Yorkshire Methodist leader to become president of conference

The Rev. Roger Walton, the current chair of the West Yorkshire Methodist District, will be inducted on Saturday as the President of the Methodist Conference at Methodist Central Hall in London.

The Methodist Church is one of the largest Christian churches in Britain, with nearly 195,000 members.

The Conference is the body that agrees policy for the Methodist Church.

Rev Walton, who lives in Brighouse, grew up in Pudsey and started attending a Methodist Sunday School at the age of seven, when his family moved house. He became a Christian at 16 and reconnected with the Methodist Church, becoming a local preacher at 18 and offering for ministry while at Newcastle University.

He trained for the ministry at the Queen’s College, Birmingham, and served circuits in the West Midlands, Liverpool and St Albans.

For 10 years, he was Director of the Open Learning Centre, and for 11 years Director of the Wesley Study Centre, Durham. He has been chair of the West Yorkshire Methodist District since 2011.