INTRODUCTION

If you do not like this website, please do not blame the messenger.

 Blame instead the people whose decisions and actions  are catalogued on  these web pages – the men and women who rule the Methodist Church in Britain. For the details of what occurred during the past half decade in Bexhill – and the enormous cover-up that hid the truth of those despicable  events from the honest members of the Methodist Church - are their fault and theirs alone. The details point to a basic truth about the Methodist Church in England today - the people who run the church ignore the central doctrines of the movement.

This website uses the case of the Rev Peter Timms OBE to illustrate the malaise in the Methodist community. The lessons of the sex abuse cases have not been learned. Just as those atrocious acts were covered up by the executives of the Church, so has the terrible treatment of Rev Timms been covered up.

When Jane Stacey wrote the report on the 2,000 or so sex abuse cases that occurred within the Methodist Church, she emphasised that such a cover-up, as had occurred, should never happen again.

Indeed, she pointed to the basic rule on this - that confidentiality clauses such as SO 1104 cannot be used in order to cover up misdeeds committed in the Church.

But that is what happened in the case of Rev Peter Timms. The Church authorities had failed to learn this basic lesson.

The Church executive, in particular Rev Gareth Powell, chose to cover up the fact that Mr. Chris Kitchin, the leader of a connexional panel of inquiry, had broken several Standing Orders in sending Rev Timms a false confession - and coercing him with threats in an attempt to have him sign it.

The Methodist Recorder was also involved in the cover-up. The Editor has known of these events for several years. The Recorder was censored by the Methodist Authorities. Its journalists are supposed to write the truth. Instead they avoid the awkward truths that they see inside the Church. They take part in the cover-up in order to earn their salaries. They are paid to hide the truth - that is their crime.

On these pages you will see the story of how a supernumerary minister, Rev Peter Timms, made a small objection to what he considered irregular behaviour at a circuit meeting – and how he was pounced upon, punished and shunned because he dared to raise his voice in protest. A loyal member of the Methodist Church for some eighty years, his life is now destroyed.

The events at local level were bad enough. Much worse however is the attitude of the authorities in Methodist Church House in London – and indeed in the office of the President of the Methodist Church. For those executives – chosen by Conference and paid by members of the Church -  have adopted the response of an ostrich. They have simply ignored the enormity of what was done in their name.  They did not wish to know about the injustices perpetrated by their underlings. They simply sought to punish the person who complained.  They allowed evil to enter the doors of our Church in order to hide their misdeeds.

The atmosphere resulting from the response to this immense cover-up has been vindictive. The events have caused immense disenchantment about the Methodist Church and its doctrinal principles. No doubt some are now considering leaving the Church.  There should not be such conflict inside the Methodist Church. It is the kind of conflict that tears families apart, breaks down marriages and causes conflict between friends. It is contrary to the central doctrines of the Methodist Movement.

It is not the Methodist Way.

This website began as a defence of an aged, ailing, minister. When it was first posted, the local executives redoubled their attack on him – pressurising his friends so that they would not help him further. They punished him because of their actions. Such immoral tactics  merely inflamed the conflict. Now they hope to spin the affair out until he dies. SO far they have spun it out for some four years - and the coming year is already planned, for they intend to prosecute him on disciplinary charges.

It is not the Methodist Way to see an opponent's death as a victory. They wish him dead - for death will rid them of this troublesome priest.

This present website seeks to stop such infamous tactics. The only response so far inside the Methodist Church has been to hammer Rev Timms - even though the actions they wish to stop are being committed by his friends. When one hammer does not succeed, they reach for a bigger hammer. The latest hammer is to report this website to the police and accuse its webmaster of harassment. The police investigated and decided to take no action.

The Church's methods are nothing short of bullying and torture. We seek to change the entire direction of the Methodist Church in Britain,  away from vicious lies, threats, coercion and sheer evil – back to the Methodist Way that John Wesley created and which the vast majority of Methodist church-goers adhere to.

The Methodist Church should not be in a position of having websites such as this one created to criticise it. It should be above such criticism. Unfortunately it is not.