Better Together
This booklet
is a response to the 2005 General Assembly Resolution 45 which ‘asks
all congregations to look again for more local ecumenical
possibilities’ and offers encouragement for an increase in the
number of congregations involved in formal ecumenical partnerships.
Like the resolution, this activity is itself part of the Catch the
Vision process being undertaken by the United Reformed Church.
‘Better
Together’ is offered by the Ecumenical Committee to local
congregations who are already ‘committed to making a difference to
the world’s kingdoms as we live Christ’s kingdom’. In our journeying
we learn from, are inspired and are encouraged by those we meet on
the way, and so ‘Better Together’ draws on stories of local places
as a means to encourage all of us to look again at our local
context. Our sustenance for the journey is the deep well of God’s
word, so we offer short pieces of reflection to stimulate our
thinking. Often the biggest challenge we face is knowing where to
begin and so we suggest starter questions and activities for
congregations to work on individually or with ecumenical neighbours.
If you would
like further resources for working ecumenically visit:
www.acts-scotland.org
www.cte.org.uk
www.cytun.org.uk
www.ctbi.org.uk
www.wcc-coe.org
However you
use this booklet the Ecumenical Committee would be delighted to hear
from you. We would like to be able to continue sharing stories from
around the United Reformed Church of congregations discovering new
ecumenical opportunities and affirming that it is indeed ‘Better
Together’.
Bible
Study: Matthew 18:20
Matthew’s
Gospel was written for a new, fledgling Christian community just at
that point where believers in Jesus had left the synagogues and were
setting up independently. Chapter 18 is a block of teaching by Jesus
about relationships between the members of the new churches – the
mutual care, forgiveness and discipline they were to practise.
If Jesus’s
followers would enter the Kingdom, they must change their conduct
and become like children, humble and without status. As such, they
have no rights. They follow a crucified Lord. Further their true,
sinful nature has been forgiven by
God and so they have a duty to
respond to that grace by living likewise.
Hence the
importance not to put stumbling blocks before the “little ones” –
new members of the church finding their way in the faith, and Jesus
tells a story about seeking straying sheep. From the avoidance of
stumbling blocks and the need to protect new believers the argument
develops to how to deal with issues of church discipline, and a
three-step procedure of correction.
The famous
promise in verse 20 relates specifically to an original context of
Jesus’s guiding presence with those who must administer church
discipline. Some would say it cannot be used more generally. Others
would say that as traditional ways of being the Church give way to
new forms, those new forms must find a fresh focus on Christianity
as discipleship and a way of life. And discipline and discipleship
come from the same root in learning and a body of teaching.
Discipline is the “how” of a discipleship based on following a
“who”. Wherever together we try to follow him, make him real, live
by his code, Jesus will be with us.
How can we
make Jesus real and present by living his code together?
Being Together
Unity and
togetherness can be found at the heart of God. In one of the great
mysteries of faith God who is made known to us as Creator, Son and
Spirit is bound together in love which allows each ‘person’ to
fulfil their role and yet holds them together with such strength
that the bond between them cannot be broken. Unity and togetherness
imply relationship between the persons who are God – you cannot be
together without being in relationship. As people made in the image
of God we too have unity and togetherness at the heart of our being.
Human beings are social creatures, we not only want to be together,
we need to be so for our very survival.
Jesus’ prayer
was that the disciples might be one, some translations offer ‘one in
heart and mind’ so that they could be fully attuned to God with the
result that the world would believe that God had sent Jesus. The
prayer affirms the importance of ecumenical relationships on two
fronts – that by experiencing other Christian traditions we
experience more of God’s self revelation to humanity and in acting
together we give witness to Christ and God’s love for the world.
Today the
United Reformed Church is part of a complex web of relationships –
locally, within our three nations, nationally and internationally.
In each of these relationships we seek to be one in heart and mind
with others so the world may know God’s love.
A story
from Drumchapel Churches Partnership
The small
Scottish Episcopal Church in Drumchapel was about to lose their
community worker. They already shared a priest with a neighbouring
parish and they feared the loss of their community worker would mean
that their congregation would close. They were particularly
concerned about their afterschool care project closing. They shared
their concerns with the other members of Drumchapel Churches
Partnership who promised to try and help. One of the partners in DCP
is the ‘3D Drumchapel’ family project. By working together, 3D, the
Episcopal Congregation and the other churches in the Partnership
have ensured that the afterschool care service continues. The
community experiences God’s love through the practical support the
churches provide for local families and the members of the Episcopal
congregation feel much more a part of the partnership than they did
before their community worker left.
Questions
1. People
within the church often refer to the scandal of disunity but culture
encourages us to think that choice is good. How can we build bridges
between these two viewpoints?
2. What does
being one in ‘heart and mind’ with ecumenical neighbours mean in
your local context?
3. Carry out
a mapping exercise of local ecumenical activity, ideally with
ecumenical neighbours. How does what you do together with others
give evidence to the world that God sent Jesus and loves all people?
4. Use the
mapping exercise to help you discern if there are new things you
could be doing together.
Worshipping Together
There is only
one way to worship God. Our way. Of course we don’t believe that –
but try getting churches from different traditions to worship
together, and you’ll soon find some tensions!
A story
from Cambridgeshire
An LEP in
Cambridgeshire uses several styles of service on a rotating basis.
It can take up to two months before the same service is repeated!
Communion is offered in a variety of ways, and the content of the
service varies according to the tradition being followed. This keeps
the congregation in touch with patterns they are familiar with, but
does not restrict worship to just one style. It also creates an
atmosphere that encourages new styles to be tried out. After all –
every service style was once brand new! Getting to know and
understand other traditions has helped this church to appreciate a
whole range of worship styles. New people quickly find something
that they can relate to. All the members engage in each of the
styles of worship, and this brings a richness and freshness to the
weekly services.
We proclaim
one God, revealed as Father, Son and Spirit. This is a model of
variety, diversity and dynamic change. So our worship should reflect
this. Coming together in worship is a chance to share both giving
and receiving – and to expand our ideas about God. No one church, no
single denomination or tradition has a monopoly on worship. We might
each have seen a glimpse of the glory of God, and found an
appropriate way to respond; but that does not devalue or preclude
other glimpses and other responses.
We all
believe that the worship we enjoy today is somehow carved in stone,
but service styles, musical accompaniment, forms of liturgy and
prayer – all are constantly evolving – and they have been throughout
the entire history of the church. There is much to be learned about
the place of silence, the joyful expression of praise, the use of
carefully crafted words and the free expression of the Spirit. We
cannot do all this by ourselves. Just as God has given us our bodies
with their different parts, so our minds and hearts also respond to
our creator in different ways. Together, we can all be enriched in
our understanding and worship of God.
What steps
can you or your church take to learn more about the depth and
breadth of worship?
Questions
1. What are
the key features of our worship that we would want to share
with
others?
2. What
styles of worship do we find uncomfortable – and why?
3. What
events are there where a common service or gathering could be
arranged?
4. Could we
invite a leader or member from another church to come and
talk
about their style of worship?
Serving Together
The Flore
Christian Partnership, Northamptonshire, is a successful covenant
partnership between Church and Chapel where united worship is held
twice a month.
ALL church
activities are arranged in the name of the Flore Christian
Partnership and these include all children’s work; CAMEO (a ladies
group) joint Alpha, Lent, and Bible Study groups. The annual Flower
Festival is now a major celebration for the whole village. The Men’s
Group is a low key affair offering drinks, supper and an opportunity
for a chat and the Meal-a-Month serves up to 30 senior residents.
With the parish council the Partnership produces a Welcome Pack for
all newcomers to the village and the monthly Flore Messenger goes to
every household.
In 2005 a
marriage re-dedication service was held and 70 couples re-took their
vows. It was something much appreciated by the people of the
village. In 2006 they are developing a travelling show for young
people with films, modern music and contemporary worship. Plus, of
course, food! It has been so popular that it is now going to other
villages nearby.
The secret of
the Partnership’s success is the years of working together before
there was much worshipping together and the desire of the two
congregations to present a united Christian presence within a
village community.
This might
conjure up an image of lots of people with bowls of water and towels
all rushing around trying to wash one another’s feet! Perhaps Jesus
had something more organised in mind! Ecumenical Partnerships can be
about what we do as much as about who we are or where and with whom
we worship.
Questions
1. In what
ways do your neighbouring churches serve your community?
If you
don’t know try asking them!
2. In what
ways do you serve your community?
3. Which of
these things do you do together now?
4. What more
could you do together?
Having Fellowship Together
During 2005
Action of Churches Together in Scotland carried out an audit of
local ecumenical life in Paisley, Inverness and St Andrews. This
included a questionnaire being distributed to each congregation in
the local churches together group. One question asked what was
important for building up good local ecumenical relations. The
responses revealed that addressing the needs of the local community
together scored most highly (90%) socialising with other churches
second (83%), followed by worshipping with other churches (80%).
Socialising, or having fellowship, is one of the most important
activities churches can do together and yet fewer than 20 of the
questionnaire respondents actually said they were taking part in
ecumenical social events.
Meeting
together, having fellowship in a wide variety of ways from ceilidhs
to coffee mornings, flower festivals to inter-church quizzes,
walking clubs to book groups, is important if we are to really begin
to know each other as people making up congregations from different
church traditions in a community. Only by getting to know one
another will we be able to journey together in mission, and give the
support to one another which seemed to characterise the church
community we read about in Acts.
A story
from Wales
Builth Wells
is a community in Mid Wales. In 1992 people realised that something
radical needed to be done if the mission of the Church in Builth had
a future. A minister was appointed for five years to work with four
denominations in the town and four outlying congregations. The first
combined church meeting took place in September 1995 and came to the
conclusion that small churches were not the problem – they were the
solution and so the Community Pastorate has developed using the
resources of the various buildings and congregations in the town.
The four churches originally involved were Baptist, Methodist,
Presbyterian Church of Wales and United Reformed. Situations change.
Most of the Baptist building has been sold with the Hall and Vestry
being used by a number of community groups working with people
experiencing stress and other mental well-being issues. The
Methodists withdrew when the project seemed to stagnate though other
community service work continues in the Methodist building. The
Presbyterian building is used for worship and most church events.
The URC building houses a daily community Welsh language play-group.
All of the activities involve people from across the churches,
regardless of which building in which they take place. All this has
arisen from the churches being in fellowship with one another, being
brought together, by the Holy Spirit, despite their differences, to
work, pray and be together. Also important has been the care and
understanding required in situations where people in the pastorate
are seen to be giving up something important to them. The community
pastorate has enabled a strength of support that has revitalised
congregations to share in God’s mission together. After the varied
experiences over the past 10 years, the group is now moving to
having a formal constitution and sharing agreements. 2006 should
also see a new pattern of ordained ministry develop under the
leadership of a Presbyterian Church of Wales minister.
Questions
1. What
opportunities do you have to socialise with your ecumenical
neighbours?
2. Are there
events taking place within your congregation to which others could
be invited?
3. How well
do you know your ecumenical neighbours? How well do they know you?
4. What do
you feel is important for building up good ecumenical relations?
What insights might your ecumenical neighbours offer?
Learning Together
This
difficult story shows Jesus first of all refusing to heal someone
who was not Jewish, even calling her a ‘dog’. The woman does not
give up, she reminds him that God’s love gives scraps if nothing
else to the least important. So Jesus learns from her. God’s love is
more than scraps for Jesus gives her what she wants the most, her
daughter. This is a story of Jesus’ transformation. Situations and
people can transform us and our ideas too!
A story
about CONTRAST
During the
mid 1980’s members of the Traditional Churches in Nottingham were
concerned that they were not acknowledging the issue of racism which
had caused a hostile reception to those members of their
denominations who had come from the Caribbean and elsewhere. They
looked for a meeting place where Christians of all cultures and
traditions could come together to share
their faith, and learn from
each other.
Out of this
an organisation by the name of CONTRAST (Christians of Nottingham
Training and Studying Together) was established. From a humble
beginning of Christians coming together to learn with and from each
other CONTRAST has grown over the past 15 years. It offers a
Certificate in Higher Education in Intercultural Theology, which is
validated by the University of Nottingham and has an association of
19 Church traditions/denominations.
The striking
thing about the Intercultural Theology course, is how people from
different church traditions/denominations study alongside one
another and enjoy learning together regardless of their Church
background, culture and ethnicity.
Questions
1. In what
difficult situations have you, like Jesus, learned something very
important?
2. What other
church traditions/denominations are in your neighbourhood?
3. How well
do you know them, including what they think and believe?
4. In what
ways could you learn with and from one another?
Praying Together
There are
many sayings about being together in a group: United we stand…. A
trouble shared… Safety in numbers etc. etc. These all show that God
meant us to work as a team, not individuals. Coming together in
prayer should be a natural and exciting event for Christians. It
was a pattern of the early church, both for encouragement of
the
believers and as a basis for great works of God in the
neighbourhood.
A story
from Rugby
Perhaps a way
to get started is to focus on a common concern, either for the local
community or wider afield. For example, a group of churches in Rugby
recently came together to pray for a forthcoming mission to their
local prison. An outside organization was responsible for sending
mission partners to work in the prison. It was up to the local
community to host the visitors and prepare for their arrival. The
event was publicised around the town, and representatives from eight
local congregations gathered together for several weeks before the
mission. Focussing on a project in which they all believed, and
which was designed to serve their local community, meant that issues
of local church politics were irrelevant. The style, background and
denomination of each church took second place to the Kingdom work of
praying for the prisoners and the visiting team. This activity
greatly helped the mission team when they arrived, and built lasting
relationships between the churches involved.
There are
many resources available to help focus our prayer thoughts. Perhaps
somebody in your congregation is particularly concerned about
political issues, or the suffering church, or child poverty. Today,
many organizations send out weekly or monthly prayer newsletters by
email. Why not ask one member to subscribe to a mailing, then gather
people from local churches, so that they can be informed about these
events, pray together, and take the concerns back to their separate
churches.
Just two
people each from a handful of local churches would make a viable
group. History tells us that many revivals and shifts in social
policy are rooted in the unseen but persistent work of a small,
dedicated group of people gathering for prayer. Is God calling
you or your
church to form the next such group?
Questions
1. Who in my
church has a passion for an issue of social justice?
2. How can we
help them to form a regular prayer group around this issue?
3. Are we
praying regularly for the welfare of our local community?
4. How could
we encourage local churches to be involved together in praying for
our common concerns?
5. Could we
gather together those from a particular occupation, or support those
with a certain need?
Contact
Details:
The
Ecumenical Committee
The United
Reformed Church
86 Tavistock
Place
London
WC1H 9RT
Telephone:
020 7916 2020
Email:
richard.mortimer@urc.org.uk
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