Methodist Ecumenical News: Cytun

Showing posts with label Cytun. Show all posts

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Ecumenism in Ambridge

Regular readers will be delighted to hear ecumenism is very much alive in the County of Borsetshire. Usually we hear little of the churches in Borsetshire, primarily because its best known village, Ambridge, seems to have never accommodated anything other than a parish church.

At the meeting of new ecumenical officers last week, participants examined a case study of Borsetshire and found there was much going on in the surrounding villages and towns. It appears a County Ecumenical Development Officer post is about to be advertised and I'm sure many of us will be viewing it with a mixture of interest and scepticism.

The new ecumenical officers' training course has undergone a number of staff changes in recent years and consequently, this year a number of new elements were introduced, of which the Borsetshire case study was one. Overall, there were a number of unexpected emerging themes.

One development was a deepening appreciation of the role of prayer and spirituality in ecumenical work. The staff have always underlined the need to deploy listening skills and this year, the group explored the importance of presence and using all senses to understand the stories of ecumenical work but also the underlying or hidden narrative, which sometimes needs to be reflected back to local people.

Closely connected was the important insight that the role of the ecumenical officer is more than being a resource for technical know-how. It is a ministry and can draw on conventional forms of ministry. Some Ecumenical Officers might draw on pastoral work, for example, or development work.

Here are some of the issues identified by participants on the course:

How do we get the right balance between bottom up work with Churches Together groups, for example, and top down constitutions? Why do we need constitutions?
To what extent are emerging churches off the ecumenical radar?
How inclusive are we? Are we prepared to take risks in relationship forming?
The Global perspective, ecumenism is not restricted to Britain alone.
Belonging to an institution and forming relationships beyond it can be a difficult balancing act. How far can we go? Does ecumenism embrace groups such as Mormons?
What do we do when the institutions cause problems, eg over the ordination of women or sexuality?

NB For overseas readers, 'The Archers' is a BBC Radio 4 soap, set in Ambridge, Borsetshire. Please don't confuse this Ambridge with the one in Pennsylvania! Furthermore this video, demonstrates the central place The Archers has in our national life.

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

Training Course for Ecumenical Officers

Today marks the first day of the annual ecumenical training course for ecumenical officers. It is organised by Churches Together in England (CTE) and Cytun. It is an opportunity for County and Denominational Ecumenical Officers who have just taken up the role, to learn something of the basics.

One important aspect of the course is the presence of most of the National Ecumenical Officers as well as staff from CTE and Cytun. This is an opportunity for new people to put faces to names and learn something of the issues that are current amongst the officers.

The course has four main dimensions:

The core of the course is a visit to an ecumenical project. This takes up most of the second day, with preparation, the visit and a debrief. This year there are four destinations for visits: Mission in the Economy, Liverpool Seafarers' Centre, Fourth Dimension Churches' Shop, Church of the Resurrection and of St Bridgets.
There is a taught section of the course which looks at the role of the ecumenical officer and some of the hot topics are challenging ecumenical officers today. This year these include new ecumenism (relationships with new churches), relationships with new black churches and the role of Intermediate Bodies.
There is time in denominational groups, so that each type of officer receives some input about their own tradition. The County Officers have their own group about their own distinct role.
There are a number of worship sessions that include opportunities to experience worship from various traditions, as well as ecumenical worship.

Tuesday, 7 September 2010

Ecumenical Websites: Cytun

The website for Cytun (Churches Together in Wales) has a rather uninspiring home page but it is worth going beyond it because the site itself is well designed. Clearly the aim is to present an accessible account of Cytun's work and a lot of thought has been put into this approach. Here is a typical page. Note how it presents information without too much detail. On the other hand, click on the map and you'll find loads of useful information about faith groups in Wales.

Movement around the site is not always straightforward however, as access to links are not entirely consistent. Returning to the home page can be quite an adventure!

I think it is possible to toggle between English and Welsh on every page. It would be helpful to have a single icon in the same place on each page.

This site has a blog! It seems to be used primarily as a means to publicise events. It's not clear who compiles it or what you need to do to get information onto it. This information could easily be placed in the blog's right hand column.

Overall, this is a site that has been well planned and provides an informative introduction to ecumenism in Wales. In some places it's a bit difficult to navigate and does not offer much in the way of opportunities for participation.

Star rating: *** out of *****

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