CONCEPTOS Y SISTEMAS QUE COMPRENDE

15.01 The object of the Home Mission Department is to be a vehicle through which the Methodist Church in Ireland helps Districts, Circuits and local congrega- tions to glorify God through worship and witness.

The Department seeks to enable this by:

providing grants to circuits without which they could not support the minis- ters appointed to them.

providing grants for the development of mission projects that have been ap- proved by the Conference or its agents.

support the inauguration and development of worship and witness in Ire- land, as approved by Conference

working with others to provide information, guidance, resources and train- ing for the Methodist Church

15.02 The Trustees of the Methodist Church in Ireland are authorised by Statute (Methodist Church in Ireland Act, 1915) to hold real, leasehold, or personal es- tate, devised or bequeathed, or legally assured to them upon or for any trusts connected with the Home Mission work of the Methodist Church in Ireland, and by direction of the Conference all such Trust moneys or estates are held by the Statutory Trustees.

15.03 In the autumn of each year, the Home Mission Department shall ensure that arrangements are made for Home Mission services or meetings to be led by a team of ordained and lay people in every Circuit. The aims are to share infor- mation about the work of God throughout Ireland and to encourage financial support for the Department, including Mission Ireland.

Administration

15.04 The Department is administered under the direction of the General Commit- tee, which may discharge its responsibility through the Church Development Board.

15.05 Two Treasurers, a minister and a layperson, shall be appointed annually by the Conference. The Treasurers shall keep an account in a Bank in the name of "The Methodist Home Mission Fund"; and all collections, contributions, grants, and legacies shall be remitted to them, or to either of them, for account of the Fund, and shall be lodged to the credit of this account, and payments shall be

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made from the Fund in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Con- ference.

15.06 A minister, whose support shall be chargeable to the Fund, may be set apart as the General Secretary of the Department, to whom all communications on its business (other than remittances to the Treasurers) shall be addressed. An Administrator and such clerical staff as approved by the General Committee, may be engaged to assist the Secretary and Treasurers, and their salaries and expenses shall be a charge on the Department.

15.07 Grants which are made from the Fund, whether for ordinary or for other ex- penditure, shall be grants to Circuits, and not to individual ministers or other workers, except in the case of approved individual expenses. The Grants shall be sent when due, to the Superintendent minister, or other person nominated by the Superintendent, who shall account for them to the Circuit Executive. Grants for ordinary expenditure shall be paid quarterly by the Treasurers in September, December, March and June. In cases of vacancies in Stations and re-arrangements of Circuits the officers of the Home Mission Department shall have authority to adjust the grants to the Circuits concerned. Other grants shall be paid when the conditions of the grants are fulfilled or as the General Committee shall direct.

15.08 The General Committee is directed to frame its recommendations so as to bring the proposed expenditure of the Department within the estimated in- come.

Ordinary Expenditure

15.09 District Superintendents shall inquire into the needs of those Circuits applying for grants from the Department, and shall recommend to the Department the amount considered needful in each case for the ensuing year. Such applica- tions shall be examined by the Church Development Board and the applica- tions and the recommendations or decisions of the Church Development Board shall be reported to the General Committee and included in the Minutes of the Committee.

15.10 Applications for grants shall be made on the prescribed form, and shall be ac- companied by a complete set of Circuit accounts, including those of the Soci- ety in respect of which the grant is being sought, audited according to the di- rections of the Conference.

15.11 Grants towards Ordinary expenditure are considered to be grants towards the whole of the Circuit’s expenditure, as set out on the Application Form, and not as grants towards the cost of property. Circuit Accounts, (including project

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budgets and Investment Accounts) as requested by the Department, shall ac- company all applications for grants from the Department.

15.12 When required by the Officers of the Home Mission Department, a report on the life and work of the local Church and/or Circuit, the mission, needs and op- portunities of the Circuit receiving the grant, shall be furnished through the Superintendent of the Circuit.

Other Expenditure

15.13 Subject to such conditions as may be directed by the General Committee, and in each case on the approval of the Committee, (or the Church Development Board), the Department may provide grants or loans towards the cost of: (a) the purchase of manses

(b) furnishing of manses

(c) repair of, or structural alterations to, manses

(d) serious need in ministers’ families, in conjunction with the Ministers’ Medical Fund, which shall administer such grant.

(e) supplies rendered necessary by the death, illness or unavoidable absence of ministers.

(f) the needs of ministers in special circumstances as in Paragraph 13.24 15.14 All applications for manse grants or loans must be sanctioned by the Execu-

tive of the Circuit concerned, and recommended by the District Superinten- dent before being considered by the Connexional Team and General Commit- tee.

15.15 Grants within the limit set by the Conference may be approved by the Treas- urers of the Home Mission Department in consultation with the Officers of the Church Development Board.

Ministers’ residences (see also Chapter 13)

15.16 Application for permission to purchase, or build, to repair or structurally alter any minister’s residence shall be made through the District Superintendent to the Property Board. Grants for such expenditure shall normally be payable by the Home Mission Department.

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15.17 In processing applications for manse grants for circuits, or in assessing the ade- quacy of a manse, the Department may request that the District Superinten- dent or other person deputed by him/her, and the Manse Steward of another Circuit, make a report to the Department.

15.18 Grants for repairs of manses shall not be made, unless previous to the ex- penditure being incurred, the sanction of the Home Mission Department (and in the case of structural change the Property Board) has been obtained. 15.19 Application for permission to appoint new Trustees of any Trust property shall

be made through the Property Board, the Home Mission Department or the General Education Department, according as the property concerned consists of churches, manses or schools. If any grant be made towards the cost of the Deed of Appointment, it shall be borne by the Property Board, Home Mission Department, or Education Fund as may be decided by the Conference. Revision of Circuits and Appointment of Additional Ministers

15.20 In every case in which a realignment of a Circuit is proposed, details of the number of members and the mission rationale shall be furnished to the Dis- trict Superintendent for consideration by the Connexional Team.

15.21 In any case of alteration or division of Circuits the opinions of any Circuit Exec- utive shall receive careful consideration, but the final decision shall be made by the Conference, on the recommendation of the Connexional Team. 15.21 When any changes have been made in the boundaries of a Circuit by the trans-

fer of members and preaching places to another Circuit, the Superintendent of the Circuit from which such transfer has been made shall furnish a list of such members and preaching places to the Superintendent to whose care these have been transferred, with such information as may assist in securing their sympathetic association with their new Circuit.

15.22 In cases of vacancies in Stations and re-arrangements of Circuits the officers of the Home Mission Department shall have authority to adjust the grants to the Circuits concerned.

15.23 An application for an additional minister to be engaged in the regular work shall not be entertained unless a plan, stating distinctly how and where he/she is to be employed, how he/she shall be provided for, and where he/she shall reside, accompany the application.

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