Keynsham Methodist Church - Methodist Church Structures
The Methodist Church and its structures
The Methodist Church is organised in a methodical way and still uses some terminology introduced by our founder John Wesley. The main elements of our structure and organisation are: the local church; the Circuit to which it belongs; the District, made up of a number of Circuits; and the Connexion which describes the whole UK church.
The local church
In Keynsham we have one Keynsham Methodist Church (KMC) with two sets of premises. One centre is at Queens Road, the other is at Victoria and the Key Centre at the junction of High Street and Charlton Road.
The local church is governed by its Church Council, the members of which are the Managing Trustees
The Circuit
KMC is one of the churches in the North East Somerset and Bath Circuit. The Circuit is presided over by a Superintendent Minister, presently Rev Ian Souter. The Circuit has responsibility for, and employs, all the Ministers (Presbyters) and Lay Church Workers within it. Sunday services are led by clergy and local preachers according to a quarterly Circuit Plan.
The Circuit is governed by a Circuit Meeting which has representatives from each local church
The District
A number of Circuits are formed together into a District led by a District Chair. In our case KMC and the North East Somerset and Bath Circuit are in the Bristol District which extends from Tewkesbury to Glastonbury, and from Weston-super-Mare to Devizes. Our Chair is the Rev A.Ward Jones.
The Synod is the governing body of the District
See www.bristolmethodist.org.uk
The Connexion and The Conference
All Methodists are linked together in a “Connexion”. The Methodist Conference is the governing body of the Church. It has met annually since the time of John Wesley.
For comprehensive information about the Methodist Church and its national and world wide involvements, see www.methodist.org.uk