of welcome and acceptance for her year in office: ‘there’s a place for everyone at God’s Table’. And her family knows what it’s like to feel excluded. She tells the story of her Great Aunt Lize, turning up at her local Methodist church on her very first Sunday in the UK only to be sent packing by the minister, very publicly declaring that she was not at all welcome.

The church having made the decision over the past few weeks to allow same sex marriage, a decision, she says, which, despite there being people who are delighted and think it’s well overdue, and those who are saddened and bewildered, doesn’t mean this is a point when the church has to break apart. She says ‘as Methodists, we’re about justice for all and not discriminating against anyone…I want to be a President for everyone, as together we seek to serve God.’