The New Vision is Realised - LPMA is transformed into the LWPT

LPMA has been practising “Mutual Aid” - Local Preachers helping other Local Preachers in trouble or need – for 156 years. As you can imagine, the nature of our work has altered substantially over this period. Some activities have directly shown mutual aid to needy local preachers, their families, and their widows in a huge variety of ways, demonstrating our slogan, “Christian Care for those we love.” We have become the envy of many organisations in the achievement of quality of loving care based on the value and dignity of each person in our Residential “Westerley” homes. Other events have been for our own personal development as preachers. Some meetings and services have raised the profile of our caring work, and the need for members of our congregations to consider if they have a call from God to be a Local Preacher.

However, Increasingly our efforts to meet the demands of the 21^st Century have been curbed by the original rules of LPMA. Also, the old structure of a membership organisation has become too costly to administer. So It has become necessary to set up a new Trust – a modern approach to meet the needs of all who lead worship in our churches each Sunday.

So, at the final Aggregate (147^th) of LPMA which met over the weekend 11^th to 13^th June at Nailsea near Bristol -one of the finest for many years in the quality of the superb fellowship, with meaningful and thoughtful debates – on Saturday the meeting first appointed our final LPMA President, Mrs. Lois Morton from Penrith. Her handling of the meetings through the weekend contributed greatly to the feeling of achievement and unity. Her role is crucial in this next 12 months, as she explains to local circuits about the changes which will deliver new opportunities to help all who lead our worship Sunday by Sunday. We then approved the motion to pass on the work of the LPMA to the new organisation – the Leaders of Worship and Preachers Trust (LWPT) - which will work even more closely with the Local Preachers’ Office in London. The LWPT is not just for Methodist Preachers, but for all Christian Preachers, and those who lead our worship in our Methodist Churches, and Local Ecumenical Partnerships. With freshly written rules, we can now help in wider and more imaginative ways than before! On Sunday Revd. Dr. Neil Richardson (immediate past President of the Methodist Conference) preached in Bristol Cathedral to celebrate the 156 years of achievement of LPMA. The service was inspiring and uplifting. On Monday Neil Richardson launched the LWPT by lighting a special candle from a flame on the LPMA candle, dedicating the new trustees and the team of workers in our LWPT office and in our homes, and cutting the LWPT cake! Then Neil challenged us as Christian Preachers of the Gospel to face congregations in the 21^st Century with relevance and spirituality, as well as showing competence in getting over fresh ideas in ways that our congregations will understand and then grow in their relationship to their Lord!

Therefore on 1^st September 2005 the LWPT will take over the work of the LPMA. Now all members of the Local Preachers Meeting – the Ministers, the Deacons, all Local Preachers including those “on Note” and “on Trial” as well as our Worship Leaders are eligible to receive help and financial assistance when they are in need. We can offer respite care and recovery time after illness, and if they become too frail to live at home, they can apply for a place at one of our four residential homes.

Let me share with you some of the ways in which the LWPT is continuing the good work locally already begun by the LMPA. The LWPT helps a Leeds Preacher each week to have a little choice of what is bought each week in the Supermarket. Without such a “luxury” which we take fore-granted, she would have to settle for the cheapest brand of everything, just to make ends meet. Another preacher who used to live in the North Leeds lost his job, and then his younger son developed Leukaemia. We were able to make a substantial grant to help him pass his driving test and obtain a second-hand car in order that he could visit the hospital 40 miles away each day. The son is now making a good recovery! We are also developing new ways of helping people be more comfortable with life in their own home. Just recently - June & July 2005 - we have helped two preachers in Leeds who became very ill; one lost the income that was needed to keep up with the financial commitments, not to mention daily food, and the other needed more support to cope with daily living, and has moved to Woodhall Spa, where she is thriving again, and regaining her confidence. Several preachers and widows recently have been helped to obtain respite care in our Westerley homes. So we assist younger preachers as well as the more mature!

Under the new LWPT, the friends who support us prayerfully, practically and financially become a vital part of the Friends of the LWPT. As there will be no Local Branch Structure, future local activities will receive publicity through church notices and magazines, the District LP Newsletter and through Ichthus. In the future all current meetings and activities are possible if they are working well, as a group of Local Preachers and Friends in fellowship and prayer who have the original concerns of Mutual Aid very much to heart – showing Loving Care to those in need and continuing to give the personal touch in future! Rather than restricting meeting for support, the LWPT is encouraging friends also to meet to plan activities that are fun, provide fellowship and use fantastic imagination so that new ventures and ideas will provide fresh experiences which will educate our Methodist People about LPMA’s transformation/expansion to raise new funds & provide enthusiastic support.

Thankyou for all your support in the past for the magnificent work of LPMA. Thankyou so much for giving so many of our dedicated preachers and LP Widows/Widowers new lease of life.

However, the success of the new LWPT now depends on YOU! Please support LWPT by becoming a Friend, so that we can help Preachers who come to desperate moments in their life. We need your loving prayers and your practical support as you give a donation of any amount - £1 a month would be just £12 a year! Please send it straight to the LWPT Office at 89 High Street, Rickmansworth, Herts, WD3 1EF. Please also Gift Aid it – we need the date, how much, and your name and address, so that we can reclaim 28p for each £1 tax you have already paid! Already a dozen new people in Leeds have become friends who were not members of LPMA! The LWPT office has a leaflet entitled “How we Care” with extra information and the Direct Debit and Gift Aid forms. Are You Willing? Please consider continuing giving new life after your death by remembering LWPT in your will – LPMA had its best year ever this year from legacies! (If you have left something to LPMA already, it would be helpful to change your will to the LWPT.)

Once again, Many thanks for your help in the past. We hope and pray you will put your trust now in the LWPT for the future. John Witt, LWPT Trustee. 12.8.2005