New President and Lay Leader to be Installed at Irish Methodist Conference
The two hundred and fifty seventh Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland will gather from Wednesday 3rd to Saturday 6th June 2026 at Assembly Buildings, Belfast.
Rev Dr Janet Unsworth and Laura Griffith
The two-day Ministerial Session will begin at 11am on Wednesday 3rd June and the Representative Session will commence with the Installation Service for Rev Dr Janet Unsworth as President and Ms Laura Griffith as Lay Leader at 7:30pm on Thursday 4th June.
In her inaugural address the President will teach on the theme of ‘Living Letters’ using 2 Corinthians 3.
In this passage Paul tells his readers that the transformed lives of the believers in Corinth are first of all his own letter of recommendation. But he then goes on to say that such letters, written not with paper and ink, but by the Holy Spirit, are a letter from Christ to the world. This picture of a ‘living letter’ is a reminder of how each follower of Jesus is called to be a vibrant, living expression of God’s Spirit, an ‘ambassador of Christ’ to others.
Rev Dr Janet Unsworth is Director of the Ministries Team for the Methodist Church in Ireland and brings more than twenty-five years of experience in ministry and leadership across the Connexion. She previously served as Superintendent Minister of the Newry Circuit before being appointed Director of Studies, and later Principal, of Edgehill Theological College. In each of these roles, she has provided leadership for the re-shaping of approaches to theological education, formation, and training for ordained and lay ministry within the Methodist Church in Ireland.
Throughout her ministry, Dr Unsworth has contributed extensively to the life of the church at national and international level, serving on many committees and boards. She has also represented Methodism on a range of inter-church church bodies, including the World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission and the Anglican Methodist International Co-ordinating Committee.
A Trustee Governor and former Chair of the Board at Methodist College Belfast, Janet also serves as a Trustee of Cliff College, Sheffield, and is one of the ecumenical canons appointed to the Chapter of St Anne’s Cathedral Belfast. Prior to ordained ministry, she worked as a history teacher in London and then served as the Children’s Work Secretary for the Methodist Church in Ireland. Janet is married to John, and they have two grown up children, who live in Edinburgh and London.
Ms Laura Griffith, a member of Whiteabbey Methodist Church on the Newtownabbey Mission Circuit for 36 years will serve as Connexional Lay Leader.
During that time, she has held a wide range of leadership roles within the local church, including two terms as secretary of the Church Council and 12 years as Sunday School Team Leader. She has also served as a fully accredited Local Preacher for the past 14 years.
At Connexional level, Ms Griffith has served as All-Ireland Secretary of YWA and later Methodist Women in Ireland (MWI). She was a member of the General Committee for 12 years and represented the Methodist Church in Ireland at the British Methodist Conference and the Annual General Meeting of the Irish Council of Churches. Her service has also included membership of the Governance Board, the Home Mission Forum, the 24-7 Prayer Working Group and the Castlewellan Holiday Week Committee. She currently serves as Connexional Local Preachers’ Coordinator and is a member of both the Ministries Policies and Procedures Committee and the Ministries Learning and Development Committee. She is also a member of the Lay Witness Ireland, Steering Group.
Professionally, Ms Griffith worked as a senior radiographer before taking time away from employment to care for family members. She later served as Exams Support and Chief Invigilator at Ballyclare High School until taking early retirement. She continues to serve actively within her local community through volunteering in a parent and toddlers’ group on her circuit.
Outside of her service within the Methodist Church in Ireland, Ms Griffith enjoys travelling, photography, gardening and baking for family and friends.
Conference is the governing body of the Church and as such there will be reports from the Governance Board (including Working groups on Manses, Gender Equality and Stipends, Allowances & Pensions), the Connexional Team, Council on Social Responsibility, and the Committee on Faith and Order. Elections will also take place for the President and Lay Leader Designate and members of the Governance Board for the next Connexional year. All of these items of business, reports and debates (conferring) are rooted in the context of prayer, worship, teaching and discernment.
Four Probationer Ministers will be ordained at a service of Ordination on Friday 5th June at 7:30pm. Throughout the Conference, tributes will be paid to those who are about to retire and a Service of Remembrance for the ministers who have died in the past year will also take place.
The Rev Martin Mujinga, who is the General Secretary of the African Methodist Council will be the guest Bible teacher during the Conference. Representatives of the Methodist Church in Britain and ecumenical guests from other denominations in Ireland will also be in attendance.