Formal Ecumenism, Fresh Expressions and the New Churches

An important piece of work currently under development is the Joint Anglican Methodist Working Party on the Ecclesiology of Emerging Expressions of Church (JAMWPEEEC). 
One theological question they are addressing is, when does something that is an expression of Christian action become a church?  When should it be treated as a church and indeed treat itself as a church? 

Many new churches currently have no link with formal ecumenism, or understanding of its history or purpose.  There is no established link between fresh expressions and ecumenism.  The tendency is for each to talk internally amongst people who agree with each other.

The situation is complicated because the churches differ in their understanding of what they mean by church.  So, the Orthodox understanding of the Church, for example, means that to them all churches with the possible exception of the Roman Catholic Church are fresh expressions!  Ecumenists in all traditions need to find a way to move beyond presenting a view and discuss this question. 

The discussion is currently very imbalanced and we are failing to create an ecumenical space for the necessary conversations to take place.  This also means resources need to be found for these conversations.

This is the second of three theological issues identified at a recent meeting of National Ecumenical Officers.  They are all red hot issues, as yet unresolved.  So, please add your comments, particularly if they relate to how you experience this issue locally.  Comments will be passed to the relevant people.

The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity

Image via Wikipedia

At first glance evolution, and indeed wider scientific issues, have little to do with ecumenism.  Possibly this is a specialist area but it is not entirely irrelevant and for some of us endlessly fascinating.

As I see it there are at least two reasons why ecumenists need to take evolution seriously:

1. Our understanding of evolution from a theological perspective is something most properly done ecumenically.  As always, the aim is not to find a single theological formula but as each tradition works on its own approach, it can be stimulated by and perhaps accountable to the others.
2. Some approaches to evolution are divisive.  Those who have a particular biblical interpretation which tells them the earth is only a few thousand years old, for example, sometimes split themselves off from other Christians who do not believe this.  The radical atheists don't help.  This problem is theological not scientific.

If you are interested in evolution and the Christian faith, you might be interested in The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity.  If you follow the link you will find this is a project initiated by an American Pentecostal Pastor, Revd Michael Dowd. 

Over Advent and Christmas there will be 30 talks which can be downloaded from the site.  Reference to the schedule will show you this is an ambitious programme.  After 6 January there will be a series of dialogues.

There is also a blog, which means there is an opportunity to respond to the issues raised.  You can register on the site and receive email alerts as the talks appear, although I'm not convinced this always works!

This is a valuable resource whatever your views about evolution and worth following while it is available.

Ecumenical Identity

Image via Wikipedia

Two intersecting circles illustrate Ken's point.

The following is a post prepared by Revd Ken Howcroft, Connexional Ecumenical Officer:

The word “identity” has kept cropping up at ecumenical meetings and discussions recently. Thinking about it, it strikes me that there has been a shift over the years.

At one time we looked for areas where the circles of our various Churches’ identities overlapped, and we thought of that area as our common Christian identity or the identity of the universal Church of Christ that we share in common. We then sought to do everything that we could to expand that area of overlap, seeing the things in it as the essence of our identity as parts of Christ’s Church and the things outside it as secondary. It led to us talking of “the coming great church” and “visible organic unity”.

There are great strengths in that. But there are also some potential problems. One is that the giving and receiving of gifts (“receptive ecumenism”) could come to be seen as a matter of exchanging luxuries or ephemera rather than essentials (rather like Christmas presents for people who have got everything they think they want!). Another is that Churches (particularly but not exclusively large and powerful ones) can tend to assume that their secondary markers of identity will remain and that other Churches will just accommodate to them.

A third problem is that it works best with a conciliar view of ecumenism (in which ecumenical Councils of Churches are seen as prototypical governance bodies of a single united Church that is coming into being). So the shift towards a Churches Together way of working has been accompanied by a radical shift in the model.

The idea of separate Churches working together in a way that leads to visible communion (rather than merger into an homogenous, single institution) means that what defines each Church’s identity becomes not what it shares in common with others but the special attributes and emphases or particular combinations of them which distinguish it from others.

The danger then, however, is that things which seemed to be second-order or non-essential issues forty years ago now take on first-order importance (a phenomenon noted by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a speech in Rome last year). In this model the common essence of what it means to be Christ’s Church tends to vanish out of sight, or at best be subsumed into the things which differentiate that Church from others.

Moreover receptive ecumenism now becomes a giving and receiving of gifts that is akin to trading in essentials, with all the power-brokering that that entails. In other words it becomes even more difficult to do, particularly where the essentials are in tension with each other: for example (and admittedly to caricature the point in order to make it), “I will receive the gift of the historic episcopate from you provided that you receive from me the gift of the primary locus of oversight being the local congregation with which nobody else can interfere”.

I would like to think that there was another way forward. Identities are not suits of clothes that you can simply put on and take off. Even an actor who takes on the outward markers and even the intellectual and emotional mindset of a whole range of different characters has to find an integrity of performance, and that means recognising how the identity being assumed as an actor connects with the essential identity of the actor as a person.

Who we are as individuals and as Churches develops and changes over time. It gets expressed and re-expressed in different contexts. There are continuities and discontinuities in those forms of expression. But unless there is some underlying continuity in the development the result is dis-ease, a lack of wholeness and, dare I say it, a deficiency of holiness.

Thus my identity includes the fact that I am a son, to which I have added that of being a husband and being a father. But I would be a dysfunctional father if I forgot what it is to be a son. Similarly when St Paul says “To the Jews I became as a Jew… to the Greeks I became as a Greek… etc” in 1 Corinthians 9, he is not talking of a complete identity transplant. The one who becomes as a Jew and as a Greek remains the same Christian-Pharisaic-Jew or Jewish-Pharisaic-Christian. But that identity changes and develops as it is expressed in the different contexts.

To personalise it all, although I have not lived there for many years I am shaped by the fact that I come from a particular sort of setting in Lancashire. Similarly I shall always be shaped by the fact that I am a Methodist. But just as I can be a Lancastrian and live in other parts of the world, and be an ordained minister in the Church rather than a coal-miner, so I can be a Methodist within a wider expression of the Church. I admit that I am helped in that by the fact that Methodism’s origins (which set the parameters for its identity) were in being a movement inside another Church.

I therefore believe that a move into visible communion where what marks the Church of Christ is at least the highest common factor of our authentic identities as separate Churches (rather than the lowest common denominator of overlapping identity as in the first model above) and hopefully (in the theological sense of that term) more, and which can contain our differing identities in relationships which enrich us all, is possible.

So what is stopping us? At the recent joint meeting of the Methodist Council and the URC Mission Council people kept saying that there were things preventing them working together in worship and mission in local situations. When we asked them to say what they were, we had to keep saying “But you can already do that!”.

So is what is stopping us either a lack of confidence in our common identity as the Church of Christ, or our separate identities as Churches in Christ, or is it a lack of will?

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Ecumenical Stakeholders Group

Image by Catholic Church (England and Wales) via Flickr

The first meeting of the Methodist Church's Ecumenical Stakeholders' Group (ESG) will take place on Thursday 7 October 2010.  This group was established by Methodist Council and its remit is reproduced at the end of this post.  The remit is likely to be reviewed early in the life of the group.

The current membership of the group includes from England Peter Whittaker, Chair of West Yorkshire District; from Scotland Lily Twist, Chair of Scotland District and Bill Reid, Connexional Liaison Officer; from Wales Stephen Wigley, Chair of the Wales District and Ian Morris from  the Cymru District.  The meeting will be chaired by Eluned Williams from Wales.  Connexional Team staff in attendance will include Chris Elliott , Secretary for External Relations, Gareth Powell, Head of the Governance Support Cluster, Ken Howcroft, Ecumenical Officer and Chris Sissons, Assistant Ecumenical Officer.

The agenda for this first meeting will include the following items.  I will blog in more detail about some of these topics later.  Please comment if any item is of particular interest to you.  As this is the first meeting of the group, a number of items will help ESG determine its future agenda.   It will normally meet once a year and communicate between times by email.  However, it will most likely meet again in spring 2011 in order to establish its agenda.

1. Background to Ecumenical Stakeholders Group
2. Framework for engaging with and funding of Ecumenical Instruments
3. Framework for engaging with and making decisions concerning ecumenical partners in a national context, especially the Commission of Covenanted Churches, Wales
4. The Uniting Churches in Britain
5. Ecumenical Pages of Web site and Ecumenical Blog
6. Ecumenical Reception – a paper for future discussion

The following is the remit for the group, at that time called the Ecumenical Reference Group, when Methodist Council set it up in April 2008:

1.1.1. Therefore the Group proposes that an Ecumenical Reference Group should be established with the following purpose:

• Promote the Methodist Church vision for ecumenical partnership and dialogue and stimulate action.
• Listen to the experiences of those involved in ecumenical partnerships and representation in order to promote good practice.
• Develop and maintain an overview of ecumenical activity and relationships across Britain and Ireland, ensuring that the diversity of local expression informs the Team and other ecumenical activity.
• Encourage coherence and consistency in all ecumenical activity.
• Encourage, in collaboration with other panels and dialogue groups, the expression of ecumenical commitment at all levels of connexional life.
• Offer advice on specific ecumenical work undertaken by members of the Team as well as pay attention to how work may be done ecumenically across the whole Team.
• Offer advice on ecumenical subscriptions and appointments to ecumenical dialogues/bodies.

1.1.2. It would not be for the group to receive reports from other ecumenical groups or instruments. However it would need to respond to the experiences of such groups, which may be by way of offering a critique of work undertaken in light of the overall vision for ecumenical work. To do this the Ecumenical Reference Group would need to relate to and interact with:

• The Faith and Order Committee, Ecumenism Resource Group
• MAPUM (Methodist/Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission)
• Joint Implementation Commission
• Methodist – Catholic Dialogue Commission
• Methodist - URC Committee
• Fresh Expressions
• Meetings of District Ecumenical Officers

1.1.3. Membership (non ex-officio members to be appointed by Council):

• Secretary for External Relationships
• Connexional Ecumenical Officer
• Assistant Connexional Ecumenical Officer
• Those responsible for ecumenical work at a national level in Wales and Scotland
• Secretary of the Faith and Order Committee (or Convener of Faith and Order Ecumenism Resource Group)
• Other members able to offer experience of:

o Local ecumenical work, both formal and informal with a range of partners.
o National dialogues and instruments.
o Ecumenical trends and developments at an international level.

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'URCumenism' Blog

Image by Vicki's Pics via FlickrA warm welcome to another ecumenical blog.  The author of URCumenism is Revd David Tatum, the Secretary for Ecumenical Relations at the United Reformed Church.  I've put a link in the right hand column of this blog, so that you can access it. 

David usually posts after significant meetings.  It is a personal and engaging read and so it is a welcome contribution to blogs about ecumenism. 

I note a couple of recent posts which may be of interest to readers of this blog.

1. The ecumenical service at Westminster Abbey, led by Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury on Friday 17 September 2010.  David has written an account on URCumenism, here.  You will also find a report of the service on the URC website, here.
2. A few days ago, I posted looking forward to the AGM of the Society for Ecumenical Studies.  David has posted about this meeting, here.

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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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Breathe: A Christian network for Simpler Living

Breathe is another example of an unofficial ecumenical organisation, of a small group of enthusiasts sharing information and ideas.  Community Mission describes Breathe, thus:

Breathe, a Christian network for simpler living, has a regularly updated blog with information on how to fight the battle against over-consumption. It has recently launched Conspiracy of Freedom, a website with three new videos that can be used as part of a church service or with a home group to spark discussion on these issues. The videos ask questions about how it is possible to live contentedly, give generously and resist greed. Jeremy Williams, one of the Breathe founders, is leading a workshop at the Community Mission Conference on 1 October in London.

Here is what they say about themselves:

Breathe is…

A Christian network for simpler living. We connect people who want to live a less consumerist, more generous, more sustainable life. Subscribe for free monthly updates at in@breathenetwork.org.

We aim to be non-judgemental, realistic and simple to be part of. We want to APPRECIATE life more fully; REFUSE the consumer dream; CONNECT with others; and CHOOSE a more generous lifestyle.

Breathe represents orthodox Christians of all kinds. It is run by five friends.

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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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Churches Together In England Enabling Group, September 2010

Westminster Hall in 1808 (from Wikipedia Commons)

Today Churches Together in England's Enabling Group meets for one of its twice yearly meetings.  Enabling Group's role is to reflect upon the progress of ecumenical relationships in England.  It is 'a key level of governance because it is where all the churches, which are members of the organisation, are able to be represented.  (It) also includes representatives of the Intermediate Bodies, representatives of the Bodies in Association and of the Forum.'  (See CTE's websites for definitions of these terms.)  Some time will be set aside for the review of governance, which has been taking place during the last year.

The meeting will take place in London.  Originally, Enabling Group was to meet in Leeds but the Pope's visit led to a change of plan.  So, the meeting will be interrupted so that its members can attend the service in Westminster Abbey.  The Pope will be delivering an address in Westminster Hall at the House of Commons, which will be relayed to the service in Westminster Abbey.  This will take a big chunk of time out of the Enabling Group meeting, as the service will take in excess of two hours.

The rest of the Enabling Group meeting will comprise of CTE Annual General Meeting and election of Directors.  Enabling Group will hear reports from the Directors and General Secretary.  The group will also consider two applications for membership of CTE.

Some of the issues likely to come up include:

1. A document is to be published soon about a conversation initiated earlier this year between ecumenists and exponents of 'Fresh Expressions'.
2. Observations about changes happening in Intermediate Bodies and the implications of local changes happening 'under the radar' for Intermediate Bodies in general. 
3. The Right to Warmth Campaign

So, this meeting will be somewhat truncated.  I'll report on any significant decisions later.  Leave a comment if there is anything you would particularly like to read about.

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Christ's Body in Corinth

From time to time, I will highlight some helpful texts about ecumenism.  The Methodist Church website includes a page about Ecumenical Reading, where you will find more.

Today's book is 'Christ's Body in Corinth' by Yung Suk Kim.  This book highlights a way of understanding ecumenism, quite distinct from the traditional full visible unity.  His assertion that reconciliation between Christians and unity are incompatible is challenging.  I have a review of the book on the Churches Together in England website.

Society for Ecumenical Studies

I had not heard of the Society for Ecumenical Studies until I recently received an email informing me of their AGM.  It looks as if their website has a number of interesting papers on it.

However, their site is out of date and it seems they are considering their future.  I hope they'll keep going as, perhaps with a membership drive, they might continue to support ecumenical conversations based upon their work.  If you would like to see the Society continue and can't make the AGM, it might be worth letting therm know you are interested. 

In the meantime, their annual meeting is to be addressed by David Gamble, the past President of Methodist Conference (pictured), who is always worth hearing and sometimes controversial.  Here are the details:

SOCIETY FOR ECUMENICAL STUDIES ANNUAL MEETING

“CHRISTIAN UNITY – WILL IT EVER HAPPEN?”

Speaker: Revd David Gamble

President of the Methodist Conference 2009 – 2010

St Thomas More Room, St Mary’s Catholic Church, Draycott Terrace, Kensington, London SW3 2

Tuesday 21st September 2010 6.15p.m.

Preceded by the Annual General Meeting at 5.30 p.m.

Followed by refreshments.

For catering, please notify attendance to Fr Mark Woodruff, 26 Daysbrook Road, London SW2 3TD, ecumenicalstudies@btinternet.com or 07710 024505

All are welcome

Ecumenical Websites: CTE

Churches Together In England uses an advanced website package.  This is a working website and if you're registered as a member of one CTE meeting or several, you have access to pages with minutes and meeting papers.  This has advantages because if you're close to a computer, you can download and print late papers.  The disadvantage is, of course, if you forget to look, you turn up without the papers!  Gone are the days when someone printed the papers and posted them to you; such are the benefits of technology!

However, this software allows for more uses than CTE makes of it, in terms of user interaction.  There is, for example, the possibility of a chat room for those who are registered and logged in.  As far as I can tell it has never been used. 

Members can write and post articles directly onto the site.  They can assign an article to any appropriate page and it will appear there after it has been moderated by CTE staff.  This page features some of the articles submitted to the site.  This facility could perhaps have greater prominence on the home page.

But I suspect most visitors to this site are not members.  What will they find?    I find this website harder to navigate than the CTBI site.  There is a system of menus and submenus, which is difficult to follow and if you don't know where to look can be quite frustrating.  Also, when you are several submenus deep it is rather easy to lose your place and have to start over again. 

There is a wealth of material and it is perhaps best to hunt around and see what you can find.  Good places to start might be Working Together, which offers a long list of issues where churches in England are collaborating and Common Cause, which lists some of the major ecumenical Christian organisations.

It is worth noting, this site is also the site for the work of the Free Churches Group.  They share their offices with CTE and also share the website.

Perhaps the best way to describe this site is eccentric.  There's a lot of interesting material on it, although you might depend upon serendipity to find stuff.  It is a pity CTE doesn't use the potential of the site to encourage conversations. 

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

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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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CTAL Notepad

When the national ecumenical instruments were established across Britain in 1989, they were accompanied by intermediate or county bodies in England.

England has a much greater population than Scotland and Wales, so it was understood ecumenical work needed to be organised in smaller geographical units.  These units are usually counties although a few are smaller than counties and so collectively they are known as intermediate bodies.

They seem to have done rather well, although they are currently being reviewed and so we'll find out just how well in the near future.  Most of them employ a County Ecumenical Development Officer (the title varies from place to place although the word 'Development' seems to have appeared in  more job titles over recent years) who provides some co-ordination and oversight of ecumenical work in their areas.  (It's hard to generalise as circumstances vary so much.)

Some of them produce newsletters and one of the most highly developed ones is in Lincolnshire.  Follow this link to take a look at a recent issue of the CTAL Notepad.

If anyone is familiar with other similar newsletters, let me know and I'll give them a mention.

Evangelism is in your comfort zone

Some readers may remember John Baxter Brown when he worked for Churches Together in England.  He has started a blog, Evangelism is in your comfort zone, on the World Council of Churches website.

I've not been able to add a link to my blogroll for technical reasons but if I find out how to do it, it will appear.  In the meantime follow the link. 

This is John's preamble to his blog. 

On this blog John Baxter-Brown, the WCC Consultant for Evangelism, shares his impressions, hopes, ideas and stories about evangelism especially in relation to the WCC and the broader ecumenical movement. There is a strong focus on telling the evangelism stories he has researched on his travels: he usually finds that the best evangelism is done by ordinary Christians simply living out their faith - evangelism is within their comfort zone as they try to follow Jesus. Please note that blog entries are personal contributions by the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinion or policies of the World Council of Churches or any other organization mentioned.

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Relationships with Other Denominations 5: Worldwide Ecumenism

Image via Wikipedia

This is the fifth of 5 posts introducing the ecumenical section of the Methodist Church website. I suggest you open the site in another tab so that you can see what I'm writing about. Relationships with Other Denominations can be accessed directly, or if you go to the website home page, click on Ecumenism under Open to the World. Click on Ecumenical Information and then on Worldwide Ecumenism, which should bring you here.

The links to the World Methodist Council and Our Partner Churches, are both maintained on World Church Relations pages of the Methodist Church website.  These pages offer and overview of the breadth of Methodism across the world.

Four other links go to pages that describe the work of:

• The World Council of Churches
• The Ecumenical Institute at Bossey
• The Global Christian Forum, and
• The Methodist Roman Catholic International Commission

These together offer an overview of the global ecumenical work of the British Methodist Church.

These five posts have been designed to draw attention to the ecumenical pages of the Methodist Church website.  Please comment on any aspects of the site you identify.  I'm particularly interested in expanding the topics covered by the site, so please note your ideas.

Monday Morning 4: MEN and Fun

Image by Anke L via Flickr

Your homework this week is to suggest fun things for this blog. 

Does anyone know any ecumenical jokes?  There must be some.  Surely?

What would you like?  Quizzes?  Competitions?  What could we offer as ecumenical prizes?

There are few images associated with ecumenism.  Finding photos and other artwork that's appropriate is something of a headache.  Does anyone have images to share?  Is there some way we could pool images, perhaps using an application such as Flickr? 

How about book reviews?  Reviews of relevant music.  Is there any?

Is there is an author around with a humourous take on ecumenism?  Or other ways of approaching unity from an unusual angle?

Any ideas?  Please comment below.  I'm back tomorrow ...

Relationships with Other Denominations 4: Ecumenism in Europe

Image by Erik D via Flickr

This is the fourth of 5 posts introducing the ecumenical section of the Methodist Church website. I suggest you open the site in another tab so that you can see what I'm writing about. Relationships with Other Denominations can be accessed directly, or if you go to the website home page, click on Ecumenism under Open to the World. Click on Ecumenical Information and then on Ecumenism in Europe, which should bring you here.

Where we work: Europe is a page from the World Church Relations section of the Methodist Church website.  This page offers an overview of the Methodist Church in Europe.  It is complemented by the account of the European Methodist Council.  This is where the European Methodist Churches collaborate.  Notable examples of collaboration is the Methodist Representative to the Holy See and the European Methodist Youth Council.

The other two links cover the ecumenical structures in Europe, the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe and the Conference of European Churches.

If you want to know more about European ecumenism, you might consider subscribing to the Church of England's European Bulletin.  A link can be found on the Ecumenism in Europe page.

Please comment below if you have points to make about European ecumenism or questions to ask. 

I will respond to comments when I return from leave on or soon after 24 August 2010.  The final post in this series will be next Tuesday.

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• Second Ecumenical Kirchentag 2 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Relationships with other Denominations 3: Ecumenism in UK and Ireland

Image via Wikipedia

This is the third of 5 posts introducing the ecumenical section of the Methodist Church website. I suggest you open the site in another tab so that you can see what I'm writing about. Relationships with Other Denominations can be accessed directly, or if you go to the website home page, click on Ecumenism under Open to the World. Click on Ecumenical Information and then on Ecumenism in UK and Ireland, which should bring you here.

This section explores ecumenism as it relates to the four nations that make up the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland.  The first link is to Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.  This page therefore reflects the structure of the ecumenical instruments. 

The pages for England, Scotland and Wales each include a number of links specific to those countries.  There are also some shared links, notably to resources available to all three countries.  Bill Reid has offered to take on developing the Scotland pages and I'm hoping to find a writer for Wales.

To find technical information about formal ecumenical arrangements, go to the pages for your own country and search for the information you require.  The link marked Resources is common to all three countries.  If you follow the link, you will find a number of useful technical resources for the Methodist Church.

The Guidance Notes for District Chairs and District Officers, inside the Resources page, comprise an overview of the basics of local ecumenism.  It is worth exploring.  The notes are up to date and will be kept up to date.  They are designed so that pages on a single topic can be printed, duplicated and circulated.

The pages on Ireland point to basic information.  Ecumenical arrangements cover both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.  They are included so the picture is complete.  The British Methodist Church does not cover Ireland and so there are no resources.  Explore the Irish websites for more information.

Please comment on these pages below.  I will respond to comments on or soon after 24 August 2010, when I return from leave.

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• EMU Statement of Partnership for Scotland (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)