|
|
|
Resolution 49 End of Life Issues General Assembly, noting that the work of the
group set up to look at issues relating to the end of life in response
to the resolution of Assembly 2000 has completed its work, and
welcomes the material it has produced for use in the churches. 1.1 Resolution 19 passed by Assembly 2000 invited Church and Society to gather a working group to examine a range of issues associated with the end of life and to report in 2002. The resolution was intended to alert the Church to a rising tide of concern, identify key issues, and enable further work to be done. In responding to this the Church and Society Committee duly convened a working group which, following a process of consultation with Churches, has produced a pack containing information, resource material and practical ideas. The Committee commends this to the Churches and hopes it will be widely used. Resolution 50 Conversations on the Way to Unity General Assembly receives with gratitude
Conversations on the Way to Unity, the report of the informal
conversations between the Church of England, the Methodist Church and
the United Reformed Church and commends it for study throughout the
Church in conjunction with the study of an Anglican-Methodist
Covenant. General Assembly invites synods, district councils and
local congregations to send comments to the Secretary for Ecumenical
Relations by 31 March 2003. 1.1 In July 1996 the Church of England and the Methodist Church published Commitment to Mission and Unity, the report of two years of informal conversations. It proposed that, given that the two churches believed they shared a common understanding of the goal of visible unity, they should enter into Formal Conversations while taking account of the wider ecumenical relationships of the two churches. Every member church of Churches Together in England was asked for comment. 1.2 The United Reformed Church, at its General Assembly in July 1997, responded: '....we hereby express our interest in becoming a full participant in the process of Commitment to Mission and Unity...... Our particular contribution would be insights from the Reformed tradition, notably the conciliar expression of the apostolicity of the Church and the shared ministry of the Elders.' 1.3 The proposal to enter Formal Conversations, which was accepted at both the November 1997 General Synod of the Church of England and the 1998 Methodist Conference, was, however, a bi-lateral one, with ecumenical participants invited to play a full part in the process: two from the United Reformed Church and one each from the Baptist Union, the Roman Catholic Church and the Moravian Church. The proposal also included the hope that trilateral informal conversations which included the United Reformed Church might be set up to work alongside the Formal Conversations. 1.4 The reports of both sets of conversations are now published. The report of the trilateral informal conversations, Conversations on the Way to Unity, (see Appendix 12) is a United Reformed Church report and therefore requires us to receive it and respond to it. An Anglican-Methodist Covenant is not our report, but its third recommendation states: ' We recommend that in the light of the Trilateral Informal Conversations that took place in conjunction with the Formal Conversations, the United Reformed Church be specifically invited to study and respond to the report and that its response be received by both our churches as part of a continuing three-way conversation.' Such an invitation to respond is, therefore, expected from the Methodist Conference and the General Synod of the Church of England if the report is accepted for study and response by these two churches. Resolution 51 International Situation A resolution on the international situation, based on the following wording, will be tabled at the Assembly taking account of events at the time. General Assembly - Welcomes the actions taken by Mission Council and others in responding to world events since 11th September 2001. - Affirms the United Reformed Church's solidarity with partner churches around the world and our commitment to work with people of other faith communities for peace and justice in the world. - Condemns the use of the 'axis of evil' and similar rhetoric by all political, religious and community leaders as inflammatory and unhelpful. - Such other matters as current events require Ecumenical Committee 1 International Relations since September 11th 2001 At the September 2001 Ecumenical Committee meeting a large part of the committee's time was given over to reflecting on the United Reformed Church's international involvement and our response to international situations. This was prompted by two papers: - Emerging Patterns in International Relations, and - The Middle East (responding to the report of the CTBI delegation). All this happened before the horrendous events in the USA on the 11th September, of which we received news just after the meeting closed. The time then was well spent providing the basis for our responses to events on the 11th September and subsequently, including the massacre of a Church of Pakistan congregation, the worsening events in Israel/Palestine, the tension between India and Pakistan and the inter-communal violence in India. 2 Responses and Actions In our response to events the following actions have been taken: - Messages of support were emailed to our three partner churches in the USA on the 11th September - On the following day a pastoral letter was sent to all known ministers from the USA serving with the United Reformed Church - On the same day a letter was also sent to the Prime Minister urging 'very careful reflection on the responses which are rightly called for, but which need to be measured and just, in order to ensure that more suffering is not inflicted on the innocent.' - This and other material was placed on the URC website - As events continued to unfold a pastoral letter was sent to our Urdu-speaking congregations - Participating in a meeting of Reformed Church leaders in Hungary we contributed to a statement from that meeting - The Committee for Inter-Faith Relations issued a statement The shared grief of Christians and Muslims - Mission Council in October adopted a statement on the situation in Israel/Palestine (see paragraph 4) which was sent to the Jerusalem church leaders - Mission Council in October also considered a paper prepared for them on the international situation and arising from this the General Secretary sent a pastoral letter to all congregations - Following the massacre of a congregation in Pakistan messages of support were immediately sent to the Church of Pakistan and the Presbyterian Church in Pakistan, indicating also our interest in exploring a partnership with them - At the same time a further pastoral letter was sent to the URC Urdu-speaking congregations - Mission Council in March encouraged the Assembly Moderator to write a letter to the Ambassador of Israel conveying our condemnation of the actions of Palestinian suicide bombers and our concern about the disproportionate response of the Israeli Defence Forces - The same Mission Council also agreed that she send letters of support to our partner churches in India and Pakistan in response to the inter-communal violence in India and a further fatal attack on a church in Pakistan. At the same time people across the church have also been involved in many local discussions and actions responding to the situation expressing very practically our belonging to the world and our commitment to work with all God's people for peace and justice. 3 Ongoing and Future Work There are continuing discussions going on between representatives of the Committee for Inter-Faith Relations, the Secretaries for Church & Society, International Relations and Racial Justice, the Commitment for Life coordinator, our representatives on the CTBI Middle East and Asia Forums and the Deputy General Secretary to consider in more depth the issues and connections raised in the CTBI Middle East report, the current international situation and how the URC might continue to respond to them. Throughout our formal responses to ongoing events have been shaped by the following framework, which formed part of the debate in Mission Council: 3.1 Our condemnation of terrorism. 3.2 Our concern and support for all people who become victims through bereavement, becoming refugees, being denied emergency relief aid, etc. 3.3 Our belief that there is no peace without justice. 3.4 That there is no inherent enmity between people of different faith and that as Christians we are called to love our neighbour regardless of faith, creed, race, nationality and so on. 3.5 We are committed to resisting racism and xenophobia and more positively to building harmonious community relations. 3.6 That fundamentalism is found in all faith communities and as such represents a broader challenge to us as a faith community ourselves. 3.7 That the issues are complex and interrelated and that we cannot only address the issues on the surface (acts of terrorism) without also considering the injustices that have created the conditions which have nurtured such enmity and hatred. If it can be arranged and if it is safe to proceed we hope to send a small delegation to Pakistan as soon as possible, and in May we expect to join with the Church of Scotland in a visit to Syria and Lebanon. Discussions are also in hand as to how we might engage more directly with various faith communities in Israel/Palestine over and above our ongoing involvement with PARC, through the Commitment for Life programme. We are also in continuous contact with partner churches around the world and international ecumenical agencies sharing information and reflections on events as they unfold. Following a decision of the World Council of Churches Assembly in Harare in 1998, member churches have entered into a programme to proclaim and work for this as the Decade to Overcome Violence. In the light of events this appears as timely as it seems difficult. 4 Mission Council Statement to the Jerusalem Church Leaders Last year a hundred pilgrims from the United Reformed Church (representing every synod of the church and including the Moderator of the General Assembly) were profoundly affected as they shared in the hopes and fears of Christians, Jews and Muslims in Israel/Palestine. They came home to tell the story conveying to many more people the experience they had gained. In the light of this and watching with increasing horror at the way in which the situation has deteriorated over recent months we wish to state to the Church leaders in Jerusalem: - our continuing solidarity with you and your people in these troubled times, assuring you of our prayers and concern - our commitment to work with partner churches in the UK to press our government for an effective internationally supported solution to the present crisis based on the Mitchell Report - our endorsement of your call for the Israeli government to negotiate steps which will 'End the Occupation' in the interests of security for Israel, peace for the Palestinians, and the transformation of relationships in the region.
|
|