Image by Musée McCord Museum via FlickrChris Elliott, the team's Secretary for External Relations, will present the Ecumenical Vision Statement (click and then follow the link to 'Our Ecumenical Calling'), which was received by the 2009 Conference, Agenda Item 45, Daily Record 7/17 and 7/18. She will also introduce the new Ecumenical Stakeholders' Forum, which had its first meeting in October 2010.
Chris Sissons, the Assistant Ecumenical Officer, will present some work he did over a year ago, researching the ecumenical work of the Connexional Team. The main outcome of this exercise was the discovery of 56 formal organisations and 54 informal groups where members of the team participate, as well as numerous other instances of collaboration. This was from a sample of the team members and so the real figures are likely to be substantially higher. Ecumenical collaboration is a significant part of the work of the churches at national level and applies to all sectors of the team's work, not to faith and order related issues only.
The paper recommends the promotion of the Vision statement wherever possible and various resources for the team, including a guide for new members. The team's clusters will be encouraged to discuss their ecumenical relationships and share experiences with partner churches. Copies of this paper can obtained from Chris on request.
Finally, Chris will say something about this blog and how it will develop in the future. Readers of this blog will have to wait a little longer, so watch out for announcements in the not too distant future. Oh yes and team members will have a chance to answer the Christmas New Year Quiz - the answers will be posted here tomorrow.
