Rural Clergy Response to Foot-and-Mouth Disease: The different worlds of Methodism and Anglicanism

The Church of England and the Methodist Church are currently coming to a decision on the proposed Covenant relationship which has been under discussion for some time. The question of the integration of the ordained ministries of the two churches is not part of that decision but some consideration of the difference between Anglican clergy and Methodist ministers is timely. This article suggests that there are differences in the mindset of clergy and ministers, created by the theology and institutional structure of the two churches and their denominational socialisation and training, and by their experience in the pastoral task. Three theoretical factors can be identified: the Belief System; the Nature of the Church from a sociological viewpoint and the Institutional Structure and Organisation. In a re-working of data from a small survey carried out in the Craven District of North Yorkshire of clergy response to the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic of 2001, which originally suggested these differences, opera...