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Record of the Congregational Union of Scotland/United Reformed Church (UK) Liaison Committee 1990-2000

The Liaison Committee held its final meeting on Tuesday 29 February 2000. At that meeting the Convener, Revd Jack Dyce (who had also been co-chairman of the Joint Negotiating Group) linked the opening devotions to the forthcoming union and to the years of relationship between the two churches on which the union was based.

Quite independently, the Secretary, Revd Sheila Maxey, had prepared a paper for the meeting which reviewed the work of the committee, as it was reflected in the 10 years of minutes.

These two contributions are here combined, not only for the record but as an offering to all those who will build on the work of the Congregational Union of Scotland/United Reformed Church (UK) Liaison Committee.

……. Throughout our negotiations, we have been confident that the union will not mean absorption or surrender but rather a sharing, a commitment to one another, a desire to help one another be in a fuller sense. It has, of course, not been an easy road. We have had disappointment; we in Scotland have experienced schism.

When the first proposals did not secure the required majority, nonetheless we knew that we could not go back, we could not leave things simply as they were. We had committed ourselves to one another and the time would indeed come, the time of fulfilment. In Ros Lyle’s famous phrase, from a less successful set of union talks, the requirement that we ‘fancied each other’ had been met. This committee has been a key means by which that hope and commitment were kept alive.

And perhaps indeed the earlier time was not right. The new set of proposals, crafted in a different social and political and cultural context, envisage a way of working together in three nations that, one hopes, will be a model for others in the church and beyond.

Of course, the hope and commitment is both to each other and beyond to a wider unity of the church. Yet, for the present, it is we who are bound together in a developing relationship and we ask God’s blessing on a unification that is not completed on April 1, but rather moves forward and deepens as we live together within one church fellowship.

As we read the story of the marriage in Cana, let us in our hearts and minds sense Christ’s presence with us and his blessing upon us in our coming together.

(Jack Dyce, Convener)

The beginnings in 1990

The committee first met in January 1990 at the Scottish Congregational College.

Those representing the Congregational Union of Scotland were: Revds Alan Paterson, Morgan Phillips, and Robert Waters (General Secretary) and Miss Carolyn Smyth (representing the Scottish Congregational College and acting as secretary to the meeting). Apologies were received from Mrs Sheena Paul (representing the Women’s Union).

Those representing the United Reformed Church were: Revds Raymond Bade, Mary Barr, David Hannen, David Jenkins (Moderator of the Northern Synod who took the chair), David M Taylor and Mrs Ruth Clarke (representing the Youth and Children’s Work Committee) and Mrs Muriel Garrow.

Its purpose was stated as: ‘to explore means of co-operation, making use of present structures’ (a reference, perhaps, to the recent failure of the CUS Assembly to obtain a large enough majority to pursue union with the URC)

The composition of the committee reflected then, and later, the expected areas of co-operation: training, women’s work, youth work, and the Council for World Mission. The level at which this was expected to take place was in relation, firstly, to the Mid-Scotland District and then to the Northern Province. When Sheila Maxey, URC Secretary for Ecumenical Relations replaced Muriel Garrow on the committee in 1995 it was a signal, from the URC side, that the relationship should be recognised as between the whole URC and the CUS. In 1996 the CUS changed some of its representation on the committee in order to reflect both changes in its own structures and the need to have key denominational staff on the committee. It was beginning to look again towards union talks.

Themes from the minutes

1 Training

Co-operation in this area was considerable throughout the period

- a liaison group between the Scottish Congregational College, the URC Ministries Committee and Northern College was in existence before 1990.

- the CUS sent an observer to the URC’s Integrated Training Review from 1990 on.

- in 1991 a CUS/URC joint group on ministerial training was formed, and appreciation of the flexible, ecumenical nature of the Congregational College’s courses was expressed.

- in 1993 John Clarke, the Principal of the College replaced Carolyn Smith on the committee.

- in 1995 both the CUS and the URC embraced the new Training, Learning and Serving course with enthusiasm.

- from 1995 CUS ministers were invited to the Northern Province Ministers’ Summer School

- in 1996 the Principal of the Congregational College and the URC Secretary for Ministries had one (of several) meetings.

2 Women’s meetings

There was a slow but steady increase in contact and cooperation between the Christian Women’s Fellowship Annual Convention (formerly Churches of Christ) and the CUS Women’s Bible Study annual meeting. Gradually attendance at one another’s major events began to take place.

3 Youth work

Co-operation in this area seems mostly to have been wider than just between the two churches

- through membership of the CWM European Region both were involved in Youth in Mission workcamps.

- both were involved ACTS youth events, and in CUS/URC/CF/UF ongoing support for a Christian Aid project.

But ‘youth work’ appears only intermittently in the minutes as do the youth representatives!

4 Sharing other resources

- shared Vocations Days with the Northern Province took place, most successfully in 1991 and again, this time called ‘Fools for Christ’, in 1995.

- other Northern Province resources such as the Music Bank and team support for the SCC Mission Enabler were offered.

- the desirability of exchange of magazines and other publications appears often in the minutes but seems to have been difficult to achieve.

- another good idea, a shared diary of events, seemed not to get off the ground.

5 Joint or cross-representation

- in 1990 the CUS appointed a member to the Mid-Scotland visitation team, which was assessing where the six United Reformed churches stood after the failed union vote in 1988.

- in 1993 it was reported that the CUS was representing the URC in some chaplaincy work and on some ACTS bodies and that the CUS had included the URC churches in its Junior Church Survey.

- once union talks were opened in 1997, cross-representation began: CUS representatives were invited to all URC Assembly Committees and the Mid-Scotland District was invited to send representatives to the appropriate Area Councils.

6 Sharing news and seeking closer

co-operation

- in the early years, this focussed on the six URC churches and their relationships, some good, some not so good, with their CUS neighbours. This period culminated in the formation, in 1993, of Augustine United Church in Edinburgh.

- in the middle years, the news, on the CUS side, was largely about the process of becoming a church, and then dealing with the resulting painful split. On the URC side the news was mainly about the Northern Province, of which, of course, the Mid-Scotland was very much a part. The local focus for co-operation was the Solway area and the relation of those two SCC churches to the Cumberland District.

- most recently, the emphasis has been on the CUS and Scotland as a whole, and, on the URC side, news from the URC as a whole.

- between 1996 and 1998 there was an abortive search for an ecumenical officer who would also minister to two URC congregations.

7 The Council for World Mission

The minutes do not reflect as much shared work as was, at first, expected.

- in 1996 there was a joint visit of CUS and URC people to the CWM partners in Southern Africa.

- in 1995 there was a shared celebration in Edinburgh of the bi-centenary of the LMS.

The milestones on the road to union

September 1992 - the resolution before the CUS Assembly to form a church was not passed.

September 1993 - an amended form of the resolution was passe

From the moment of the announcement of the vote, churches began to walk out. Eventually 27 churches left, at first to form the Association of Scottish Congregational Churches, and then, individually, to join the Congregational Federation. The Scottish Congregational Church began to form the Area Councils.

March 1996 - CUS representation on the Liaison Committee reflected the restructuring centrally into Pastoral, Mission and Education committees with staff responsible for each.

September 1996 – the CUS Assembly voted to approach the URC to re-open union talks.

October 1996 - the URC Mission Council, on behalf of the General Assembly, agreed to do so.

The role of the committee during the union negotiations

Once the Joint Negotiating Group had begun work in January 1997, the Liaison Committee had a complementary role, with two new elements:

- to facilitate communication and partnership between the two churches in all areas of their life and work, and to move that beyond the Northern Province.

- to reflect on the work of, and make suggestions to the Joint Negotiating Group.

In relation to the second, the committee suggested that URC synods invite Area Council members for a synod weekend, that there should be particularly close consultation between the CUS and the Wales Synod, that Mid-Scotland URC speakers should be invited to the Area Councils to explain the URC, and that there should be better cross-representation between the Area Councils and the Mid-Scotland District Council.

The Liaison Committee has faithfully played its part in holding these two churches who ‘fancied each other’ together both when their shared future was unclear and when union came into view.

At the end of its 10 years of life, the membership of the committee was as follows:

Representing the Congregational Union of Scotland: Revds John Arthur (General Secretary of the CUS), Jack Dyce (Chairman of the CUS, Principal of the Scottish Congregational College and convener of the meeting), Ken Forbes, and Mrs Sheena Paul.

Representing the United Reformed Church (UK): Revds Mary Barr, Sheila Maxey (Secretary for Ecumenical Relations and secretary to the meeting), Terry Oakley, and David M. Taylor. During the 10 years other members came and went. Revd David Jenkins, as Moderator of the Northern Synod, played a key role in the life of the committee and in personally strengthening the bonds of friendship between the CUS and the URC(UK). The thanks of both churches are due to all those who served this committee faithfully and especially to Mary Barr, Sheena Paul and David Taylor who served for the whole of its life.