Book of Offices (1936)

This replaced earlier WM service books dating from 1882, and was sub-titled 'the Orders of Service authorized for use in the Methodist Church together with the Order for Morning Prayer'. This last was 'included for the convenience of the Methodist Churches where it is in use'. The other services were authorized by the Conference of 1936 and the book supplied the need for an agreed book of services after Methodist Union. It included a new Alternative Service for the Lord's Supper, for those branches of Methodism which had not been accustomed to the traditional full order of Word and Sacrament. This was clearly designed to follow a preaching-service and appealed also to some ex-WMs, but has not survived. The 1936 Book was one of the first Methodist books to include an order for the Ordination of Deaconesses. It was superseded by the Methodist Service Book (1975) and more recently by the Methodist Worship Book (1999).

Sources
  • Kenneth Tibbetts, 'The Revision of the Methodist Book of Offices', in London Quarterly and Holborn Review, October 1962, pp.270-76
  • Kenneth Grayston, 'The Function of the Book of Offices', in London Quarterly and Holborn Review, July 1964, pp.212-16
  • John C. Bowmer, 'The Methodist Book of Offices: an essay in liturgical revision', in London Quarterly and Holborn Review , October 1966, pp. 268-76
  • David M. Chapman, Born in Song: Methodist Worship in Britain (Buxton, 2006)

See also

Entry written by: ARG
Category: Publication
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