About

We organise an annual MWM conference with a different theme each year that involves people from around the world who support mission based on partnership. We:

• Organise regional conferences, which often reflect the theme of the annual conference.
• Produce an annual magazine, which reflects and develops the theme of the conference.
• Contribute financially to a variety of organisations whose ethos is in line with the movement’s aims.

Typically attendees include past and present mission partners and their families from UK or overseas who are currently working or resting (on furlough) in Britain, special invitees from overseas and overseas students studying in Britain. However, the majority are people who support MWM’s aims and who want to be more involved with the world church. Those who attend MWM Conferences often feel a deepening sense of being part of a worldwide fellowship of Christian people.

The conference has a different focus each year, sometimes a particular country or region, e.g. the Caribbean, sometimes a topical issue, e.g. 2009’s theme was “Christians and Muslims – Side by Side and Face to Face”. A wide choice of workshops offers opportunities to engage more deeply with issues raised by the various speakers or to respond in some creative activity. At every conference there are specially designed programmes for children and young people. Worship sessions give time to reflect on the experiences of the weekend.

Joining MWM is a way of becoming more involved with the World Church. The annual conference is an opportunity to meet members of overseas churches and to find out at how others worship, express their faith and view the world. It also facilitates working more closely in mission with other branches of the World Church.

The Wesleyan Laymen’s Missionary Movement held its first Conference in 1913, changing its name to the Methodist Laymen’s Missionary Movement (MLMM) after Methodist Union in 1932. At first strictly for men, from the 1970s onward women were welcomed. The inclusive name, Methodists for World Mission (MWM), dates from 1986.

In recent years, while continuing to work with the Methodist Church, MWM has widened its base ecumenically. Partners in the Conference now include Grassroots, which explores new ways of looking at mission with churches and communities, and Christians Aware, working for justice, peace, development and multicultural understanding. Us (formerly USPG : Anglicans in World Mission which was also widely known as the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) is also a partner as is, of course, the World Church Relationships team of the Methodist Church in Britain.