Group for Local Unity, November 2010

The Group for Local Unity is a co-ordinating group of Churches Together in England.  It maintains and develops the principles and good practice of ecumenism locally as an essential part of the task of the Member Churches of Churches Together in England.  Its members are appointed by the Member Churches and report to them.  It normally meets three times a year but various working groups also gather between meetings of the full Group.

Today is one of those meetings and here are some items from the agenda.  As always a request for more information about specific items will encourage me to post more about it.

1. Mission-Shaped and Ecumenical – a  paper by David Cornick, General Secretary of CTE.  It begins:
   'In March 2010 Churches Together in England (CTE) organised a consultation between an equal number of missioners and ecumenists. We were prompted partly by the commonly held perception that local ecumenical structures hinder rather than help pioneering mission, but also by the deeply held belief that mission and unity are inseparably inter-related theological realities in Scripture. This report seeks to draw out the main themes of an animated and rich conversation, and for that reason plays fast and loose with the actual chronology of the consultation.'  I hope to post about this at greater length soon.
2. How Intermediate Bodies Meet – a paper about how Churches Together in Dorset organises its meetings.
3. Ordinands and LEPs: do they produce their share?  People who have grown up in a LEP who seek ordination have to decide which Church to seek it from; does that discourage them? In the URC, with its high proportion of LEPs, do they produce a similar proportion of ordinands to those which are not LEPs?
4. Terms of reference for Staffing Consultative Groups.  This is a requested resource and will explore the implications of Common Tenure for rotating ministry in LEPs
5. New Publications.  (a)  Leaflet on Ecumenical Vision Statement: Together instead of Separately; (b) Celia Blackden’s Grove Booklet: Friendship and Exchange with People of Other Faiths: A Context for Witness and Dialogue.

Related articles

• CTE Enabling Group Catch Up (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• The Ecumenical Landscape (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Ecumenical Websites: CTE (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Churches Together In England Enabling Group, September 2010 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• A Statement from the Churches Group for Evangelisation (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)