But after infiltrating Methodist Circuit Plan Club by pretending to be a member of a little-known circuit in the East of England, we've managed to get what we believe is a page of the training manual. It doesn't make pretty reading...
Friday 1 November 2013
The Making of a Methodist Circuit Plan
As everybody knows, the first rule of the Methodist Circuit Plan Club is that you never mention Methodist Circuit Plan Club. A secret society dedicated to the most difficult mathematical and logical conundrum outside of solving the Three Body problem in Physics. Like doing 8-dimensional Sudoku while solving simultaneous equations and psychologically profiling the congregations against the preachers, only three people in the world can actually do a Methodist Circuit Plan without breaking down in tears. Unfortunately none of them are Methodists.
But after infiltrating Methodist Circuit Plan Club by pretending to be a member of a little-known circuit in the East of England, we've managed to get what we believe is a page of the training manual. It doesn't make pretty reading...
But after infiltrating Methodist Circuit Plan Club by pretending to be a member of a little-known circuit in the East of England, we've managed to get what we believe is a page of the training manual. It doesn't make pretty reading...
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First Wikileaks, then Snowden, now this - is no secret safe!!
ReplyDeleteLooks very like the secret society for assembly rota planning to which I subscribe!
ReplyDeleteOur Superintendents make a lot of fuss about this but I cannot believe it's really that difficult
ReplyDeleteWe wrote a simple computer program on a ZX81 which produced the Warrington circuit plan with no hassle for several years until we moved to the Frodsham circuit (which then merged with the Tarporley circuit [is there anyone here from Tarporley?!] to form the Delamere Forest circuit and now with the Chester circuit to become the "Chester and Delamere Forest" circuit).
DeleteWe took the ZX81 with us (but didn't let on to the new Super that we had the handy plan-making program) so presumably the newly-formed Sankey Valley circuit (which incorporates the old Warrington circuit - are you with me so far?) will have reverted to the old system, which I gather was very much as described above.
I think that the reason Supers find plan-making so difficult is that they don't work out that you need to start with the most difficult Sunday and work towards the one where no ministers are on holiday and every local preacher is available. You would have thought that this sort of Methodi(st)cal approach would have been instilled into them during training!
You can joke, Judy. But don't forget that there's a Dutch parking meter disease epidemic in London.
DeleteI am not a Presbyter or a Superintendent Minister, but I do the Plan for the our large Circuit. I used to think along the lines of... "it can't be that difficult to do the Plan" But once a quarter, I now find myself tearing out what is left of my hair and waking in the middle of the night remembering that I can't send Mrs So-and-so to X church - you really want to try it Methodistical and for more than one quarter!
DeleteI'm the Circuit Plan Administrator for the South Petherton & Crewkerne Circuit (ten churches). We don't find plan-making too challenging. I assemble all the information, the Super. actually makes the plan in collaboration with the second minister and myself, and I sort out the queries afteerwards. What I will be lacking for the quarter after next is the special Circuit Plan Paper that has been discontinued by MOH. Ken
ReplyDeleteTwo years on - I do what you describe here. I prepare all the info and then make the Plan with the Super - I actually enjoy doing it - and, as you say, sort out all the queries afterwards! I couldn't believe it when they stopped printing the paper and told me there was no use for it! I now copy A3 sheets and stick them together. Any computer system would be OK up to a point - but I still think there would be a lot of time taken up by inputting data - and then deciding that the computer hadn't thought of some important points.
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