The Methodist e-Academy

The Methodist e-Academy is a new initiative of Methodist Churches in Europe to meet the challenge of equipping people for ordained and lay leadership, so that they can equip Methodist churches to bear faithful and effective witness to God’s enlightening, forgiving and transforming grace and thus become agents for personal and social renewal manifesting and anticipating God’s reign.

Our aim is to equip church leaders for ministry through the means of distance learning, making use of the internet and other appropriate computer technology. This will have four components:

1. The supplementary education of students for the ordained ministry.
2. The education of local pastors.
3. The education of lay leaders including lay preachers.
4. The provision of internet resources which will enable church leaders to address key issues in their contexts.

We intend to implement these components in stages. The first stage, a program in Methodist Studies was launched in September 2008. This is designed as a supplementary education program for people preparing for the ordained ministry or those who are in the ordained ministry and wish to deepen their knowledge of the Methodist tradition.