The Superintendent

 

The present Superintendent is the Revd Derrick R. Lander. Derrick started his working life in industry and commerce before candidating for the Methodist Ministry in 1974. He has served as a circuit minister since 1978, and came to the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District in 1988 having served in the Manchester and Stockport and the Plymouth and Exeter districts where he gained experience of suburban and urban ministry as well as some rural ministry in Somerset.

Derrick became the Synod Secretary in Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District in the Methodist year 1989/90 and served until 2002. He assumed the role of Deputy Chair of the District in 2000, and continues in that office to the present time. Both as Secretary and Deputy Chair of the District, he has gained a great deal of knowledge and experience of the workings of Methodism, and by serving on numerous connexional committees and training groups as well as being a frequent member of the annual Conference as a representative he has become a well-known and highly regarded minister.

While in this district, Derrick has served in three other circuits before coming to Shrewsbury in 2007, and in the previous two circuits as well as Shrewsbury he has been the Superintendent Minister. With particular gifts in pastoral ministry and relating to other people, and with skills as an administrator, organiser and manager of change who can think strategically and outside the box, the new circuit invited Derrick to take responsibility for the newly formed Shropshire and Marches Circuit. This he continues to do with commitment and enthusiasm, the sole purpose being to serve Christ as faithfully as he can, while seeking the very best for the mission and ministry of Methodism and the ministers and people under his care.