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3 Task
3.1 At the meeting of the Mission Council of the United Reformed Church in October 1997, it was decided to implement Resolution 18 of the 1997 General Assembly as follows:
Mission Council should remit responsibility for the implementation of resolution 18 to a core group of 5 of its senior members, plus the General Secretary who will act as secretary. The Core Group would be responsible for arranging the ecumenical consultation required by the resolution.
The Core Group would oversee the work of 4 sub-groups and would report to the March 1999 Mission Council with a view to a report being submitted to Assembly.
The four sub-groups would undertake work in the following areas:
The members of each Working Group were then chosen to reflect the diversity of views in each of these areas held within the church. The names of the members of each Working Group may be found in the report of the relevant Working Group.
3.2 Interpretation of the task
At the first meeting of the Core Group, the remit of the Group was interpreted in the following terms:
The task of the Core Group is to enable the United Reformed Church a. to decide whether or not the ordination of persons in committed homosexual relationships is appropriate,
b. to recognise and accept the grounds and consequences of such a decision and
c. to find ways of making these decisions in a spirit of openness and unity.
The Core Group committed itself in discussions to:
3.3 The work of the Core Group
3.3.1 Numbers of meetings
The Core Group met thirteen times, eleven times as day meetings, and twice residentially. In addition, the Core Group met four times jointly with the Conveners of the Working Groups, and organised one joint consultation for all members of the Core Group and the Working Groups.
3.3.2 Time Constraints
Both the Core Group and the Working Groups were aware of the considerable time constraints under which the work needed to be completed. The Core Group began drafting its report when it had received the Working Group reports at the beginning of January 1999 and completed the report for Mission Council by the end of February. There was limited time for consultation between the Core Group and the Working Groups about the reports for which each was responsible. There was also limited time for soundings to be taken throughout the United Reformed Church. This was primarily undertaken through a series of articles in Reform in autumn 1998.
3.3.3 Relationship between Core Group and Working Groups
The Core Group was grateful for extensive work undertaken by the Working Groups. The Core Group reflected on the reports of the Working Groups and had discussion with the Conveners about the development of the reports. It was agreed that the reports should be attached in full to the main body of the report.
3.3.4 Framework for the work
The Core Group and the Working Groups accepted as the basis for their work statements of existing positions held by the United Reformed Church (on such areas as Scripture, the Councils of the Church, Ordination and Holy Living) as outlined in the Basis of Union or as adopted by subsequent General Assemblies.
3.3.5 Fulfilling the task
The most difficult part of the task of the Core Group was to find a way forward which would respect the variety of radically different views sincerely held within the church, while coming to a common agreement. The time available to the Core Group did not allow for a sufficiently extensive exploration of ways in which diverse views can legitimately be held together. However, the Core Group was aware of the pressure within the church to come to a mind on the issue before us and therefore the need to put a particular proposal before the United Reformed Church at this time, rather than delaying a decision until a later date. The primary consideration underlying the proposal to be made in this report has been finding a way forward that would sustain the unity of the church, even though this proposal might be seen as limiting the diversity of views able to be held within the United Reformed Church.
3.3.6 The nature of the task
The Core Group has taken into consideration the reports of the Working Groups in drawing up its own report. However, the Core Group has not offered an evaluation of the Working Group reports in themselves. The Core Group has also taken into consideration the discussion as a whole that has been taking place throughout the United Reformed Church. This report sets out to be a reflection on what the United Reformed Church might now do in the light of all the work that has so far been done.
3.3.7 Reports to Mission Council
The Core Group presented the Report to the Mission Council, meeting on
19-21 March 1999. After a full discussion, resulting in a number of revisions, the Mission Council accepted the Report and the statement at 8.6.4 and agreed to forward them to the 1999 meeting of the General Assembly
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