The Methodist Church is one of the largest Christian churches serving Great Britain, with nearly 241,000 members and regular contact with over 512,000 people. It has 5,023 churches in Great Britain, and also maintains links with other Methodist churches totalling a worldwide membership of 70 million. Its activities, both alone and with ecumenical and secular partners, are based on four aims known as Our Calling:
- To increase awareness of God’s presence and to celebrate God’s love
- To help people to grow and learn as Christians through mutual support and care
- To be a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice
- To make more followers of Jesus Christ.
Contribution to RE
There are 65 Methodist VC/VA state funded schools and academies and 15 Independent Methodist Schools, each following an RE syllabus. The Methodist Church supports Religious Education in these schools through training events for teachers/Head teachers and publication of resources. Most recently, a project was commissioned to write units of work for effective teaching of Christianity in Key Stages 1-4, these have been made available to all Methodist Schools. Local Methodist churches and clergy support the work of RE in schools by providing speakers and opportunities for learning outside the classroom. There are Free Church/Methodist representatives on local SACREs and the Methodist Church is part of the Free Church Education Committee, which supports SACRE members across the country.