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1 Our meetings

1.1 During the year Mission Council has met residentially at Ushaw College, Durham, and All Saints Pastoral Centre, St Albans, and for a one-day meeting at the Arthur Rank Centre, Stoneleigh. Freed from the demanding burden of guiding the human sexuality debate, it has been possible for the Council to take up issues to do with the mission and ministry of the church. In this it has been helped by the work of a number of task groups and committees.

1.2 The positive and encouraging attitude of the Moderator has helped the meetings, not least at moments of dryness or difficulty. As always the worship has sustained the meetings and in the leading of this the Moderator has been helped by his chaplain, the Revd Paul Bedford.

1.3 Theological reflection at the residential meetings was provided by the Revd Dr Christina Le Moignan and the Revd Bernard Longley. This year the Council adopted the practice of discussing the written comments of the theological reflectors at the following meeting. This was done with the hope that the reflections would be able to have a greater effect on the minds and hearts of the members, and on their shared work.

1.4 Owing to his inability to be present at Assembly at the conclusion of his term of office, the Revd Peter McIntosh was invited to report to Mission Council on his moderatorial year. This he did with his usual passion and humour. The Council shared the pleasure felt by many others at Peter’s restoration to health.

2 Responding to the Assembly

2.1 Human sexuality pastoral group. This group was set up by resolution 41 of the 1997 Assembly and over the years since has given some help and guidance to those in pastoral need because of the human sexuality debate. The members of the group are: Elizabeth Caswell, Malcolm Hanson, Jim Hollyman, Glyn Jenkins, Lis Mullen and John Waller. Mission Council extended the life of the group for a further year, at least until October 2001, recognising that the decisions of last year’s Assembly on human sexuality did not necessarily do away with the need for pastoral support to be available.

2.2 Occupational Health Service for Ministers. Although some initial thinking has been done on this matter, Mission Council is not yet ready to report.

2.3 The early appointment of committee secretaries. It was suggested at last year’s Assembly that secretaries, as well as conveners, should be appointed a year before taking up office. Mission Council considered this. Its advice is not to make a further change and that the overlap of conveners should be sufficient to ensure continuity.

2.4 Unifying Assembly resolution on Women’s Work. This matter has been considered by the Mission Council Advisory Group and by the Life and Witness Committee. Their recommendations will be considered at the next meeting of Mission Council.

2.5 Small churches task group. The group appointed in response to Assembly resolution 6 of 1998 reported in March. After some discussion it was agreed to make some minor changes and to edit the report in a form that was suitable for wider circulation. It will then be published and available from the bookshop.

2.6 Secretary for Racial Justice. Following the passing of resolution 49 at Assembly 2000, Mission Council agreed that it needed to set up this post as a matter of urgency. A job description was agreed and an appointment group named. Because of the timing of meetings, it was agreed that the officers of General Assembly could make the appointment if the appointment group came up with a clear recommendation. Mrs Katalina Tahaafe-Williams was appointed as Secretary for Racial Justice and has taken up her duties. She will be inducted at Assembly. Mission Council is grateful particularly to Mrs Sandra Ackroyd for overseeing the work of the Racial Justice office in the time when there has not been a staff secretary in post.

3 Actions on behalf of the General Assembly

3.1 Appointment of synod moderators. Acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council appointed the Revd Peter Clive Noble as Moderator of the Synod of Wales, and the Revd Nigel Philip Uden as Southern Synod Moderator, both for a period of seven years to 31 August 2008.

3.2 Appointment to staff post. Acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council re-appointed the Revd Philip James Woods as Secretary for International Relations for a period of five years to 31 August 2006.

3.3 Appointment of conveners-elect. Acting on behalf of Assembly, and following its decision in 2000, Mission Council appointed these people as conveners-elect of committees with a view to their taking office as conveners at this Assembly:

Doctrine, Prayer and Worship

Ecumenical

Accreditation Sub-Committee

National Assessment Board

Windermere Advisory Group

3.4 Appointment of Principal of Westminster College. Acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council appointed the Revd Dr Stephen Charles Orchard as Principal of Westminster College, Cambridge, for a period of six years from 1 August 2001. Mission Council asked the Cambridge District Council to induct Dr Orchard.

3.5 Extension of convener’s service. Acting on behalf of Assembly, and recognising the particular needs of the committee concerned, Mission Council extended the period of service of the Revd Graham Long as convener of the Ministries Committee by one year to July 2002.

3.6 Other appointments. Acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council made the following appointments:

Council for World Mission

Churches Together in England

3.7 Church appointments and termed contracts. As a result of changes in employment legislation, and acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council resolved:

‘that all lay staff appointed to Assembly posts should be given an open-ended contract, with a few exceptions (i.e. when the post lasts less than one year or where there is a clearly defined limited life to the task or to the funding);’

‘that any change from fixed term contract to an open-ended one should occur only when the existing contract expires, with the exception of those which have been issued since October 1999, where the employee takes the opportunity to change to the new form of contract;’

‘that the position of ministers in Assembly posts should be reviewed in the light of the above decisions, after the Ministries Committee has completed its work on ministerial service, noting nevertheless that ministers are holders of an office.’

Following the passing of these resolutions Mission Council resolved on its own behalf to advise the other councils of the church to review and if necessary revise their employment policies in the light of these decisions and to ensure that they comply with current legislation.

3.8 Committee for Racial Justice. Acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council agreed to establish a new standing Committee for Racial Justice and asked the Nominations Committee to propose names for its officers and members. The Revd Raymond Singh was confirmed as convener of the Committee for Racial Justice.

3.9 The Hungarian Reformed Church. Acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council resolved -

‘to take the following actions in accordance with the authority vested in it as the successor to the Committee named in Clause 4 of a Trust Deed dated 28th January 1966 regarding the property number 17 St Dunstan’s Road London W6 (the property) held for the purposes of the Hungarian Reformed Church :

1. To resolve that the United Reformed Church shall sell the property to the Hungarian Reformed Church Foundation (the Foundation) for a nominal consideration and

 

2. In pursuance of such sale, to authorise and request The United Reformed Church Trust to transfer the legal title of the property to such private trustees as the Foundation shall nominate for that purpose and

 

3. To apply the net proceeds of such sale (if any) for the charitable purposes contained in the Trust Deed.’

3.10 Basic ministerial stipend. Acting on behalf of Assembly, Mission Council set the basic ministerial stipend for 2001 at £16,944.

3.11 Changes to the United Reformed Church Ministers’ Pension Fund Rules. Assembly 2000, in its resolution 32, made certain changes to the rules of the Ministers’ Pension Fund. It quickly became clear that there had been flaws in the drafting of the resolution and therefore Mission Council, acting for Assembly, amended the Rules of The United Reformed Church Ministers’ Pension Fund by the deletion of the words shown in square brackets and by the addition of the words in italics:

14.1.2 [If a minister serving a local church is inducted to part-time service whilst under the age of fifty five years or being a contributing member of the Fund reduces] If a contributing member serving full-time reduces his/her commitment to that of part-time service whilst under normal pension age, the Pension Trustee may raise the Pensionable Service to the level applicable to a full-time minister having regard to the length of any previous full-time service, to the age and health of the minister, to the fraction of basic stipend being paid and to the purpose and pensionability of any other employment and shall in such cases allow full membership of the Pension Fund, contributions then being payable on the full basic stipend.

3.12 Sale of URC Insurance Company Limited Mission Council, acting on behalf of General Assembly, resolved that:

(i) the sale to Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc of the whole of the issued share capital of URC Insurance Company Limited on the terms outlined in Paper L be approved in principle;

 

(ii) the Honorary Treasurer, the Deputy General Secretary and the Financial Secretary be authorised to conclude detailed negotiations and agree the form of contract to be entered into with Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc; and

 

(iii) United Reformed Church Trust be authorised to execute the necessary documents relating to the contract and the transfer of shares to Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc.

It was subsequently reported that the sale had been completed on satisfactory terms. Thanks were extended to the former directors of the company and the Honorary Treasurer was commended for his work in effecting the sale. It was recognised that the directors of the Company had given valued service to the church and that significant income had been received from the company over many years.

4 Other actions

4.1 Reports. During the year Mission Council has been able to give time to considering reports from a number of task groups and committees. The report of the task group on local church premises, seen as an added resource to Growing Up, is now available through the bookshop. Discussion of this report led to a much wider discussion on mission resources. A paper was prepared and synods were asked to give account of the ways in which they are using resources to refresh the mission of the church. Some of the results of this discussion will be shared through the synod reports to Assembly. The report of an inter-committee group on diaconal ministry and the report of the Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee on the responsibility and accountability of ministries were also considered. It was felt that both should be held as a resource, in particular for the committees whose remit covers the subject of the reports. The revised report on the grouping of churches was considered. As a result resolution 11 is being bought to Assembly. District or area councils wanting a copy of the final version of the report, now called The Grouping of Churches, should apply to the Deputy General Secretary’s office.

4.2 Deputy General Secretary. A group was set up to review this post and the method of appointment when it falls vacant on 31 August 2002. After due consideration it was agreed that the post should be continued with a job description very similar to that drafted when the appointment of the Revd Dr David Cornick as General Secretary was made. A nominating group chaired by the Moderator of General Assembly and representative of the synods has been set up. Details of the post have been circulated and nominations have been invited by 31 July 2001. It is hoped that the process will be completed in time for an appointment to be made by Mission Council in January 2002. The appointment will be for seven years in the first instance. 

4.3 Assembly minutes. Mission Council appointed the Revd Kenneth Forbes to be responsible for taking the minutes at the next four General Assemblies.

4.4 Youth and Children’s Work Review. Mission Council encouraged the Youth and Children’s Work Committee in its intention to set up a review of youth and children’s work in the United Reformed Church. This will include the work of the Youth and Children’s Work Committee, its officers and the National Youth Resource Centre at Yardley Hastings. The Training Committee has requested that the Youth and Children’s Work Trainers should be included in the review.

The review team consists of the following members:

It is planned that the review team will make a provisional report to the February meeting of the Youth and Children’s Work Committee, and then to Mission Council in March with a view to making a presentation at the General Assembly in July 2002.

4.5 ‘Training for Learning & Serving’ (TLS) Programme In December 1999 the Training Committee was concerned to learn that the Scottish Churches Open College had decided to withdraw permission for the Training for Learning and Serving Programme to be delivered in England and Wales. It immediately conducted a review of the TLS Programme and identified key elements for any new course. Over the following six months, the Training Committee conducted a search for an alternative programme. After an extensive search, four options were put to Mission Council in October 2000. Mission Council suggested a fifth option - that the General Secretary re-negotiate the purchase of the copyright of the TLS Foundation and Worship and Preaching courses from the Directors of the Scottish Churches Open College. Mission Council is very grateful to Tony Burnham for successfully completing this mission. The United Reformed Church will, therefore, be able to use and develop the Training for Learning and Serving programme for the foreseeable future.

This resolution of a potentially very difficult situation has been sealed by the re-appointment of the Revd David A L Jenkins as National Co-ordinator for TLS in England and Wales for a further three-year period to summer 2004. This will take him to normal retirement age. Both Mission Council and the Training Committee share the general gratitude for David’s vision, drive and enthusiasm in establishing and managing the course. This extension of his appointment should ensure that the new phase is established on a firm foundation.

4.6 Resolution from Yorkshire Synod A comprehensive resolution from the Synod, which arose from concern about the length of current ministerial vacancies, was considered. After discussion, many of the issues raised were referred to the review currently being carried out by the Ministries Committee (Assembly 2000, resolution 35). The Moderators’ Meeting also undertook to review the movement of ministers over the ensuing months and the result of that review is included in its report to this Assembly. Other aspects of the Yorkshire Synod’s resolution are still being considered.

4.7 Luther King House Educational Trust Following the setting up of this Trust, Mission Council confirmed the appointment of the Revd John M Piper as a director and agreed that at general meetings of the Trust the United Reformed Church could be represented by its appointed director or by the General Secretary or Honorary Treasurer.

4.8 Resource Sharing Task Group This group was established in 1994 and over the subsequent years it has worked with representatives of the synods to find ways in which resources might be shared across the church. In a report to Mission Council the task group indicated that it believed that the principle of inter-synod resource sharing had been established as part of the Church’s way of life. Confirmation of that is given in the expectation that in 2001 all the synods will be contributing 10% of their investment income to resource-sharing. Mission Council agreed to continue the task group in being for a further term, in order to sustain and develop the process, and re-appointed the Revd Tony Burnham as convener.

4.9 Personnel Change Mission Council expressed its gratitude to the Revd Dr Lesley Husselbee for her service since 1992 first as the Departmental Secretary for Ministries and then as Secretary for Training. Dr Husselbee has been appointed to the staff of Northern College from 1 September 2001.

4.10 The world beyond Inevitably much of Mission Council’s time is directed towards the life of the church. However, that is not always the case. At one meeting Mission Council welcomed the formation of The Jubilee Campaign Debt Network and supported the United Reformed Church’s participation in it. More recently it heard a report on the foot and mouth outbreak and its effect on rural life and economy. The church may be a sign of the Kingdom but it is in the whole world that we pray God’s Kingdom will come.