EMYC | European Methodist Youth and Children's Council

I've just updated some brief notes about EMYC | European Methodist Youth and Children's Council for the Methodist Church website.  There are links to the Methodist churches in Europe on the website because it is through the European Methodist Council and its associated bodies that the Methodist Church of Great Britain relates to churches of other traditions in Europe.

EMYC has an International Mission Team (IMT) and this is what I want to focus upon in this blog post.  Details can be found on the EMYC website and there is also an IMT blog which, although it is in German, has some photographs.

Four young people are recruited each year to this team.  They start in September and work as volunteers in Chemnitz, Germany through to June of the following year. 

For 2011-12

We are looking for young people from 18 years old who want to walk a special path with God and encounter people with God’s love. As it will be an international team, it is very important to be prepared to be open to others and to be able to work with other mentalities. Alongside the main projects, the year offers many opportunities and room for developing and implementing your own ideas for social outreach and mission work.

The Team will work mainly with children, young people and families. The main focus of the work will lie in social outreach. The team will look after and expand Kidsclub in Chemnitz/Hilbersdorf and Flöha, where the kids can receive help with their homework, have the chance to do something meaningful with their freetime, and also encounter the love of God. The main goal of the Kidsclubs is to offer the attention and acceptance that the children, from socially difficult areas, so desperately lack.  Furthermore, the Team will support the Mission Projects of the Churches and of the Hospital. Through this we can build the Kingdom of God.

For the Team members the year offers the opportunity to discover God in new ways, to grow in faith, to take part in social and mission projects, and to discover a new country and a new way of life.

• Time: 1th September 2011 til 30th June 2012
• Where: Methodist Circuit Chemnitz-Erlöserkiche, Hospital and School of Nursing Bethanien/Chemnitz
• Size of Team: 4 People
• Status: Voluntary Workers
• Language: Basic knowledge of German necessary -fluent German not required
• Accommodation: will be provided
• Food: weekdays lunch in Bethanien and €100 per month for groceries
• Pocket Money: €75 per Month per Person
• Closing Date for application: 31th March 2011

For more information, go to this page on the EMYC website.  If a British Methodist applies and is successful, it would be good to hear from them and perhaps they could contribute to this blog.

Where Might we get to Ecumenically?

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Ken Howcroft, the Connexional Ecumenical Officer, made a presentation at a meeting of the Connexional Team's Strategic Leaders and Cluster Heads on 16 December 2010.  An outline follows.  It is a useful summary of Connexional ecumenical activity.

The (other) Lord’s Prayer
“May they all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me… I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me… May they be with me where I am to see my glory” John 17:21-4

Priorities for the Methodist Church
In partnership with others wherever possible, the Methodist Church will concentrate its prayers, resources, imagination and commitments on this priority:

• to proclaim and affirm its conviction of God’s love in Christ, for us and for all the world; and
• to renew confidence in God’s presence and action in the world and in the Church

Lund Principle 1952
Churches should act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately.


Ecumenical Vision 

• All together in each place
• Worship and Mission
• Holy Church, wholly Church, not the whole of the Church
• Conference 2009

Ecumenical Identity: Church Identity

See Ken's post on 29 October 2010 

Current Situation and Future Scenarios

• Anglican Methodist Covenant
• United Reformed Church (URC) - Methodist joint resolution.  See eight posts about the consultation held in April 2010 starting here and two posts about the October joint meeting of Methodist Council and URC Mission Council
• EMU and Welsh Covenant
• Church of England, Methodist, URC - more about this later
• Baptist
• Roman Catholic
• European
• New Churches and Movements

Questions
 
What does ecumenical working mean in:

• inter-religious contexts?
• inter-confessional contexts?
• within our confessional context?

If you have answers to these questions or other questions or views, please comment below.

Related articles

• Ecumenical Vision Statement (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Vatican II Conference (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Archbishop of Canterbury at Methodist Conference 3 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Methodist URC Liaison Committee, November 2010 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Joint Councils Catch Up (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• Ecumenical Identity (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

European Church Buildings Forum and Network

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Here is an example of collaboration between churches and non-church organisations.  This article is copied from the Church of England, Council for Christian Unity's European Bulletin – No 65,  September 2010.

A forum on the threats and opportunities to historic places of worship and developing a Europe-wide response will be held at Canterbury Cathedral Lodge between Wednesday 10 and Saturday 13 November 2010 hosted by the Churches Conservation Trust in partnership with European partner organisations. There will be delegations representing the following countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK will be attending.

The forum is being sponsored by the newly formed European Policy Network for Historic Places of Worship. The Network aims to:

• raise the profile and protect Europe’s historic places of worship
• provide a means of communication, through the forum and a website (see link below)
• share common problems and solutions
• identify areas where a Europe-wide response is appropriate
• work with and build on existing and past initiatives on historic churches, including the Report to the Council of Europe 1989 and the Montreal Forum on future uses for churches in 2005

For website information about the November Forum and the Network please go to http://www.placesofworshipeu.org/

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• Second Ecumenical Kirchentag 2 (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)
• WCC Stewards' Programme (ecumenicalissues.blogspot.com)

Two European Ecumenical Events in England

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The following two events are from a special issue of the European Bulletin. 

WPCT CHARLEMAGNE LECTURE

The Annual WPCT Charlemagne Lecture this year is taking place on Tuesday 19 October at 6:45 pm at the River room at King’s College London. The speaker is Philip Lowe who has held a number of top European Commission posts in the fields of regional development, agriculture, transport and administration and is currently the Director General of the Energy Directorate. His theme is “Energy Policy in a Changing Climate”. For more details contact Win Burton on wpctrust@googlemail.com.

CONFERENCE AT ASTON UNIVERSITY

I have received details of a conference at Aston University on 12 - 13 November entitled "Does God Matter? Representing Religion in the European Union and the United States" with expert guest speakers. The best way of accessing the details is to go to the link: http://www1.aston.ac.uk/lss/research/centres-institutes/aston-centre-europe/projects-grants/religion-eu/conference/ 

The deadline for registering is 15 October.

The organiser, Dr Lucian Leustean (who lectures at Aston) is researching into European ecumenical church twinning links: how and when they started, how they developed, events that have taken place etc. If you are able to provide help and information I am sure he would be delighted to hear from you. His email is: L.LEUSTEAN@aston.ac.uk