Closer Working: Consultation Resolution

Image via WikipediaI posted a series about the Closer Working Consultation during August.  There are eight earlier posts, starting with an account of the consultation, which you might like to visit if you have not seen this material before.  I promised to publish the consultation resolution as soon as the wording had been agreed.

This resolution is intended for local churches.  If you are a member of one of the churches mentioned, please leave a comment about whether or not you support the resolution, your reasons and ideas about how it might be rolled out.

The resolution will go to the first ever joint meeting of the Methodist Council and United Reformed Mission Council during October.  It will be one of several optional papers for group work.  Groups will be able to make recommendations to the final session.  The resolution will also be discussed at several other meetings over the next few months.

The Uniting Churches in Britain

The United Reformed/Methodist consultation “Closer Working” meeting at Woodbrooke Hall Birmingham in April 2010, affirms both the valuable ecumenical work taking place across Britain and the urgent mission imperative to more effectively empower this work. We call upon our two churches to work with the Church of England, the Episcopal Church of Scotland and the Church in Wales, to create a higher profile for a movement towards visible unity that brings into being “Uniting Churches in Britain”, The consultation therefore invites the appropriate bodies of our two churches (both “centrally” and locally) and any other interested churches to make the following affirmation:


We recognise that the Anglican/Methodist Covenant, the growing shared work between the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church and agreements between our two churches in Scotland and Wales mean that the three churches, Anglican, Methodist and United Reformed are on a journey together with a goal of full visible unity. We invite others who share this goal to join us on this journey. To aid the recognition of this journey together in the mission work we undertake, we commit ourselves to work together to become more visibly “Uniting Churches in Britain”.

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Ministerial Oversight with Other Denominations

The reply below, to the following Memorial (M2), was accepted by Methodist Conference 2010.

Working with other denominations to provide ministerial oversight.

The Barnet and Queensbury (35/35) Circuit Meeting (Present: 25. Voting: unanimous) notes the difficulty in finding presbyters to fill appointments in the Methodist stationing process and the concurrent problems in other denominations, particularly in the United Reformed Church.

The Circuit urges the Conference to look at ways and means to collaborate with other denominational authorities in providing a cohesive strategy to provide ministerial oversight for Methodist churches and local churches of other denominations.

Reply

The Conference thanks the Barnet and Queensbury Circuit for its memorial. In the 2009–10 connexional year there was a shortfall of 34 presbyters for available stations, which was a decrease from the previous year and the same number as 2007–08. Work is currently being undertaken to address the concerns regarding the number of candidates through the organisation of successful ‘Vocations Days’ around the Connexion as well as through the production of engaging publications and through ensuring that the website is as accessible as possible. Significant improvements have also been made to the processes which support candidates as they produce a portfolio for the selection committees.

Ecumenical conversations about the provision and deployment of ministerial resources are a crucial part of the work of the Ministries and Learning Team within the Connexional Team, and the Team continues to engage with a number of partners to discern innovative and productive ways to share such resources. The development of policy in this area will be enhanced by the development of a Ministries Committee, as reported elsewhere in the Agenda. A joint meeting during the 2010–11 connexional year of the Methodist Council and the Mission Council of the United Reformed Church will provide another forum to discuss initiatives and strategies with partner denominations.

The Conference therefore accepts this memorial and welcomes the further work which is to be undertaken in this area by the Methodist Council and the Shadow Ministries Committee.