What do you get when you bring together a hundred Methodist women from all over Europe for the Quinquennial European seminar of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women? Actually, that was a question in my head as I landed in Porto – even though I was part of the planning team… Fortunately, my colleagues had done this before. As my Portuguese colleague said reassuringly, in faultless English, ‘Don’t worry. This is not my first rodeo!’
And what a rodeo it was. Women arriving from all over Europe – from countries with big Methodist communities like Ireland, and countries with tiny Methodist communities, like Serbia. Because the world executive attends every seminar, there were also women there from Hong Kong, Chile and Zimbabwe. And, of course, lots of friends from Methodist Women in Britain. Women of all different sorts and from many different backgrounds; young women and older women; ordained and lay; musicians and preachers and speakers… We even had a few men!
The event lasted from Thursday night to Sunday night. The programme was shaped by worship, with a service of Holy Communion at the beginning and a Love Feast at the end. As you may expect, there’s a wide variety of worship traditions across the churches of Europe, so the challenge was to bring these together with sensitivity and integrity. Our watchword was Paul’s message to the church in Colossae – ‘bear with one another and so fulfil the law of Christ’. We did this very well!
The title of the seminar was ‘Rooted and Grounded in Love’. This was developed out of the World Federation quinquennium theme from John 15, ‘Go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last’. Each of the three days took the theme in a different way, looking at roots of faith, the shoots of new growth and the fruits of our growth, developing as we go back to our everyday lives. The highlight was our guest speaker, Deacon Kerry Scarlett, then the Vice President of the British Methodist Conference. She developed her presidential theme of ‘Hidden Treasures’, talking about the ways in which faith has grown and steered her life. This, of course, has led her into specialist and high-level work with people who have endured human trafficking – as well as many other desperate situations. Kerry was inspirational, and great company over the week.
Another key session was when a panel led discussion on the life of churches in the various different countries. This was a theme that popped up often through the week. It was fascinating to learn, at first hand, about the joys and tribulations of church life across the world. We learned of huge congregations in Hong Kong and small churches in many places. Some of the challenges were common: recovery from the disruption of covid and the changing nature of church attendance. Some were struggling with contradictory convictions around attitudes to human sexuality. This is particularly important for European Methodists who are part of the United Methodist Church, navigating division. The World Federation is keen to be a place where all sorts of Methodist are welcome, whichever Discipline their church has decided to follow. But there were other types of challenges too – I hadn’t realised, for example, that new legislation in France means that churches have to separate their ‘good works’ from their religious practice. At least I think that’s what’s happening – we were working in translation!
Language was not the issue it might have been for the Seminar. The World Federation works internationally in English. Many of the European women speak English with a skill that puts my O’ level German to shame! However, we did try to incorporate other languages as we could. Singing the Faith blesses us with hymns in Spanish and several African languages, and these were much enjoyed. Additionally, I hadn’t realised that Paul Beloche is French Canadian and that his popular songs (such as ‘Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord’ and ‘Praise is Rising’) sing just as well in French. The second biggest language group at the Seminar was German speakers, but I remembered that ‘The Day Thou Gavest’ is very popular with German Methodists. I hadn’t previously understood that ‘How Great Thou Art’ is a Swedish hymn, written by a minister watching a terrific storm break of the Baltic Sea. It was great to see the enthusiasm with which our Swedish contingent led us in that!
The Seminar came to a climax with the Love Feast. It was interesting that, despite this being a deeply rooted Methodist tradition, it was unfamiliar to most of the people there. But, in a spirit of ‘bearing with one another’, the room was willing to give it a try. This turned out to be the most profound and moving part of the trip. People laughed and cried. They held each other and prayed deeply with and for each other. There shared their Christian story and talked about what God was doing in their lives One woman in my group began, ‘After my mother was sent to Treblinka…’ It was powerful stuff… Roots, shoots and fruits indeed. And, with the Love Feast, we were fed for the return home. We have re-charged our spiritual batteries, we have learned new things and made new friends across the whole of Europe. We are blessed indeed!
Barbara Easton President Britain & Ireland
Article first published in Methodist Recorder July 2024
