Ecumenical
The role of the
Ecumenical Committee is to foster ecumenical development in the life of the
United Reformed Church:
a) in response to the
Basis of Union ( para.8 )
‘The United Reformed
Church has been formed in obedience to the call to repent of what has been amiss
in the past and to be reconciled. It sees its formation and growth as a part of
what God is doing to make his people one, and as a united church will take,
wherever possible and with all speed, further steps towards the unity of all
God’s people’.
b) in relation to
other churches and the wider community – in these islands, across Europe, and
throughout the world.
The Committee will
seek to ensure that wherever the United Reformed Church meets in worship,
council or committee, it is working in partnership with Christians in the
locality, the World Church and the whole human family.
TASKS: Among the
tasks of this Committee is listening to those with experience of the World
Church, including other Christian traditions in Britain and Ireland, and to
those with experience of current affairs and of other faiths.
The Committee
maintains official United Reformed Church links with overseas churches and world
and regional ecumenical organisations.
It guides the United
Reformed Church’s participation in the Council for World Mission. Through it
official contact is made with British and Irish ecumenical bodies.
The work of
selecting, training and caring for missionaries and overseeing exchange of
personnel is undertaken by the International Exchange Sub-Committee.
Committee Members
Convener: Revd
Elizabeth Nash
Secretaries: Revd
Richard Mortimer (Secretary for Ecumenical Relations), Revd Philip Woods
(Secretary for
International Relations),
Revd Dale Rominger (International Relations Programme Officer).
Members: Revd
Rowena Francis, Mrs Pat Gurr, Mr Malcolm Porter, Revd Lindsey Sanderson,
Mrs Ann Shillaker, Revd
Bryan Shirley, Revd Cecil White.
The National Synod of
Scotland: Red Mary Buchanan
The National Synod of
Wales: Revd Stuart Jackson
Convener of the
International Exchange Sub-Committee: Revd Chris Baillie
Representatives to
World Council of Churches: Revd Dr Susan Durber (Faith and Order),
Revd Jill Thornton
(Central Committee)
.
Representatives of
other Committees: Revd Christine Craven (Ministries), Revd Hilary Collinson
(Doctrine, Prayer and Worship), Revd Sue Henderson (Training), Mrs Katalina
Tahaafe-Williams (Racial Justice & Multicultural Ministry), Ms Marie Williams
(Interfaith Relations).
Pending new
appointment: Church and Society, Life and Witness, Youth and Children’s
Work.
Representatives from
other churches: Revd Richard Cattley (Church of England), Revd Peter Sulston
(Methodist Church), Revd Dr Donald Watts (Presbyterian Church in Ireland).
“You will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”
1. The United Reformed
Church works and witnesses in three nations and, through Belonging to the World
Church, internationally. We are part of instruments, fellowships, alliances and
councils in four nations, Europe and the whole inhabited earth.
2. In the United
Reformed Church the commitment to ecumenism in the United Kingdom and beyond
continues to be a central feature of our life. The Ecumenical Committee was very
pleased that the response from local churches to Catch the Vision in 2004 called
so strongly for yet more commitment to unity.
3. Both areas of our
work, UK ecumenical and international ecumenical relations, come together in our
support of the development of multicultural ministry here, working alongside the
Racial Justice and Multicultural Ministry Committee. This relatively new
development in our ecumenical journey offers fresh opportunities to experience
and be renewed by the richness and vitality of God’s church.
4. The regular
Consultation between the Secretary for Ecumenical Relations and the Synod
Ecumenical Officers took place at Windermere in October 2004, organised
by a completely new team. Revd Andrew Faley, the Assistant General Secretary for
Ecumenism and Interfaith Relations at the Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference of
England and Wales, continued the high standard of input from our ecumenical
partners. The next Consultation is scheduled for May 2006.
5. In 2004 we hosted
three events: with assistance from our UK Reformed partners, a World Alliance
of Reformed Churches (WARC) consultation to bring together their work on
Covenanting for Justice in preparation for the WARC General Council in Accra,
Ghana and, with Churches of Christ ecumenical partners, the Disciples
Ecumenical Consultative Council and the World Convention of
the Churches of Christ. Of these the World Convention was by far the
largest undertaking, numbering over 1,000 people and we are very grateful to all
those who contributed to providing a warm United Reformed Church welcome for
those who attended from all around the world, not least Wessex and Southern
Synods whose generous assistance enabled everyone to have a memento of the
occasion to take home with them.
6. In England, the
Anglican – Methodist Covenant was signed in Westminster Central
Hall on 1st November 2003. A Joint Implementation Commission was established and
this body has set up four sub-groups on:
-
Faith and Order,
-
the promotion of good
practice,
-
communication and
presentation,
-
wider ecumenical
issues.
By the time General
Assembly meets both the Church of England and the Methodist Church will have
received significant reports. These include, respectively, that of the Rochester
Commission on Women in the Episcopate (November 2004) and that of the Methodist
Faith and Order Committee on Episcopacy (Methodist Conference 2005). It would be
fair to say that each denomination is very interested in what the other will
decide, in the hope that reciprocally positive outcomes may bring the prospect
of ministerial interchangeability nearer. In the effort to implement and develop
the Anglican – Methodist Covenant there is a fresh consideration of the biblical
and theological concept of Covenant as a basis for furthering Christian Unity.
7. The Advisory
Group on Faith and Order responded to the Report of the Rochester
Commission and also to that of the Eames Commission on Authority in the Anglican
Communion (The Windsor Report). It considered the document “Faith Stance on the
Global Crisis of Life” which formed the basis for the Accra Confession (see
below paragraph 20 and appendix 1), two draft services – one prepared with the
Presbyterian Church of Wales for the ordination of Elders and the other with the
Methodist Church for the Induction and Welcome of Ministers in United Churches –
and government plans for new legislation regarding Civil Registration.
8. 2003 saw no
“Forum”-type meeting, but Churches Together in England organised a
Gathering at Stoke Rochford Hall, Lincolnshire in early November, an event which
was appreciated as a means for key people to meet each other and an opportunity
to give local enthusiasts an experience of the bigger picture
9. The follow-up to the
Consultation on Local Ecumenical Partnerships in November 2002 by the Churches
Together in England Group for Local Unity ultimately produced three crisp
headings from a large mass of fascinating but uncoordinated material:
-
spirituality of
sacrifice,
-
good practice in team
building and team working,
-
the theology of
diversity,
all of which echoes with
the trends discerned by the Catch the Vision Process.
10. The South East
Northumberland Ecumenical Area was inaugurated in September 2004 and
there are discussions about similar projects in a number of places.
11. In Wales the
failure of the plans for an Ecumenical Bishop in East Cardiff came as a
devastating blow. This led to wide reflection on the long standing Covenant in
Wales out of which came a renewed sense of commitment with far greater
awareness. At the meeting of the leaders and officers of the Covenanted Churches
in Wales (ENFYS) on 29th and 30th January 2004 it was agreed unanimously to
recommend to the five Covenanted partners that, “We reaffirm our
commitment to journeying together in covenant relationship”.
Reaffirmations have duly followed and ENFYS has become an integral part of CYTUN,
the national Churches Together Instrument for Wales.
12. A second United
Area in Wales has been inaugurated with the Methodists in the Bridgend/Maesteg/Porthcawl
area, including the Covenanted Baptists in Maesteg, and conversations continue
with the English-speaking Association of the Presbyterian Church of Wales about
a United Area in the North. A broad-based Coalition for Evangelisation in Wales
has been established.
13. In Scotland a
National Sponsoring Body for all Local Ecumenical Partnerships has
come into being, and is chaired by the Revd Murdoch Mackenzie. Despite the
rejection of the Scottish Churches Initiative for Union Proposals by the Church
of Scotland, these received support from our Scottish Synod, the Methodist
Church in Scotland (except Shetland) and the Scottish Episcopal Church, all of
whom will explore developing shared work. There have also been exciting
developments on the Granton Waterfront, where seven churches are involved in
regeneration in a depressed area of Edinburgh.
14. In all three
nations in which it is set the United Reformed Church has continued to work
alongside and with ecumenical partners, particularly the Methodist Church.
Responses to the Methodist / United Reformed Church Pastoral Strategy produced
work for the Liaison Committee, especially in planning for a second
Consultation on United Areas (following a highly regarded first such
event in Wiltshire in April 2002), which will take place in Tenby, Pembrokeshire
in October 2005. The pack for United Churches entitled How to Make it Work went
out of print at the turn of the year. Hopefully this will be reprinted as soon
as possible following a thorough updating of all material. Work has also been
undertaken on Orientation for Incoming Ministers in United Churches and Areas.
15. Across the Irish
Sea representatives of the United Reformed Church took part in a most
fruitful British – Irish Reformed Consultation with the
Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Presbyterian Church of Wales and the Church
of Scotland in April 2004 at the Corrymeela Community. All present shared
something of their situation and reflected together on the challenge and
practice of mission in modern culture.
16. Churches Together
in Britain and Ireland has been undergoing a complex review which has
considered the shape of ecumenical architecture most appropriate
for each of the four nations separately and together. At the time of writing
this report the process is not yet complete but it is clear that there is no
consensus about proposed changes. Some denominations are concerned about finance
and long term sustainability and so want as minimal a Four Nation body as
possible. Others, especially those present in three and four nations, hear the
fears from Scotland and Wales that England will dominate and that the degree of
reciprocity in the capacity of each National Instrument to undertake work on
behalf of all four nations should not be assumed throughout, and therefore want
a more substantial Four Nation body.
17. Against this
background the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland Assembly
met in Swanwick at the end of February. It was presented with the proposed
timetable for the remainder of the process of reaching decisions about the
future (key elements being the April Church Representatives Meeting and a one
day Assembly in November) and asked to feed in its own reflections and any fresh
thinking. Some significant ideas duly emerged. As a result our General
Secretary, in his capacity as Trustee, indicated that at the April Church
Representatives Meeting he would request more time to cost and consider these,
with the corollary that all parties maintain their current funding of Churches
Together in Britain and Ireland for up to another two years to enable this to
take place. At the time of writing this report (March) we await the April Church
Representatives Meeting and, in the light of what happens there, Ecumenical
Committee will table resolutions at General Assembly.
18. Within Europe
we continue to be active in the Conference of European Churches
contributing particularly to its Church and Society Commission’s work on
European integration and environmental concerns, and within the Community
of Protestant Churches in Europe (formerly known as the Leuenberg Church
Fellowship) where we are represented on the Executive Committee by Fleur
Houston. Within the Council for World Mission European Region we
are engaged in a range of activities which are exploring new ways of being
church.
19. In the Wider World,
the Council for World Mission has undergone major constitutional
changes, giving a smaller trustee body (compared to the old Council) reflecting
the partnership of its 31 member bodies and instituting an Assembly which meets
every three years. As a ‘community of churches in mission’ it continues to
support us and its other members in their mission programmes and through a new
initiative, Walking Together, which it is currently piloting is experimenting
with ways in which local congregations can be networked together.
20. At the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) General Council (August 2004) their
work on Covenanting for Justice came to fruition in the Accra Confession (which
is included here as appendix 1) which is now the subject of further
inter-committee work as we seek to introduce its insights into our life and
mission. For a church ‘seeking to be Christ’s people transformed by the gospel,
committed to making a difference to the world’ (Catch the Vision) the Accra
Confession provides a rich resource.
21. February 2006 will
see the next Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), with
the theme ‘God, in your grace transform the world’. Until then we are
represented on the Central Committee by Jill Thornton. She has kept the
Committee informed of significant developments in the global ecumenical arena as
the WCC launches a process of ‘ecumenical reconfiguration’ exploring the calling
of the ecumenical movement today. Our range of engagement with WCC programmes,
including the Faith & Order Commission, the Churches Commission on International
Affairs and the WCC Ecumenical Officers’ meeting, introduce other perspectives
on this, but all highlight the need for new approaches to global ecumenical
working. One of our concerns though is that there are increasing moves towards a
more confessional approach to international ecumenism, which threatens to
marginalise the witness of united and uniting churches who are not organised on
a confessional basis. This is shared by other similar churches and we have begun
to network with them to ensure that our voice is heard within and alongside the
confessional bodies.
22. Belonging to
the World Church is both a programme and an ethos that informs all our
international work. Its three aims form the basis for our engagement beyond
ourselves:
-
Enriching our life
and witness
-
Welcoming the world
church in our midst, and
-
Working for justice
and peace in the world.
Working with our
international partners the programme provides reciprocal opportunities for
learning, sharing stories and equipping ourselves to participate more fully as
partners together in God’s mission. Most synods now fully participate in the
programme with a global and/or European partnership. In addition, over the last
two years, we have organised more specialist opportunities to enhance our
ministry amongst Ghanaian and Jamaican communities in the UK, visits to and from
Commitment for Life partners, and a range of more general training
opportunities exposing people to different ways of being church in other parts
of the world. The fruits of all this are spread widely throughout the church
informing fresh approaches to being church here as we witness and worship
together, welcome the stranger in our midst, and campaign for a more just world.
All this activity would not be possible without the generous co-operation of our
partners and their sense that it not only gives added value to the United
Reformed Church, but to them as well and so collectively to our engagement in
God’s global purposes.
23. It is with great
sadness, however, that due to financial constraints at this time both generally
and in particular following the exhaustion of a substantial endowment fund which
has supported the work of the Ecumenical Committee throughout its life (and
previously the World Church & Mission Department) the Committee agreed to
substantial cuts for 2006 (some £247,000 less compared to 2004, or about 35% of
its budget) resulting in dramatic reductions to the Belonging to the World
Church programme and the Church’s grants to ecumenical bodies in the UK and
overseas with whom we work closely and whose work has been a considerable
benefit to us.
24. Engaging with our
partners and the world today is fraught with increasing difficulties. A duty of
care to those we send to places of risk (e.g. Israel/Palestine) has caused us to
review our risk management and travel insurance policies and led to new
approaches enhancing the safety and the care we offer. Obtaining visas for those
we invite here has become increasingly troublesome and resulted in more frequent
denials than in previous times, causing frustration and disappointment all round
leading us to join with our UK ecumenical partners (for whom this is also an
issue) in taking this up with the government.
25. Three of our country
concerns speak particularly to what it means to be partners together in God’s
mission. With the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar (Burma) we are
engaged in a journey of support and long-term solidarity as we provide external
assistance removed from the arbitrary interventions of their country’s ruling
powers. Of late, this has been made much harder for us by the ever stricter
sanctions regime imposed by the USA and the EU and so working with some of our
other East Asian partners we hope to see much of this work transferred closer to
Myanmar later this year, enlarging our bilateral partnership to a multilateral
arrangement better able to meet the pressing needs of the Presbyterian Church of
Myanmar today.
26. Since 9/11 we have
been journeying with our partners in the USA responding to the ‘war on
terrorism’ and together seeking to resist the ‘clash of civilizations’ logic
which seems increasingly to inform international affairs. Our US partners have
been particularly appreciative of our stance and in autumn 2003 the United
Church of Christ (UCC) and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) together
presented an award to us in the following terms: “Affirms the United Reformed
Church whose faithful journey has led to a courageous and prophetic witness in
the global community.” Our journey with our US partners still continues with the
Moderator of General Assembly (Sheila Maxey) visiting both these churches and
the Presbyterian Church (USA) around the time of last year’s Presidential
election and the UCC/Disciples electing Philip Woods (Secretary for
International Relations) as one of the international Directors on their Common
Global Ministries Board.
27.
Israel/Palestine occupies many people’s attention and in all its
complexity is frequently the subject of much debate in the pages of Reform. In
October 2004 the Committee sponsored an inter-committee solidarity visit
bringing together representatives of Interfaith Relations, Commitment for Life,
our representative on the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) Middle
East Forum and others in a visit to tease out what it means to stand alongside
people in this conflict. It was arranged by Brian Jolly, one of our ministers
who has extensive church contacts in the region. This was followed up in
November with
a consultation organised
jointly with Commitment for Life in which we learnt of the many and diverse ways
people in our churches are active in supporting the peoples of Israel/Palestine
and are campaigning on the issues arising from the conflict there. Following on
from this
-
We are exploring ways
in which we can journey with churches and the Christian community in
Israel/Palestine
-
Commitment for Life
has added an Israeli partner alongside the Palestinian Agricultural Relief
Committee (PARC)
-
We are entering into
a dialogue with the Israeli Embassy
-
We are convening a
group to help us explore the political/theological issues raised by events
in Israel/Palestine
28. In all this work
we are assisted by our networks of Ecumenical Officers, Belonging to the World
Church Advocates, Global and European Partnership Coordinators and our
ecumenical partners in the UK
and overseas. The Ecumenical Committee is very
grateful for all those who work at Church House and beyond on our behalf. They
give endlessly of their time and commitment. The United Reformed Church’s good
reputation in ecumenical affairs and across the world is due to the work of
Richard Mortimer, Philip Woods and Dale Rominger, ably supported by Sandy Hurter
(June 2003-August 2004) and now by Carmel Webster. The Committee, with its
representatives from other Assembly Committees, makes the connections and
practical sense of the broad canvas of our ecumenical engagement. This is no
easy task and requires much of the Committee’s Convener. In this last period we
said farewell to John Rees who ably served in this role, and whose thoughtful
contributions have helped shape our ecumenical engagement in recent times and
welcomed Elizabeth Nash who brings to us a wealth of experience, both as a
trainer and through that which she acquired whilst serving as Moderator of
WARC’s Department of Cooperation & Witness.
International
Exchange Sub-Committee
The International
Exchange Sub-Committee is responsible for the selection, training and caring of
mission partners for service here and overseas, and for overseeing the exchange
of personnel, including the World Exchange volunteer programme.
Committee Members
Convener: Revd
Chris Baillie
Secretary: Revd
Philip Woods (Secretary for International Relations)
Members: Mrs
Heather Barnes, Revd Birgit Ewald, Mrs Eileen McIlveen, Revd Elizabeth Nash,
Revd Andrew Prasad,
Revd Mike Thomason, Revd
Nigel Uden (Receiving Mission Partners Programme), Revd Dale Rominger (Belonging
to the World Church), Mrs Katalina Tahaafe-Williams (Secretary for Racial
Justice
and Multicultural
Ministry).
1. The primary concern of
this committee is the oversight of the people we share in mission with our
international partner churches, both those who come to these islands and those
we send overseas. It is therefore appropriate that we begin by recording who
these people are:
Sending Mission
Partners (i.e. those serving overseas)
-
Alison Gibbs –
serving with the United Church of Zambia
-
Stephen & Hardy
Wilkinson – serving with the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM)
-
Tony Addy – serving
with the European Contact Group for Urban and Industrial Mission (based in
the Czech Republic)
-
Mary and Paul Thomas
– served until July 2004 with the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman
Islands.
Receiving Mission
Partners (i.e. those from overseas serving here)
-
Godwin Odonkor –
Ghanaian Minister in London, from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana
-
David Jonathan –
Interfaith worker, Luton, from the Church of North India
-
Henry Iputau – City
Mission, Norwich, from the Congregational Christian Church in Samoa
-
Chang, Jen-Ho –
Ministry amongst Taiwanese, Manchester, from the Presbyterian Church in
Taiwan.
How we go about the
exercise of care and concern for these people and their families, their
recruitment, placement and resettlement consumes most of the committee’s time,
with regular reviews of our procedures and the application of lessons learnt
from experience, all of which is incorporated in two volumes: ‘Sending Mission
Partner Guidelines’ and ‘Receiving Mission Partner Guidelines’.
2. On behalf of the
Ecumenical Committee this committee manages the Belonging to the World
Church grants programme enabling individuals in training for the
ministry or to be Church Related Community Workers (CRCWs), lay people, youth
and ministers/CRCWs as part of their Continuing Ministerial Education to
experience and learn from the world church in ways which will enable them to
make fresh and creative contributions to our ministry here.
3. Of particular concern
during this period has been the development of a wider range of opportunities
for international ministerial exchange and we have been working with
International Ministry Exchanges/Clergy Exchange International Foundation to
achieve this. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this report, the progress
which had been made seems to be slipping away and it would appear that a new
approach is called for, which is more bilateral than multilateral. This is a
disappointment to us as a multilateral programme would have been much more
efficient, but these are difficult days ecumenically across the world and we
have to work with that reality.
4. World Exchange,
the international volunteer programme we run jointly with some of our British
partners, has shifted its emphasis from gap-year opportunities (although it does
still offer some of these) to focusing on opportunities for people taking career
breaks or newly retired. This is in part due to increasing competition in the
gap-year market, but more importantly due to increased offers from older people
and increasing requests from international partners for qualified people to
provide consultancy or other time-limited services.
5. Our scholarship
programme continues to develop with its new emphasis on providing in-country
opportunities. This has meant that in the case of our non-CWM African partners
we can benefit nearly 200 people a year with quality much needed training
opportunities, as opposed to three or four when we were bringing them to the UK
for the very limited opportunity of a one-year post graduate course. This change
has been much appreciated by our partners (who initiated it) and is to be
further built upon when, as requested by them, we facilitate a consultation in
Africa in April this year (along with some of our CWM African partners) to
evaluate and develop the training programmes we and they are involved in.
6. As a result of budget
cuts our very popular (and to the best of our knowledge globally unique) English
language for church workers course has had to end, much to the disappointment of
our partners. Currently we are working with them to see if it can in any way be
replicated on an in-country basis, and we are very grateful to the qualified
teachers of English as a foreign language who responded to our request to
volunteer their services for such an approach, but it remains to be seen if and
how this dramatically cut down approach can work.
7. The committee continue
to receive regular reports from British and Irish Amity Teachers’ Group of which
we are a part, recruiting and supplying English teachers for China.
Although called a
committee, this is really a working group as all the members are actively
involved with the sharing people in mission aspect of our work, serving on
monitoring groups, interview panels, writing letters to those serving overseas
and so on. Their contribution is invaluable and much appreciated by the staff
and especially by those we are supporting both overseas and here as mission
partners.
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