I've never met anyone who has described themselves as a Born Again Christian, so I've never had the chance to ask them. If you'd asked me this question ten or twenty years ago then I would have responded that it is someone who has 'got God', gone slightly over the top about God, and smiles a little too much.

I hope that today I am more mature and measured in my response. Many people are 'Cradle Christians' in that they have been raised as Christians from birth, accepted their faith, turn up to church on a Sunday, and it is just a part of their life that they don't really think very much about. Some of these Cradle Christians then have an experience of God (which can take many, many different forms) that wakes them up to God's presence in their lives- suddenly they get what God is all about - and it changes their outlook on everything. For me, these are Born Again Christians.

Our biggest challenge is very easy to identify - it's just hard to do something about: We don't trust in God enough - especially when that trust takes us to uncomfortable places.

As an antidote to this, I believe we must:

1. Pray more - much more.
2. Be open to change, even when it is not to our liking.
3. Be prepared to recognise God at work even when numbers are not increasing.
4. Be less obsessed with getting young people into the church, because this obsession blinds us to the fact (and the opportunity which goes with it) that most older people never come to church.

When a Methodist minister moves to a new appointment then a welcome service is held and the minister is asked:

Will you hold before us the story of God's love and mercy, above all, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and will you be among us as one who preaches the word of God, administers Baptism, presides at the Lord's Supper, teaches the faith, and cares for the flock?

Will you hold before us God's call to holy living and be among us as one who awakens the careless and strengthens the faithful?

Will you hold before us God's commitment to human community, to our neighbourhoods and all who live within them, and to the world that God has made?

These are the things that I try to prioritise in my work, it's a great job description - and very hard to achieve!!

As I have travelled through the first few years of my ministry, I have felt more and more called to work through how I can convince people that God and Christianity are relevant to people's lives - and that it would be good for them to make a spiritual commitment. Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church, has recently asked the question: 'In offering Christ to someone what do I expect to happen?'. So often, what we expect to happen is that the person will come to church and be like us and like what we like. As an ordained minister, one of my roles is to challenge people with the question and help them develop alternative answers.

We are all blessed to have the sermons of John Wesley and the hymns of Charles Wesley to enrich our journey of faith.

In addition, I particularly admire the Wesley brothers' example of energy and missionary zeal, their sense of urgency for the task at hand.

Something that I believe we could learn from them is their being prepared to be on the edge of the church establishment if that is what is necessary to win people for Christ. This position of being on the margins of the church alongside people on the margins of society is an example and a challenge to us all.

* Known as the 'Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification' and adopted by the World Methodist Council in 2006.

Here is a central part of our faith that, as three independent Christian denominations, we can agree on. This is a good thing: I'm always surprised that Christians of different denominations have so little knowledge of what other Christians believe - and particularly how similar our beliefs are. The more that our beliefs coincide, the more relaxed we can be with one another - and then we can pray and work together to build God's Kingdom.

My views on ecumenism have changed significantly over my years in ministry. At the beginning I was not interested at all. I thought that we could all do fine on our own in our own separate churches. I was not in favour of one large, single Christian denomination.

Today my views are different. I continue to value the existence of a number of Christian denominations - I believe that people find God in all kinds of different ways and so it is important that there are a wide variety of church traditions to meets people's differing needs and experiences of God.

But, I am very aware that one set of Christians do not live in isolation from all other Christians. If you live in a village or town and go to a church, you will undoubtedly know other Christians who go to different churches. When all those who know one another, but who are from different Christian traditions, can come together on occasion and share and celebrate their love of God and God's love for them, then this is a very special thing.

My experience of the practical aspect of ecumenism - organising joint services and events - has been that if we have spent time praying together and getting to know one another, then this has been successful. But, when we have jumped straight to the event then it has not worked out.

I think that the most significant events in Christian History over the last 100 years have been the two most significant events in World History - the two World Wars and all the attendant suffering. Man's inhumanity to man has been exposed for all to see.

Those returning from war, and those who have experienced it in different ways, have been faced with fundamental questions about God, about themselves, and about our place in the world. For many people this has resulted in a crisis of faith which they have not been able to work through.

Something else, possibly of equal significance, but not an event in itself, is the growth of consumerism. This insidious Western disease undermines our whole value system. More and more people are defining themselves only in terms of what they own. Consumerism is becoming some kind of quasi religion.

We should love one another and the community around us. Unconditional love is what will win people over.

Very. I have no doubt whatsoever that Christianity will continue in the UK. Undoubtedly it will take a different form from now, but the core beliefs will remain and will still be relevant to people's lives. The majority of people in the UK have some sense of spirituality, some sense of something bigger than all of us - our challenge is to enable them see that Christianity helps them to frame this in a coherent way that is useful to their lives in the world. We will only achieve this through prayer - through listening to God.

All around us, there are academics and clever people who say that God doesn't exist and religion is just a 'con-job' - that there's no evidence. I can remain hopeful in the face of what often feels like an onslaught because I can point to people who have experienced God, and I can point to people whose lives have changed because of that experience.