For
all those United Reformed Church people involved in the setting up of
a Single Congregation Shared Building Local Ecumenical Partnership
There
is considerable variety of practice across the United Reformed Church.
One major difference lies in who the key individual is in such a
process: in some synods it is the Trust Officer, in others the Synod
Ecumenical Officer, in yet others the District Ecumenical Officer. Another major difference is where the main weight of the
authority shared between the local, the District and the Synod lies in
this particular matter: this varies from synod to synod. A minor
difference is in the names of the relevant committees. An attempt has
been made to cover the situation in Wales, but not in Scotland.
The following checklist has the broad agreement of
all the synods:
A First steps to be initiated by the key person
1.
There
will, of necessity, be several exploratory meetings and it will be a
matter of careful judgement as to which people to involve at which
point in this series of meetings. Explore the proposals with the District Pastoral Committee, on
which both the Synod Moderator and often the District Ecumenical
Officer sits. If the DEO
does not, he or she should be invited for this business. It may also be appropriate to invite the Trust Officer. The
County Ecumenical Officer (in Wales, the secretary for the CYTUN
region) and representatives of the other proposed partners in the LEP
should be invited. United
Reformed Church strategy and deployment policy, together with the
LEP's long-term intentions, and the partner churches' wider strategy
must be discussed. The
United Reformed Church's commitment in terms of money and ministry
must be made clear.
2.
Notify
the District and the Synod Finance and Property Committees and the
Trustees of the buildings involved about what is being proposed.
3.
Ensure
that all proposals and resolutions relating to the intention to
establish a new LEP proceed through the local Church Meeting and are
fully minuted.
B The Declaration (or Statement) of Intent
The representatives of the proposed LEP, meeting
with the key person(s) and using the model offered by Churches
Together in England, should draw up a Declaration of Intent, outlining
in general terms what the LEP hopes for. District and Synod should be able to agree to this quite
easily..
C The Constitution
Use either CTE's Constitutional Guidelines for a
Single Congregation Partnership, or the Methodist/URC Model
Constitutional Guidelines as pro formas
1.
The
key person(s), meeting with a group from the proposed LEP, and with
the key people from the constituent churches (see the Anglican/
Methodist checklist) and with the County Ecumenical Officer (in Wales,
the Secretary to the CYTUN region), draft a constitution tailored to
the particular situation.
References to trust and property issues should be checked with the
Trust Officer.
2.
Successive
drafts, having been checked locally, are presented through the
District or Synod ecumenical officers to the appropriate synod
committee. At the same
time they are being presented to the appropriate bodies in the other
partner churches (see the Anglican/ Methodist checklist.) Through the
County Ecumenical Officer (or the Secretary to the CYTUN region) the
sponsoring body is also consulted. Only if there are difficult issues is the Secretary for
Ecumenical Relations consulted.
3.
The
District Council and the Synod give formal approval and the approved
version is submitted to the Sponsoring Body for its approval. The constitution is then signed at the LEP's inauguration.
Note:
the United Reformed Church representatives, both locally and at
district and synod level, should be satisfied with the constitution
before entering into a sharing agreement.
D
The
Sharing Agreement
As this is a checklist
only, it does not deal with the legal significance of a sharing
agreement which, as well as permitting the shared use of the buildings
can also be worded so as to protect capital moneys introduced by some
or all of the sharing churches in order to improve or develop those
buildings. The
Trust Officer and, where appropriate, the synod's legal adviser, will
be able to offer more detailed guidance on those issues.
As
a sharing agreement is a legal matter it is important to stick as
closely as possible to the recognised
pro formas. If
the sharing is with the Methodist Church alone, the latest pro forma
should be obtained from the Methodist Property Committee. Otherwise, use the pro forma to be found in Under the Same Roof: Guidelines to the Sharing of Church Buildings Act
1969, which can be obtained from our bookshop.
1.
If
the building is vested in United Reformed Church trustees the key
person(s) (Trust Officer, Synod or District Ecumenical Officer) meets
with representatives of the proposed LEP to explain the nature,
purpose and content of a Sharing Agreement. The necessary local information for the pro forma is elicited
from the local representatives.
2.
The
resulting draft, drawn up in consultation with the legal adviser in
the synod (if the Trust Officer is not the key person) is checked for
factual accuracy by the representatives of the proposed LEP. It is then sent to the appropriate legal body or person in the
other partner churches (see Anglican/Methodist checklist) for
approval.
3.
The
final version is approved by an agreed group of synod officers,
normally the Trust Officer, the Ecumenical Officer and the Synod
Moderator. (this varies from synod to synod)
4.
Lastly,
the key person arranges for completion of the Sharing Agreement,
taking legal advice if necessary.
5.
If
the building is not vested in United Reformed Church trustees, then it
would be expected that the above steps, 1 – 4, would still take
place but at the instigation of the key person of the church which
owns the building and that the United Reformed Church Synod Trust
Officer/legal adviser would be sent an early draft for comment.
6.
If
the proposed LEP involves a new building, consultation will be
required between the legal advisers of all the participating churches
in order to determine the nature of the sharing e.g. joint ownership? Declaration of Trust? Given the great variety of situations under this heading, this
document does not attempt to cover new buildings.
Sheila Maxey Nov
2000
