Tim Carter has been appointed to the post of Connexional Safeguarding Adviser to the Methodist Church.
Mr Carter has worked in the area for a number of years, most recently as a member of the connexional Safeguarding Committee and he worked as Assistant Director for children's charity Barnado's.
His new role will involve working in partnership with the Church of England.
Commenting on his appointment, Tim Carter said: "It's not every day that an opportunity like this presents itself and I am really pleased to have been appointed to advise the Church through the next chapter in the on-going story of how we rise to the challenge of making sure our work with children and vulnerable adults is safe and well supported.
"We know that our practice has made significant advances and yet the world does not stand still and we have to be constantly reviewing our effectiveness and adherence to new legislation and research evidence.
"I am looking forward to leading this."
In May 2015 the Church released it's Church's Past Safeguarding Review which highlighted the progress the Church had made on safeguarding as well as the plans it had in the future to address the issue.
23 recommendations were made, including improvements for record keeping and storage, as well as reviewing safeguarding training materials and the identification of further resources to support victims and survivors of abuse.
One of the most urgent concerns highlighted was the need for greater levels of accountability and supervision.
A formal code of conduct for ministers was also brought up.
Other suggestions included selection criteria for senior church positions that will be developed to include awareness of and ability to deal effectively with safeguarding issues.
A decision was also made that until Methodist Church has more robust accountability processes in place there will be an independent review of progress on the recommendations every year.
Tim Carter will officially take to his role in November.
