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Committee Members

Convener: Revd Dr Colin Thompson, Secretary: Revd Terry Hinks, Staff Secretary: Revd John Waller

Revd Jean Black, Revd Wendy Baskett, Revd Stephen Brown, Mr Anthony Cheer, Miss Fiona Gow, Revd John Hall, Revd Fleur Houston, Revd William Mahood, Revd Dr Donald Norwood, Revd Philip Nevard, Revd Michael Playdon and Revd Janet Tollington.

1 The Committee held two residential meetings in the year: one in July at Damascus House, Mill Hill and one in January at the Windermere Centre. The main business has been:

2.1 The Committee has continued its work on the theology of ministry. Mission Council agreed to circulate the paper ‘Theology of Ministry’ as an agreed draft among Partner Churches and Provincial Synods for discussion and comment. The Committee welcomes responses and comments and will be working with the Ministries Committee, Training Committee and Ecumenical Committee, during a two year consultation period.

2.2 The eldership is an area of ministry that has been raised in response to the ‘Theology of Ministry’ paper. The Committee plans to explore eldership further and in particular ordination and its justification in this context. It is at present gathering material from a number of sources, in order to prepare a paper on this aspect of ministry.

2.3 The Committee also recognises the importance of the relationship of the ministry of the whole people of God and of those ordained to the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament. It plans to explore further the Conciliar nature of Apostolicity within our church tradition.

3.1 One of the concerns raised at a joint meeting of representatives of the Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee, the Discipleship and Witness Committee and the Youth and Children’s Work Committee in 1996, was that of Church Membership. It was suggested that, among some local churches, there was a negative view of membership and even that young people had been discouraged from becoming Church members, for reason of finance.

3.2 In response to this concern, the Committee felt it to be right to address the areas of Church Membership and the doctrine of the Church. It recognised the ecumenical work being done in this area, but considered that a United Reformed perspective on this matter would be useful. At the Committee’s January meeting, Janet Tollington circulated a discussion paper on Church Membership, which considered both doctrinal and practical issues. In discussing this paper, the Committee raised many more issues, and is at present carrying on further work on models of church membership. A series of positive affirmations about church membership are also planned.

4.1 To enable proper use and discussion of the alternative version of the Statement of Faith adopted at last year’s Assembly, the Committee has produced a commentary on the process which led to the Assembly decision, together with the commentary on the Statement itself.

4.2 The Committee is also working on a number of papers to help introduce the Basis of Union and Manual to Church Officers and members, in order to help people have a better understanding of the nature of the United Reformed Church.

5.1 It is hoped that the statement on ‘Holy Living’, noted at last year’s Assembly, has been a useful basis for discussion. At its July meeting in 1997, the Committee recorded that the statement was not intended to be used in disciplinary procedures, a fact also later noted by Mission Council.

6.1 Given that stocks of the existing 1989 Service Book are likely to run out in the next few years, the Committee has begun preparations for a new service book. Its aim is to publish by 2002, giving time before production for the circulation of draft services for trial in local churches.

6.2 The Committee’s starting point has been to outline the general principles underlining the Service Book and worship within the Reformed tradition. A discussion paper on such principles is to be produced in due course, in order to help the whole church reflect on its offering of worship to God, in response to God’s gracious initiative.

6.3 Correspondence, in relation to the new service book, has been and continues to be welcomed. Hearing of the experience and needs of local churches and worship leaders is important as we prepare for worship in the new Millennium.

7.1 The Prayer Handbook is a valued resource for personal prayer and in corporate worship. The 1998 book Active Power follows the Lectionary year, beginning with Advent Sunday 1997, and this is to be the pattern of future handbooks. It also contained a full list of Revised Common Lectionary readings in order to help the Church become more familiar with this ecumenically agreed Lectionary.

8.1 Following the resolution agreed by last year’s Assembly, asking local churches to observe the first Sunday in October (or other convenient date) each year as a rededication Sunday in the United Reformed Church, the Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee has been preparing material for use in the churches this autumn. The material will celebrate our common baptism in Christ, giving thanks for our diversity within the one body of Christ.

9.1 The first conference of the Theological Research Initiative was held in January 1998 at The Queen’s College, Birmingham. It brought together church representatives and academics from a wide range of backgrounds. They considered how churches could make better use of theological research undertaken in universities and how academics can become more aware of the churches’ needs. The United Reformed Church and the Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee were represented by Revd Dr Colin Gunton. The conference agreed to establish a permanent representative body to continue and facilitate the work of the Theological Research Initiative.

10.1 The Theological Consultation with the Church of the Pfalz has been an established part of the Church’s life for many years. It now involves the joint support of the Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee and the Ecumenical Committee. This year’s consultation (22 - 26 June 1998 at Klingenmunster) has taken as its theme ‘The Authority of the Bible’.

11.1 The Committee continues to be represented at discussions nationally and internationally. Revd Dr Donald Norwood is its representative on discussions arising from the Leunberg Fellowship of Churches. Revd Fleur Houston is its representative on conversations between the British and Irish Anglican and French Lutheran and Reformed Churches, which plan to issue a report in October 1998.

11.2 The Committee has considered the World Council of Churches report Confessing the One Faith which encourages all the churches to explore again the Nicene Creed. In responding to the report it recognised both that ‘we accept with thanksgiving the witness borne to the Catholic faith by the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds’ and that we are more accustomed to singing our faith than reciting creeds. The report is widely available for discussion in local churches and ecumenically.

11.3 The Committee has provided comments for the Ecumenical Committee on a number of national discussions, in particular ‘Commitment to Mission and Unity’ and the Scottish Initiative for Union. It is represented on the Theology and Unity Group by Revd Dr Donald Norwood.

12.1 The Methodist Faith and Order Committee has been represented on the Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee by Mary Wetherall and her contribution has been very valuable. The mutual relationship between the two committees has been a fruitful one and there has been much to learn from the Methodist Church’s preparation of its new service book, soon to be published. The Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee is represented on the Methodist Faith and Order Committee by Revd Fleur Houston.

12.2 The Committee has invited the Church of England to also appoint a representative to the Committee. The Faith and Order Advisory Group has appointed Revd Canon Dr Joy Tetley to represent it. This is an important and valuable ecumenical development.

13.1 The Silence and Retreats Group continues to be represented on the Committee by Michael Playdon and it is good to hear of its continued and developing work.

14.1 The Group formed in 1997 to support and monitor the Ecumenical Spirituality Project, whose director is Ruth Harvey. Fiona Gow continues to be the Committee’s representative on the group.

15.1 The Committee welcomes correspondence from churches and individual members in all areas of theology, prayer and worship.

16.1 This year the Committee says farewell to Fiona Gow, Tony Cheer and Wendy Baskett, together with Mary Wetherall, our Methodist representative. We thank them for their valuable and positive contributions.

Assembly gives thanks to God for the contribution of Isaac Watts to the hymnody of the Church and encourages local churches to mark the 250th anniversary of his death and to make imaginative use of his hymns in worship and Bible study in the following year (25 November 1998 - 25 November 1999).

1.1 25 November 1998 is the 250th anniversary of the death of a man whose influence on hymnody in the English-speaking world has been profound. Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748) was born into a Dissenting family and had direct knowledge of the persecution of Dissenters after the Act of Uniformity of 1662, since his father spent two periods in prison for his beliefs, just before and just after Isaac was born.

1.2 Watts grew up in an age when hymns were almost entirely paraphrases of the Psalms, in accordance with the belief that ‘man-made’ words were inappropriate for use in divine worship. Watts found them dull and crude in expression and lacking in any proclamation of the Gospel. Persuaded that paraphrase alone was not sufficient, he began to write his own original hymns, beginning with his Horae Lyricae of 1705, ‘christianizing’ the Psalms of David. Nevertheless, his hymns rarely depart from Biblical language and imagery. Many of them are no longer singable, but at their best they are among the greatest ever written.

1.3 Watts’ hymns are marked by their strength, simplicity and directness. He deliberately wrote in popular metres. His theology celebrates the creation and the great purposes of God in redemption, beginning with his Reformed belief that God’s grace, not human effort, takes the initiative in salvation. His hymns also express a deep sense of divine providence, of the Creator who rules and guides his creation, yet touches the lives of individuals. The Incarnation, Passion and Resurrection are central themes, as his hymns encourage each believer to enter into and be changed by their mystery. His language is vivid and memorable. He had the gift of expressing profound theological truths with great economy and clarity, and with an abiding sense of wonder at the grace of God. These qualities are not always present in later hymn-writers.

1.4 Local churches are encouraged to mark in some way the 250th Anniversary of Watts’ death and his influence on the Church’s hymnody. The Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee is producing materials to enable churches to rediscover some of the riches of Watts’ hymns and to explore the Biblical references and imagery contained within them. Study notes are being produced, for use by worship leaders and Bible study group leaders. As well as giving some historical background to Watts, they will give examples of Watts’ hymns, tracing their Biblical references.

1.5 The Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee announces a competition for the best new hymn text, which seeks to do for Christians at the end of the twentieth century what Isaac Watts attempted to do for his fellow Christians of the eighteen century. Full details of the competition, together with resource material will be available in the autumn. The competition is open to all and it is hoped to publish the best entries in some form. There will be a prize awarded to the best entry from someone who has not had a hymn published previously and a separate prize for the best entry of children and young people under 16. The closing date for entries is 28 February 1999.

Copyright © 1998, United Reformed Church

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