The Methodist Church has launched a new initiative to reach out to more and more people across the UK and the world. Commencing a new monthly ‘Podcast’, the Church will broadcast a short radio programme which will be available through the internet.

The podcasts will be made available through the Methodist Connexional website and also through more mainstream methods such as iTunes.

In October 2004 the Methodist Church brought out the Methodist Radio service, which featured a wide range of interviews and ideas to pro-actively engage with its followers.

Since the release of the radio service, despatches have also been included from the Methodist Conference, as well as speeches by the President and Vice President of the Church.

The new initiative will act as an extension of that service, and will allow people to subscribe to the free monthly show, which is promoted as being “informal, informative and entertaining.”

The Methodist Podcast is thought to be the first of its kind to be created by such a large British Church, and will act as a bridge to Methodists as well as all Christians in the UK and across the globe.

The Electronic Communication Officer for the Methodist Church, Dave Webster said, “We add new features like this to the Methodist website whenever we can to broaden communication between the Church and the world at large.”

Webster continued, “A quick glimpse at lists of the most popular podcasts shows that a lot of people are interested in religious subjects. Hopefully the Methodist Podcasts will reach an audience of people unconnected to the Church as well as Methodists. The topics under discussion will reflect that, in that they will hopefully be relevant to anyone interested in what Christianity has to offer.

“One of the great things about this is that people can hear about British Methodism anywhere across the globe, and we can record interviews anywhere in the world,” he testified.

After being interviewed by an American podcaster earlier this year, Toby Scott, who also features on the first Podcast, was inspired to attempt a podcast.

Scott said, “We already had all the kit for use in our ISDN radio studio, and the editing software from when we launched the Web Radio service last year. We’re in the process of developing our skills so that it sounds as much like professional radio as possible, but in this experimental phase we hope listeners welcome it as another way to find out about the Church and the Methodist people.”

It is planned that future podcasts will feature interviews with some of the most senior leaders in the Methodist Church, as well as other leading Christians around the world.

Scott concluded, “There’s no limit on where we’ll look for interesting material for our programmes. Will pick interesting people and topics and fit them into a short show each month.”