General Assembly Index                                General Assembly Reports

Some highlights of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, which met at Queen Mary and Westfield College between Saturday 1st July and Tuesday 4th July. 

The Revd Bill Mahood
Moderator of General Assembly 2000-2001
 

Moderator Bill Mahood's address to General Assembly 2000 was a ringing  call to rediscover the importance of story in the life of the church and of individual disciples.

He was, he said, a storyteller who belonged to a community of storytellers, for the job of the preacher was to retell the old, old story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the story of God's mighty acts and the story to which the whole Church, whatever differences might arise, is committed because it is the story of God's love for us.
And each of us has a story to tell in return which is precious to us. One of the roles of the church is to be the place where, through worship, people feel that their story is being told and their needs expressed to God, for our story and God's story are intertwined. But the story is not only ours, it is the story of the faith community to which we each belong – each congregation a unique touching place between people and the church. For Bill Mahood, that meant drawing strength from the long history and present day story of St Ives Free Church, where he shares in ministry.

The story in which we place our faith is not ours alone. It is bigger than any one of us for it is the faith of the Church and yet it is truly ours, too. Not dependent on our whims and moods but nevertheless something into which we seek to grow. And as the United Reformed Church we have committed ourselves in many ways, especially through the Growing Up programme, to be a place where the story is lived out and shared with others.

'We will seek to be the people of God writing our chapter of the story, and in doing that we will trust God for the future.'

Click here to read the full text of the Moderator's Address

I’m still learning about the United Reformed Church

Bill Mahood: We all are!

Frank Beattie, Convener,
Life and Witness
 

The Revd Marjorie Lewis-Cooper addresses Assembly

After four years of debate which was always impassioned and sometimes angry, General Assembly accepted, with an almost audible sigh of relief, to accept a call from the Mission Council to declare a ‘sabbatical’ in attempts to define the position of the Church on the issue of human sexuality.

For the next seven years, if Assembly’s resolution is heeded throughout the church, the discussion may go on but there will be no more of the kind of public disagreement created by Resolution 19 in 1997 and Resolution 34 in 1999, which both sought to lay down a single position covering the whole of the church on this divisive issue. The motion is not simply a call to future Assemblies – all of the councils of the church, from Church Meetings onwards are asked to refrain from attempts to set policy on the issue.

In calling for the moratorium, the motions passed at Assembly also expressed confidence in the current means for assessing candidates for ministerial training as the means by which the Church seeks the will of God.

A debate which some feared might be divisive was in fact held in an atmosphere or reconcilation and genuine warmth. Much of the credit for that must go to Deputy General Secretary John Waller. John’s clear articulation of the need for reconciliation and mutual recognition within the body of Christ clearly moved many of those listening. There were relatively few contributions to the debate, almost all of them low-key and the Mission Council motions were passed overwhelmingly, without amendment.

Resolution 14 Human sexuality : continuing discussion

General Assembly, recognising that the statement contained within Resolution 34 of 1999 has received a measure of support in the councils of the church, but not sufficient to allow it to proceed:

a) accepts that there is a lack of agreement relating to issues of human sexuality, and that any further resolution attempting to declare the mind of the church on this subject would be unlikely to find sufficient support at this time;

b) affirms that the process the church uses to assess candidates and to call ministers is the means by which the church seeks to discern the call of God;

and

c) acknowledges that discussion on these matters will continue within as well as beyond the church and encourages the United Reformed Church to base its consideration on the Human Sexuality Report 1999, wherever possible within an ecumenical context.  

Resolution 15 A sabbatical on resolutions

General Assembly asks that for a period of seven years, during which reflection, prayer and sharing continue, no resolutions attempting to define the policy of the church on homosexuality should be proposed in any of the councils of the church.

From left: The Revd Peter Brain (retiring Secretary for Church and Society), Susan Fallon (Christian Aid), Gabrielle Cox (Convener of Church and Society), Daleep Mukarji (Director of Christian Aid) and  Anne Martin (Coordinator of the Commitment for Life  Programme)
 

David Cornick described his surprise, verging on horror at learning that he was on a short-list of four. He had agonized over whether to allow his name to go forward, more especially because, as a church historian, he knew what had happened to some of his predecessors. He asked for indulgence, not least because he felt he still had a great deal to learn about the URC, and for recognition of the fact that he was not General Secretary until the 1^st of August 2001 – the task of running a small theological college in the Fens would fully occupy his time until then! He paid tribute to the other candidates and made especial mention of the courtesy and consideration of Deputy General Secretary John Waller for all the candidates during the appointment group.

 
The Revd Dr David Cornick
General Secretary
from August 1st 2001
 

 
The Revd
Elizabeth Welch