Methodist Minister in Charge of a Church of England / Methodist LEP

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This post is a question and its answer.  The question was asked by an ecumenical officer and the answer comes from the Church of England.  Note this applies where the LEP is the only Church in the Parish.  Where there is another church, the incumbent there can carry out those duties the Church of England is legally obliged to provide.  I thought there was a lot of useful information in this exchange.  I have made sure it is anonymous and tidied up some of the grammar.

Question:

Is there standard guidance about what a Methodist minister cannot do in terms of Canon law and how those functions are then provided, where a Methodist Minister has sole pastoral charge of a Church of England / Methodist Local Ecumenical Partnership? It would be helpful to know if there are some questions it's best not to ask.  Issues that came to mind when we met were around sacramental matters such as Anglican parishioners not members of the LEP wanting an Anglican wedding, who leads worship if the church wants an occasional Anglican rite such as Book of Common Prayer Communion etc.

Answer:

A Methodist Minister can be authorised by the bishop under Canon B 44 (4) as follows:

4.  (1) A bishop who has given his agreement to participation in a local ecu­menical project under the foregoing provisions of this Canon may by an instrument in writing made after consultation with the parochial church council of each parish or part of a parish in the area of the project,

(a)  make special provision as to the ministry in that area of clerks in Holy Orders, deaconesses, lay workers and readers beneficed in or licensed to any parish wholly or partly in that area;

(b) exercise in relation to that area his powers under Canon B 14A, Canon B 40 and Canon B 43;

(This means among other things authorise ministers of Churches other than the Church of England to preach, lead worship etc)

(c)  authorise ministers of any other participating Church with the good­will of the persons concerned to baptise in a place of worship of the Church of England in that area in accordance with a rite authorised by any participating Church;

(d) authorise a priest of the Church of England to preside in that area at a service of Holy Communion in accordance with a rite authorised by any other participating Church;

(e)  make provision for the holding in that area of joint services with any other participating  Church, including services of baptism and confir­mation;

(f)   authorise the holding, in a place of worship of the Church of England in that area, of services of Holy Communion presided over by a minis­ter of any other participating Church.

Therefore, a Methodist Minister can preside at the Eucharist, baptise, preach and generally lead worship, and so can exercise a pastoral, teaching and sacramental ministry in the area of the LEP. However, the authorisation does not extend to conducting weddings according to the rites of the Church of England (this is due to legal considerations in the Marriage Act).

The Methodist Minister will be the principal minister of the LEP - and the sole stipendiary minister. However, the rules of the Church of England are such that a Church of England Priest will also need to be licensed to the CofE parish which participates in the LEP. This can be done in a number of ways: a neighbouring incumbent, for example, the Area Dean, or a self supporting minister may be licensed to the parish as the incumbent. The role of such a person would be to offer Church of England Ministry (eg Weddings) to those who request it, and to perform such other functions required by the Canons and Regulations of the Church of England in the parish.

The leaflet, Authorisation, sets out the various arrangements possible for the provision of ministry in an LEP, from the CofE's point of view, and the leaflet, Things you wish they'd told you, gives information for a minister who is appointed to be sole minister in an LEP.  These two papers are a bit out of date but it seems they are being revised and new versions should be available soon.  If you're going to use them, I suggest you contact the Council for Christian Unity and ask for up to date copies.

Related articles

• The Parochial Church Council and LEPs (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Ecumenical Report at Methodist Conference 2011 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

The Parochial Church Council and LEPs

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The need to register some Local Ecumenical Partnerships (LEPs) as charities continues to raise new issues about how churches relate to one another.  A couple of years ago Churches Together in England introduced a new model constitution and it is now the only permitted constitution for single congregation LEPs, whether or not they need to register as a charity.  This has, as a side effect, led to a radical simplification of the approval of LEPs.

Unfortunately, some new issues have emerged around the possibility of conflict of interest between ecumenical church councils (ECCs) (set up by the new style constitutions) and Church of England Parochial Church Councils (PCCs).  This is not a problem where the LEP is one church in a parish with more than one church.  The reason is that in such a parish the PCC cannot be the same body as the ECC.

Here is a note from the recent CCU Bulletin, which explains a but more about what is happening.  I'll make one further comment at the end which is very important if you are not an Anglican and trying to understand what this means!

Charity registration of single congregation LEPs is an ongoing task. As dioceses have engaged with this, challenging constitutional issues have emerged, which revolve around the relationship of the Church of England bodies in the parish to the LEP constituted as a charity. Work has been done on a Memorandum of Understanding between the PCC of a parish which participates in a single congregation LEP and the Ecumenical Church Council. The memorandum essentially:

1. Recognises the need for the institutions and bodies of the Church of England in the parish to continue to exist and properly discharge their legal responsibilities.
2. Sets out the responsibilities which the PCC continues to exercise under the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956, the Church of England’s Representation Rules, and the Canons of the Church of England.
3. Expresses the PCC’s commitment to delegate those functions which it may lawfully delegate to the Trustees, and to consult with the Trustees before making decisions which have an impact on the SC-LEPs.
4. Clarifies procedures when members of the PCC who are also Trustees have a conflict of loyalty, arising out of conflict of interest between the PCC and the Trustees.

The memorandum has been adopted by the Churches Group for Local Unity and is currently being road tested in Oxford Diocese.
I will publish a post with the actual memorandum once it becomes available.  In the meantime it is important to understand the PCC in a LEP is itself an ecumenical body.  In a Methodist Anglican LEP, for example, it is in theory possible for the PCC to be entirely Methodist.  I don't recommend this as an effective arrangement but it helps us understand this particular issue.  This is not about a group of Anglicans telling a LEP what to do.  It is about how the LEP is organised internally, to enable it to make legal decisions.

Related articles

• Ecumenical Conference Report on the Methodist Church in Scotland (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Amending LEP Constitutions (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Documenting Local Ecumenical Partnerships (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Technical Ecumenism (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• A Glimpse into the Future (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• The Church of England and the United Reformed Church (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• A Major Development in Shared Ministry (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Related articles

• A Glimpse into the Future (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• The Church of England and the United Reformed Church (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• A Major Development in Shared Ministry (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

The Church of England and the United Reformed Church

The following is adapted from the latest Council for Christian Unity Bulletin, June 2011.

1662 – the restoration of the episcopate in the Church of England, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Act of Uniformity represented a great reversal after the Commonwealth for those who remained loyal to the Church of England as it was before the Civil War. But for 2000 members of the clergy who could not accept re-ordination and conformity in worship it meant expulsion from their livings – victims of the Great Ejection – and a rift in the English Church which has continued into the present. The United Reformed Church has its origins in the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches which were founded after the Great Ejection.

HEALING THE PAST – BUILDING THE FUTURE: The report of the Church of England – United Reformed Church Joint Study Group has recently been published. (The URC Co-Chair was Elizabeth Welch, and for the Church of England the Venerable Joy Tetley). It traces some of the history of the relationship and areas of agreement and continuing difference between our two Churches. 2012 sees the 350th Anniversary of the Great Ejection, and the 40th Anniversary of the formation of the United Reformed Church. The report proposes an event in 2012 which would enable the Church of England and the United Reformed Church to express publicly their penitence for the divisions of the past, their mutual recognition of each other in the present as churches belonging to the one Church of Jesus Christ and their commitment to working together to develop a closer relationship between them in the future.

The report has already been received by the United Reformed Church Mission Council, and will be debated at the General Synod on Monday 11th July.

One of the important tasks is to explore new ways of developing this relationship at local level, along with Methodist Colleagues under the Anglican Methodist Covenant.

Moving Forward in Covenant

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Yesterday I posted about the main proposals in the Joint Implementation Commission 2 (JIC2) report, Moving Forward in Covenant.  In this post I will review the remaining material in the report, to be debated at Methodist Conference 2011. 

Part 1 of the report reviews the history of the covenant and then, in paragraphs 17 - 30, summarises some of the developments over the first couple of years of JIC2.  One of the major developments has been  the inclusion of Welsh and Scottish Methodists, as well as representatives from the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church in Wales, on JIC2.  This section also covers the development of relations between all these churches and the United Reformed Church (para 21).

These paragraphs go on to mention other examples of collaboration, for example:

• Church leaders have addressed General Synod and Methodist Conference (para 22)
• Collaboration between the Church of England's Mission and Public Affairs Division and the Joint Public Issues Team (23)
• A joint working party addressing the ecclesiological implications of emerging expressions of church (24)
• Increased collaboration about schools, further, higher and adult education (25)
• Increased collaboration over local partnership through the joint Methodist Anglican Panel for Unity and Mission (MAPUM) (27)
• Collaboration over safeguarding (28)
• Joint training of local preachers and readers (29)
• Working together in ministerial training (30)

A major development has been joint work on the diaconate. This included a major consultation from 21 - 23 April 2010. There is a full report from the consultation available for those who are interested.

The remainder of the report is devoted to what JIC2 describes as 'causes for concern'.  These include 'patchy' implementation and the reasons for this are elaborated in paragraph 34.  The reasons relate to oversight (episcope), episcopacy, as well as restructuring and budgetary retrenchment in both churches.  Also, as mission has become the overall priority, 'the necessary link between unity and mission ... needs to be grasped afresh'.

The report reviews progress with the move towards women bishops in the Church of England and towards the historic episcopate in the Methodist Church.  Both moves are essential for interchangeability of ministry and have been slower than originally anticipated.  The report reviews progress with both these and concludes, in paragraph 52, that 'while the Church of England's process regarding female bishops continues and while there is no clear outcome within the Methodist Church with regard to episcopacy, there is inevitably a sense of hiatus in the structural implementation of the covenant.'

Related articles

• A Major Development in Shared Ministry (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Methodist Responses to Embracing the Covenant (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Methodist Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission, April 2011 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Methodist Conference 2011 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Ministerial Oversight with Other Denominations (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Archbishop of Canterbury at Methodist Conference 3 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

The Spirit of Life

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The Church of England's Manchester Diocese has developed a new website, The Spirit of Life, exploring predominantly practical approaches to spirituality.  It appears to feature a variety of approaches from a number of traditions.  This might provide further resources for Churches Together groups following up Tuesday's post about the sharing of spiritual treasures.  Here's a an excerpt from their home page:

The Spirit of Life website provides a space to sample and engage the richness of undiscovered heritage that exists in Christianity.

From the depth of space felt on Retreat, to the freedom of self-discovery experienced in Spiritual Companionship, welcome to a place where you might find what you’ve been looking for all this time.

From finding a new direction in life within the strength of a Religious Order or Community, to following in the footsteps of those who have gone before us on Pilgrimage, The Spirit of Life invites you to experience Life.

Exclusive: Methodist Ordinariate

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I have received exclusive news of a major new initiative from the Methodist Church.  Documents have been drawn to my attention that suggest plans are far advanced for the Methodist Church to join the Roman Catholics in offering a haven for dissenting Anglicans.

Last year, Pope Benedict XVI announced an Ordinariate for Anglicans who could no longer continue with the Church of England, owing in particular the possibility of the ordination of women Bishops.  This is all very well for Anglo-Catholics but many evangelicals object to ordination of women too and they have nowhere to go until now.  The Methodist Church does not have women Bishops and so, as an evangelical denomination, it is a very attractive haven.

Furthermore, it seems many liberal Anglicans are dissatisfied with the Anglican Covenant and look towards the Methodist liberal ethos as a way out. 

It seems calculations suggest over 70% of Anglicans might well take advantage of this special offer.  Avril Flew, a member of the Connexional Team this morning stated, 'this could be a real shot in the arm for Methodism.  We'll have anybody and with them all joining us we'll be the biggest church in the land.  This will  mean the aims of the Anglican Methodist Covenant will be achieved in a matter of months.'

So, what would taking the Methodist Ordinariate entail?  Avril reckons the Methodist Church is offering a very exciting package to lay and ordained Anglicans alike:

• Given the Methodist Church almost recognises Anglican orders already, we could see a radically reduced re-training course for Anglican ministers.  They would only need to reinterpret everything in terms of Methodist Doctrinal Standards and so this could take as little as 2 years out of the usual 3.
• Readers in the Church of England will only have to complete 16 of the 19 units of 'Faith and Worship'.
• One big advantage of being a Methodist, is the membership card.  Members of the Methodist Ordinariate will have a special redesigned card and Anglican clergy, after re-training, will have the honour of signing them all.
• And this opens up some fantastic opportunities for lay people.  Owners of a membership card have a right to sit on Methodist committees.  The good news is the Ordinariate will mean the Church will need several new committeees in each District.  Plenty there for everyone to get their teeth into.
• Best of all, there is no shortage of small village chapels to accommodate all the new members.  Clergy who make the transfer will be able to continue using Anglican rites in the context of Methodist Worship in remote and beautiful rural settings. 
• If incoming clergy get a manse they will alo receive use of a standard Methodist lawn mower and cooker.

Avril Flew continued, 'This is a significant development that will transform the ecumenical scene.  The next step is to find someone willing to tell the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Where is everybody?'

Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ

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Those of you who were following last week's meeting of the Church of England's General Synod, may have heard there was a debate about the Virgin Mary.  This was based upon a paper prepared by Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ.  The following article is from the Council for Christian Unity's (CCU) Bulletin.

In February 2008, General Synod requested that the ARCIC II Reports not already considered by Synod should be debated. Church as Communion came before Synod in February 2009 and Life in Christ was the subject of group work in July 2009. The debate on the remaining report, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ, took place at last week’s General Synod.

Part of the motion passed by the Synod ‘encourage(s) Anglicans to study the report with ecumenical colleagues and in particular, wherever possible, with their Roman Catholic neighbours’. Dioceses and Parishes are therefore being urged to follow up this part of the motion.

The full motion moved by The Chair of the Council for Christian Unity (The Bishop of Guildford (The Rt Revd Christopher Hill)), was as follows:
‘That this Synod, affirming the aim of Anglican – Roman Catholic theological dialogue “to discover each other’s faith as it is today and to appeal to history only for enlightenment, not as a way of perpetuating past controversy” (Preface to The Final Report, 1982), and in the light of recent steps towards setting up ARCIC III:

1. note the theological assessment of the ARCIC report Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ in the FOAG briefing paper GS 1818 as a contribution to further dialogue;
2. welcome exploration of how far Anglicans and Roman Catholics share a common faith and spirituality, based on the Scriptures and the early Ecumenical Councils, with regard to the Blessed Virgin Mary;
3. request that, in the context of the quest for closer unity between our two communions, further joint study of the issues identified in GS 1818 be undertaken – in particular, the question of the authority and status of the Roman Catholic dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary for Anglicans; and
4. encourage Anglicans to study the report with ecumenical colleagues and in particular, wherever possible, with their Roman Catholic neighbours.’

You can download the order paper, giving full details of the motion and amendments tabled (all of which were rejected). The motion was passed decisively, following a good quality debate, by a show of hands. The papers supporting the debate, including the text of the report, can be downloaded by clicking on these links:

GS 1818 Briefing paper by FOAG on ARCIC II - Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ
GS Misc 872 FOAG Essays on ARCIC II - Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ
ARCIC II - Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ (original text)

These papers should be used as resources for studying the report, and the Church of England’s response to it, at Diocesan and Parish level. The Briefing Paper (GS 1818) gives a very succinct and useful summary of the report, as well as setting out both its positive aspects and those areas where further work is needed. The FOAG Essays (GS Misc 872) provide an in depth discussion of major themes in the report. The essays come from the full range of perspectives from within the Church of England, and are constructively critical.

In addition, the debate itself could be used as resource. In due course a transcript will be published on the Church of England website, but the audio file of the debate (Wednesday 9th February 2011, item 18) can be downloaded.

Prior to the debate, the Right Revd Christopher Hill introduced the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Westminster, the Right Revd George Stack, who presented a perspective form the Roman Catholic Church, in which he emphasised Pope John Paul II’s call for further study and discernment on the Blessed Virgin Mary. The audio file of Bishop George Stack’s address and Bishop Christopher Hill’s response can be downloaded.

Here are some suggestions for following up the motion in the Dioceses:

• Make the General Synod Motion known to the senior staff of the diocese (a copy of the motion will also be sent to Diocesan Secretaries) for them to consider how to follow it up;
• Approach your counterparts in partner Churches (especially the Roman Catholic Diocesan Ecumenical Officer) to discuss how the report may be studied ecumenically at intermediate and parish level.
• Encourage parishes and deaneries, in which you are aware of a good relationship with Roman Catholic parishes, to study the report together. Remember that our other ecumenical partners may be keen also to participate.
• A number of dioceses have successfully held study days with Roman Catholic colleagues. If you are interested in finding out more how they have approached this, please contact me.
• At parish level, where relationships are developing well, considering issues where there are significant differences between churches, requires careful handling. The principles of Receptive Ecumenism are important here. Where there is respect, generosity and the willingness to listen and learn, such conversations can be very rewarding. If any of you have had particular experience of facilitating such conversation at parish level, it would be good to hear from you, in order to flag up examples of good practice.

Finally, here are details about ARCIC III, the areas it will cover, and details of its Anglican and Roman Catholic members.

It would be interesting to hear from Methodists who are involved in these or similar conversations.  If you are interested in participating, the place to start would be to contact your Diocesan Ecumenical Officer.

Safeguarding Update

One notable area of collaboration between the Methodist Church and the Church of England is over safeguarding.  A paper presented to Methodist Council in January 2011, updates this collaboration.  Here are some excerpts, click on the link for the full paper:

Staffing

The post of Connexional Safeguarding Adviser is a combined post with the Church of England. Elizabeth Hall took over this combined role as from 1 September 2010 following a four month period shadowing the Revd Pearl Luxon.

In addition to the Safeguarding Adviser, the two Churches jointly fund a half-time administrative assistant. The post-holder has been on long term sickness absence since September 2010. The work has been covered in-house but this absence has inevitably limited some important developments, especially website development.

Governance

The Church of England and the Methodist Church have this year been able to realise a long- term aim of combining the committees which overview safeguarding. There is now a Joint Safeguarding Liaison Group, chaired jointly by the Revd David Gamble and Bishop Anthony Priddis (the safeguarding lead in the C of E House of Bishops). This group meets annually. During the year the business is carried out by two sub-committees focusing separately on Vulnerable Adults and Children & Young People – they meet three times with the facility for further meetings if required. The Terms of Reference are attached for approval. This document is also being submitted to the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England.

Policies

In November 2010, the Church of England and the Methodist Church held a combined launch for a suite of revised and new safeguarding policies. In the Methodist Church, these now form the new Safeguarding Handbook. The contents are:

• Safeguarding Children and Young People (final draft approved by Methodist Council, March 2010)
• Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (final draft approved by Methodist Conference 2010)
• Recruiting Safely. This was approved in outline by the Methodist Conference 2010, but it was recognised that it can only be an interim document given the Coalition Government’s very late suspension of the Vetting & Barring Scheme. The document has been published as a web resource only. It should be printed off and inserted into the Handbook.
• Guidelines for working with Domestic Abuse / Violence. These were produced to support the Methodist Conference 2005 report ‘Taking Action’ but never widely circulated. They have been updated and are now included alongside the other safeguarding resources.
• Model policies for church, circuit and district level.

For details of safeguarding and Local Ecumenical Partnerships, check out this post from last July.

Promoting Prayer for Unity

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One of the topics that came up for discussion at the recent meeting of National Ecumenical Officers was prayer for unity. 

The Catholic Church has introduced a moment of prayer for unity, once a month.  So, it may be worth exploring whether this could be broadened into an ecumenical observance.  This might be a prayer to be said during services.  Some places might observe this through a monthly special service, especially where a suitable service already exists.

The aim would be to remind ourselves once a month of the continuing call to unity.  In the light of talk of  an ecumenical winter, such a shared prayer might help us remember, desire for unity is still very much with us.

If such a prayer were possible, there is the possibility of linking it with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  The annual theme could be picked up through the monthly prayers. 

There is another possibility, as some churches are starting to celebrate mid-week festivals on the preceding Sundays.  It seems Catholic Churches in England and Wales were asked to celebrate Epiphany on 2 January this year and this may be a trend in the Church of England too.  Methodists have done this for many years.

So, if there is a trend to do this, how about developing mid-week festivals, such as Epiphany and Ascension, as opportunities for ecumenical prayer and celebration?

So, what do you think?  Is this something your church, Churches Together group or other group of local churches might welcome?  Is it already happening anywhere?  How would you set about it locally?  What resources would you need?  Are there any prayers you would recommend?

Oh yes!  One suggestion for a short monthly prayer was the Pilgrim Prayer:

Lord God we thank you
For calling us into the company
Of those who trust in Christ
And seek to obey his will.
May your Spirit guide and strengthen us
In mission and service to your world;
For we are strangers no longer
But pilgrims together on the way to your Kingdom.
Amen

Related articles

• Where Might we get to Ecumenically? (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Ecumenical Vision Statement (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• National Ecumenical Officers (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• WCC General Secretary meets the Pope (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Ecumenical Basics (2) - Contents

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Yesterday I filled in the background of the ecumenical collaboration behind the Methodist resource 'Ecumenical Basics'.  Today, I intend to summarise its current contents.

There are 35 notes and this might seem a little daunting.  The idea is that each page is no more than one side of A4.  This means they can be copied and circulated for training events, etc.

The first 21 notes owe most to 'Bishops Behaving Ecumenically' and are a basic introduction to ecumenical work for District Chairs.  Where I have made changes it is to widen the scope of the work so that anyone involved with District ecumenical work might learn from it.  There is a mixture of material about general principles of ecumenism and suggestions about how to organise ecumenical work.  The value of this material is that its first author is someone with significant experience, sharing tips about how he organises his work.  Here are a couple of paragraphs from the section 'Taking Time to Learn':

What we seek is a maturity of relationship with ecumenical colleagues, so that communication is open and real not tentative and partial. Trust needs time to grow and a key step is to take the learning process seriously.

We expect to learn the tools of our trade in a whole host of areas. We therefore properly give time to learning the language and procedures of ecumenical working. It is difficult enough learning how our own Church operates, so work which zigzags across a number of Churches, requiring joint attention and decision-making, is bound to be complex, and at times tedious.

This section goes on to suggest two types of learning that need to take place:

• The basics about ecumenical structures and procedures
• Learning how Partner Churches work

The remainder of the notes cover more specific material about how to set up ecumenical structures, eg

• Local Ecumenical Partnerships
• Churches Together Groups
• Appointing Clergy
• Sharing Church Buildings
• Relationship with the United Reformed Church
• the Anglican Methodist Covenant and the Ecumenical Canons
• Joint Confirmations

I try to review these notes once a year or when there are obvious changes.  It's due for a review.  If there is information you would like me to add, please let me know via a comment below.

Related articles

• Ecumenical Basics (1) - Introduction (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Ecumenical Vision Statement (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Ecumenical Basics (1) - Introduction

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This post is the first in a series, highlighting some of the resources for ecumenical officers and others active in local ecumenism, available on the Methodist Church website (and possibly other sites  too).
I'm starting with the largest document, Ecumenical basics: Courtesies and practicalities - Introductory notes for district chairs and those working alongside them.  Today, I offer an account of its origins.

This resource for district chairs and other district officers draws upon notes prepared by Bishop David Hawtin for bishops and their diocesan staff.   'Bishops Behaving Ecumenically: Courtesies and Practicalities, Gateway Notes for Bishops and those working alongside us' (BBE) was written a few years ago by David Hawtin,  Bishop of Repton 1999 - 2006.

I adapted it to the needs and practices of the Methodist Church. Copies of this original paper can be found on the Anglican Methodist Covenant website.  In preparing the Methodist version, I ensured:

1. Some material was reproduced from the BBE resource unaltered; material about history, attitudes and ecumenical procedures.
2. Some material deals with the same topic but from a Methodist perspective and so incorporates Methodist insights and practices. Sometimes it is alongside the original material and sometimes replaces it entirely.
3. Some are new notes, not present in the original.

Ecumenical Basics was prepared with gratitude to Bishop David Hawtin for his permission to adapt his material. He says he is delighted about this co-operative venture!

Please note these are guidelines only and it is the responsibility of local churches to discuss ecumenical issues with their District Ecumenical Officer or other advisors (legal, financial, property for example) as appropriate.

Rumour has it the Baptist Union of Great Britain are working on  their version.

Related articles

• Methodist Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission, November 2010 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Ecumenical Stakeholders Group (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Methodist Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission, November 2010

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How can we be sure a light touch
is the right touch?

I haven't mentioned MAPUM so far and so here is a brief account of what it is.

About two years ago, the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity (CCU) and the Methodist Council agreed to form a successor body to the CCU Local Unity Panel (LUP) and the Methodist Committee for Local Ecumenical Development (CLED) to further the work of Unity in Mission.

The title “Methodist – Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission” (MAPUM) combines the three elements of:

• working together under the Covenant,
• sharing insights and attending to issues, and
• holding the dual imperatives of Unity and Mission with the conviction that neither can be fully addressed in isolation.

MAPUM meets today.  Here are highlights from the agenda.  As always, ask if you would like any items expanded upon.

1. Joint Implementation Commission: Report of meetings held in May and October
2. Promotion of the Anglican Methodist Covenant – AMC website and other methods.  The link takes you to a previous post, which explains this agenda item and requests information.  Any comments you have are still helpful.
3. Methodist – Church of England Single Congregation LEPs: Review of possible models of governance.  This is a report of some of the issues that have come up around the new model constitution for Local Ecumenical Partnerships.   I will post about these issues once things are clearer.
4. Methodist Council – URC Mission Council report of joint meeting.
5. Local Ecumenism Report - a long paper 'Local Unity in Mission' is in preparation for consideration by the Church of England's House of Bishops.  I will post about this when it becomes available.

• Update and process
• Ecumenical Fresh Expressions.  A paper 'Unity in Mission in Fresh Expressions' is to be discussed.  It contrasts 'right touch' with 'light touch' ecumenism.  This will be a topic for a later post.
• Origin and Developments of LEPs. A new paper covering the history of Local Ecumenical Partnerships.  This too will be a theme for a future post.

Related articles

• 'An Anglican Methodist Covenant' Website (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• 5-way Consultation Starts Today (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Joint Implementation Commission Meeting, October 2010

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The next meeting of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant's Joint Implementation Commission takes place this week on Wednesday 6 October 2010.  If you want to know who's on it, follow this link and you will find the members if you scroll down.  I will be posting about this website later in the week.

Today I will highlight some of the issues to be discussed at the meeting on Wednesday.  I may supply more details of specific agenda items in future posts.  Leave a comment if you would like more information about any of these agenda items.

1. Responses to Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM).  This will cover (1) the Methodist response to BEM, 1985 (2) Commentary on Methodist response (3)  BEM on Ministry  (4)  Commentary on CofE response to BEM
2. Relating the Methodist Presidency report to the JIC proposal for a President-Bishop
3. Interchangeability: more thoughts.  A potential rite for the reconciliation of ordained ministries.
4. Progress report on collaboration about Public Issues; Children and Youth Work etc.
5. Communications Strategy
6. Digest of formal statements and decisions by the Methodist Conference on Episcopacy.  These are some of the documents this digest refers to:

• Episcopacy report 1998
• Methodist response to BEM 1985
• Episkope and Episcopacy 2000
• Prospect of Episcopacy 2002

A Foretaste of the Banquet of the Kingdom

Image by digital cat  via FlickrAnother report from this year's Ecumenical Kirchentag, copied from the Church of England, Council for Christian Unity's European Bulletin – No 65, September 2010.  Two other reports have been featured on this blog here and here.  This third report is by Tony Dickinson.

“In a main square in Munich there was a foretaste of the Banquet with a thousand tables and ten places on each set with water, apples, oil and bread. At a podium at one end of the square choirs from Orthodox congregations of Munich sang the praises of God in Russian, Greek, Romanian and German, and Orthodox clergy celebrated evening prayer with age-old chants and clouds of incense. Those at the tables shared their bread with those waiting on the margins of the square. A wonderful parable of the Kingdom.

Wonderful, too, was the number and range of people who visited the Diocese of Oxford stand in the Agora, the huge market-place where over a thousand organisations set up their stall to entice and enlighten passers-by.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Kirchentag forest, Bishop Colin Fletcher joined the sociologist Grace Davie and Catherine Pepinster of “TheTablet” at the first ever wholly English-language event to explore what Christians in Germany might learn from British experience of being “Church” in a secular society, while Bishop Alan was busy combining his daily blog from Munich with the occasional comment piece for the online section of a national newspaper.

Large crowds flocked to the discussion between the veteran theologians Hans Küng and Jürgen Moltmann (standing in at the last minute for his fellow-veteran Eberhard Jüngel), to Chancellor Merkel’s lecture on “Social Cohesion” (where the “house full” signs went up half an hour before the scheduled start).

Talks by Andrea Riccardi, the founder of the Sant’ Egidio Community, and Laurence Freeman of the World Community for Christian Meditation attracted those for whom contemplation and action are the two sides of the Christian coin. There was also much to ponder for those who are concerned about inter-faith relations. A woman rabbi from Jerusalem commended the way in which Christians had taken the lead on all to do with interfaith discussions and warned those of other faiths not to take this for granted. A Bible study on Matthew 25:31-45 in the form of a dialogue between the British Muslim scholar Ataullah Siddiqui and the newly appointed General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, Olav Fykse Tveit, brought out the commonalities between the two faiths and emphasised the need to develop respectful and hospitable theologies. Dr Siddiqui, in his very sensitive handling of the text, noted that the key division was between those who serve Christ without knowing him and those who know Christ without serving him.

The closing service, despite the rain which made numbers smaller than they might have been, was a great success. An extended meditation on Luke 1:46-55, it used traditional and modern hymns, Taizé chants and sign language to expound the meaning of Mary’s song of praise, book-ending the celebration with the first and last movement of J.S. Bach’s great setting of the Magnificat. Four short, but powerful, reflections by representatives of the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Methodist traditions punctuated the liturgy, which concluded with a final message from the two Presidents. Reflecting on the events of the week their repeated message was that the Churches in Germany “need a new departure” on the ecumenical journey.”

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WCC Stewards' Programme

Image by Al_HikesAZ via FlickrIf you are aged between 18 and 30 and interested in the following, you need to apply now!  This article is copied from the Church of England, Council for Christian Unity's European Bulletin – No 65, September 2010.

Young Christians from around the world are invited to apply to the World Council of Churches (WCC) stewards programme for one of two hands-on learning experiences at major ecumenical meetings in 2011, the WCC Central Committee meeting, 8-24 February, and the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, 12-26 May. Applicants must be between the age of 18-30 years.

During the meetings stewards will work in the areas of worship, conference room, documentation, press office, sound, and other administrative and support tasks.

The WCC Central Committee meets every 18 months in Geneva, Switzerland to monitor and set directions to the Council's work. The meeting brings together about 150 church representatives, advisers and observers from WCC member churches and associated organizations worldwide. Twenty stewards will help to make this event happen.

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) will gather some 1000 participants from all over the world in Kingston, Jamaica. The IEPC will be a “Harvest festival” celebrating the achievements of the Decade To Overcome Violence which began in 2001. Participants of many different backgrounds will witness to the peace of God as both gift and responsibility of the entire human family. The IEPC stewards programme will have 45 participants, with one third of them coming from Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Before the meetings, stewards follow an ecumenical learning programme which exposes them to the key issues of the ecumenical movement worldwide. The last phase of the stewards programme, following the meeting, focuses on designing ecumenical projects which stewards will implement back home.

Being a steward means hard work, but it is also a unique ecumenical experience of togetherness with young people from different churches, countries and cultures.

Applicants are invited to send in the application form:

• by 30 September 2010 for the Central Committee
• by 30 November 2010 for the IEPC

To download application form visit: http://www.oikoumene.org/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/apply-now-stewards-progr-1.html

For more information about the Decade to Overcome Violence visit: http://www.overcomingviolence.org/

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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A Glossary of Church of England terms

Image via WikipediaI came across this document the other day, a glossary of Church of England terms.  It was written a few years after the Anglican Methodist Covenant as a guide for Methodist partners.

So, if you have ever wondered what on earth a conventional district is supposed to be, here is your opportunity to find out. 

I note though there is no definition of a Peculiar.  Those who are aficionados of the Parish of Theakston will, I am sure, be most disappointed.

I am sure at some stage work was done on a similar glossary of Methodist Church terminology but I have so far been unable to locate it or track down who was compiling it.

If you have any recollection of what happened to the Methodist glossary, or if you have one you're using locally which might be shared with a wider audience, please let me know.

Amusing (and reasonably polite) definitions of Methodist or Anglican terminology are always welcome of course.

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Anglican Roman Catholic Relations

I recently received the following email from Revd Bill Snelson, Development Officer UK at the Anglican Centre in Rome .  It is worth looking at the two Powerpoint slideshows on the site.  They cover a brief history of the two churches and an account of how they currently work together.

Two presentations on the website of the Anglican Centre in Rome look at the relationship between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Churches today: how Anglicanism developed, where it fits in alongside the other Churches of Christendom, and how it is working with other Christians at home and overseas.



The presentations can be seen on www.anglicancentreinrome.org/RESOURCES


“Anglicanism and the Western Christian Tradition: Continuity and Change” is an updated version of an exhibition held in the Vatican Museums at the invitation of the Roman Catholic Church in 2002. It provides an overview of Christianity in England from the earliest times and explores some of the stages in the search for unity between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. The story is taken up in “Moving Together in Unity and Mission” which gives contemporary examples of where and how the two Churches are collaborating both locally and nationally.


The highly-acclaimed exhibition at the Vatican was instigated by the British Ambassador to the Holy See and planned in conjunction with Norwich Cathedral. It uses Norwich as a specific case study to help unfold a rich and intriguing history. “Despite more than four hundred years of separation since the Reformation”, says the text, “Anglicans remain part of the Western Christian tradition. Living apart has meant, however, that there has been change as well as continuity.”

The presentation of current developments towards closer inter-church relations is inspired by a statement from an international commission of Anglican and Roman Catholic Bishops, “Growing Together in Unity and Mission”, first published in 2007. The presentation looks at what has happened to heal the memories of the past, to work together in the present, and to build a less prejudiced society in the future.


The Bishop of Wakefield, The Rt Revd Stephen Platten, Chairman of the Anglican Centre in Rome, says:


“The Pope’s visit is a significant step on the road to Christian unity. The two presentations help us understand the English context: how long that road to unity is, and how positive Anglican-Roman Catholic collaboration is on the ground today. I welcome these new resources which form part of the Anglican Centre in Rome’s role of building friendly and informed relations between Anglicans and Catholics.”

Second Ecumenical Kirchentag 2

The following article is the second I have found about May's Ecumenical Kirchentag.  It is from the latest edition of the Church of England's European Bulletin.  If you would like to know more about European Ecumenism, you can subscribe to the Bulletin from this page on the Methodist Church website.

Perhaps Hope Together will be the equivalent of the Kirchentag in Britain?

This second ecumenical Kirchentag, which took place in Munich from Wednesday 12 to Sunday 16 May, brought to light a strong participation from the UK and the continuing interest of its people in the Kirchentag. In all there were over 250 participants from the UK including bishops from the Church of England. The theme for the gathering was ‘That you may have hope’. It was an ecumenical feast making visible the diversity of Churches and Christian fellowship. Munich was transformed into a city in which the old and young met in order to pray and worship together and to engage with current political and theological issues. At the inaugural service the President of Germany spoke of the importance of ecumenical unity at a time of challenge – noting particularly the abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church. One of the key theological issues under discussion was the Eucharist and why Protestants and Roman Catholics cannot share together in it. There were several appeals to begin practising common Eucharist wherever possible in order to then put in place the appropriate theory (first praxis then theory).

The Meissen Service was hosted by the Anglican/Episcopal Church of the Ascension and the Evangelisch-Lutherische Emmauskirche and held on Thursday May 13. The Munich Concert Choir added to the festive atmosphere in a church filled to capacity. 7 Anglican and 7 Lutheran bishops were present. The Church of England Co-Chair of the Meissen Commission and Bishop of Croydon, The Rt Revd Nick Baines was the celebrant and the EKD Co-Chair, Bishop Friedrich Weber preached.

At what is called the ‘Marketplace’ the partnership and links were on display. There was a specific Meissen-Stall with displays highlighting a number of the links and partnerships between the Church of England and the EKD. In addition to this the EKD-Stall provided constant information on Meissen.


On the whole this was a Kirchentag which made visible the fruits of almost 20 years of Meissen Commission work.

Archbishop of Canterbury at Methodist Conference 3

Image via Wikipedia

In addition to two previous posts about the Archbishop's address to Methodist Conference 2010 (one below and follow the links to the other), it is possible to read the Methodist President's address to General Synod (February 2010) and the Pastoral Letter that followed it on the Methodist Church website.  For those who can't get enough ecumenism, this will equip you with the full texts of the formal public exchanges this year.

Here is another account of the Archbishop's address to Methodist Conference from CTE News:

Dr Williams' challenge at Methodist Conference

Addressing the annual Methodist Conference, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said he wanted to see the Church of England and Methodist communities growing much closer together. In a 40-minute address to the Conference in Portsmouth’s Guildhall, the Archbishop contrasted the roles of the apostles Peter and Paul in the Church, and what the contemporary Church could learn from them.



In a further 40-minute session, the Archbishop took a wide range of questions. Dr Williams was asked what risks the Church of England was taking in relation to the Covenant with the Methodist Church. “The answer is not a lot,” Dr Williams replied. “We are being invited, in the short to middle term, to work out flexibility on models of ‘dual nationality’; that is, how two communities with two different histories can develop some genuine overlapping life.”


Dr Williams also answered a question as to whether a Covenant relationship between Anglicans and Methodists was exclusive. “A covenant ought to be a friendship written down,” he said. “It doesn’t mean there are no other friendships. If it becomes us against them; a little friendship against the world, well, God help us really. Any act of reconciliation has to be mutual; Anglican clergy at every level accepting the ministry of those they are being reconciled with.”


The Methodist Church and the Church of England are in a covenant relationship. On 1 November 2003, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and the General Secretary of the General Synod, together with the President, Vice President and Secretary of the Methodist Conference signed the Covenant at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. The Covenant puts the two Churches on a path of ever-deepening relationships, mutual trust and co-operation on the road to a richer unity.

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