Group for Local Unity, May 2011

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The Group for Local Unity (GLU) is a co-ordinating group of Churches Together in England and it meets today. 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 (the last meeting was in March 2010) and here are some items from today's agenda. As always a request for more information about specific items will encourage me to post more about it.

1. GLU will be considering the role of Staffing Consultative Groups in LEPs.  These groups are normally set up during periods of transition from one minister to another.  Representatives of the partner churches meet with local members and members of the Sponsoring Body.  The purpose of the group is to ensure all the various interest groups are in contact and helped to make the right decision about appointment of a new minister according to the LEP's constitution and the regulations of the parent churches.
2. There will be a paper about how the United Reformed Church calculates contributions towards the cost of ministers and how this works in LEPs. 
3. There is an issue around pensions for Baptists ministers.  Because of the way the Baptist Union is structured, minister's pensions are paid by the local church.  There are issues around what happens when a baptist minister leaves and is replaced by a minister of another tradition.
4. Clarification of the Salvation Army's Territorial position on LEPs.  This item was held over from the last meeting.
5. A report from a working group about the sharing of buildings.  This covers not only Sharing Agreements but other ways of sharing buildings.  The paper argues the need for a simplified resource detailing ways of sharing buildings and addressing some of the anxieties about hosts and guests.

Related articles

• Technical Ecumenism (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)