Methodist covenant relationship with the Church of England

Methodist President and Vice-President affirm commitment to a covenant relationship with the Church of England

“We are prepared to be changed as a Church if that will serve the needs of the Kingdom.”

The President and the Vice-President of the Methodist Conference addressed the Church of England’s General Synod this morning, expressing the Methodist Church’s commitment to a covenant relationship with the Church of England and answering questions from synod members in a discussion following their address.

Revd David Gamble and Dr Richard Vautrey said that the Covenant relationship was a “serious, deeply committed relationship” and “not an irrelevant extra”. They said that responses to the challenges of the Covenant should be driven by a desire for mission.

Revd David Gamble said: “Within God’s overwhelming gracious covenant relationship with us and with our churches, we are in a covenant with each other. For better for worse, for richer for poorer, but always for the gospel.”

Dr Richard Vautrey talked about the work that the two Churches do together, referring to the Churches’ joint action on climate change and support for the Citizens for Sanctuary campaign.

“We can and do work together on issues of social justice, on issues that we both know God calls on us to challenge our society and our world,” said Dr Vautrey. “There is more that we could and should be doing together. David and I have just come back from a visit to Israel/Palestine. There can be few other places in the world where the cries for justice and peace strike deeper in to the heart. We know that Archbishop Rowan is shortly to visit Israel, and perhaps on his return we should explore ways that we could jointly work to help Methodists and Anglicans to respond to the increasingly desperate cries for help coming from the Holy Land.”

Revd David Gamble posed the question of how the two Churches could respond to the challenges of the 21st century; a society of different faiths, cultures and histories.

“Methodists approach the Covenant with the Church of England in the spirituality of the Covenant prayer,” said Revd David Gamble. “So when we say to God ‘let me have all things let me have nothing’, we say it by extension to our partners in the Church of England as well. We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission. In other words we are prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church if that will serve the needs of the Kingdom.”

Source: Methodist news Service 11/02/2010

September meeting of the Methodist Council

The Methodist Council met on 21-22 September at Methodist Church House in London. This is the first Council meeting of the new Church year.

Discipleship was high on the agenda for this Council meeting. General Secretary the Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, introduced the discussion by asking Council members to consider the challenges that Christian discipleship presents to the contemporary church. Presenting a vision for discipleship, John Ellis, Secretary for Team Operations, said; “Christian discipleship isn’t just about self improvement and it’s certainly not about self promotion. We want to encourage people to grow in faith and action as their own lives change and grow. As the life of John Wesley has taught us, Christian discipleship can change the world.”

The Council also discussed a new fundraising strategy for the Church, which will now be developed in consultation with Methodists around Britain. Fundraising Coordinator David Bennett, said, “At the heart of this strategy is better communication with all those who give so generously to the Methodist funds. We want them to see the enormous difference their money makes to the lives of people all over the world. We couldn’t do any of this work without their support.”

The Council spent time in discussions about the progress of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant, which was signed in 2003. Groups discussed how the covenant might be further progressed in practical ways, including different models of episcopacy and how the churches might consult and make decisions together.

The Council also welcomed the Revd Kirsty Thorpe, a minister of the United Reformed Church (URC), as a participant observer. The Revd Alison Tomlin, President Designate of the Methodist Conference, will attend the URC Mission Council in November.

Other topics discussed at the Council included a new communications strategy for the Church and plans to lease Southlands College to Roehampton University, with continued Methodist involvement in the life of the College. The papers of the Methodist Council are available online at: http://methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=1325.


Source: Methodist News Service 22/09/2009

Major Report on 5 years of Anglican-Methodist Covenant

NEWS RELEASE
8 July, 2008

Major report on five years of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant

Recommendations include extending Covenant talks to Scotland and Wales.

A major report received today by the Methodist Conference addresses the progress made over the last five years of the Anglican-Methodist Covenant.

The Covenant between the Methodist Church in Great Britain and the Church of England was agreed by both churches in the summer of 2003. It was signed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference and the general secretaries of both churches in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen on 1 November that year.

The quinquennial report of the Joint Implementation Commission (JIC) commends the work done so far by the churches to implement the Covenant, and features a number of ‘cameos’ illustrating how the Covenant is being put into action in a variety of contexts. These include a joint Anglican-Methodist primary school in Kent and volunteers from both churches working together to run a night café and creative arts centre in Manchester.

The Conference commended the report for further study and endorsed the recommendations, which include appointing a successor body to the JIC for a further five-year period. The scope of this body would extend to involve representatives of the Church in Wales and the Scottish Episcopal Church and from the Methodist Church in Scotland and Wales as well as relating more closely to Ireland where there is already a Covenant between the Methodist Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland.

Professor Peter Howdle, Co-Chair of the Commission and past Vice-President of the Methodist Conference, says; ‘As the Covenant nears its fifth birthday, this report offers a chance to reflect on a major initiative for unity and mission in the history of our Churches. We have heard so many encouraging stories from those living out the Covenant both in church life and in serving their communities. But it is clear that there is still much to learn and much to do in order to make the journey towards fuller visible unity.’

The report recognises that further work is needed for the Covenant to move forward, particularly in encouraging and resourcing local churches. Expert support and advice is being made available to Bishops and District Chairs wishing to encourage deeper engagement with the Covenant in their area and take up the opportunities it gives for unity in common life and mission.

ENDS



Notes
1. The quinquennial report of the Joint Implementation Commission is available from MPH (www.mph.org.uk).

2. For more information about the Covenant, visit http://www.anglican-methodist.org.uk/.

3. The Church of England discussed the report on Monday 7 July at General Synod.

New President's Inaugural Address

You will have gathered that my aim to blog while away at the Methodist Conference didn't work so, now that I have returned, I have much to catch up on.

Very important, and first on the list, is our new President's inaugural address, even if I am a little late in posting it:-

NEWS RELEASE

5 July 2008

Inaugural address by Revd Stephen Poxon, new President of the Methodist Conference

The new President of the Methodist Conference, the Revd Stephen Poxon, has called on the Church to celebrate God’s grace and transform the world. Speaking on the opening day of the 2008 Methodist Conference in Scarborough, Stephen invited the Church to “begin to grapple with how this wonderful grace of God might transform the world.”

Stephen also spoke passionately on the situation in Zimbabwe: “We look in horror and sorrow at what has been happening in Zimbabwe. How slow as a nation we have been to condemn Mugabe and his regime, and only now are people waking up to the violence and genocide? We must continue to find ways to express our solidarity with all those who struggle for justice, freedom and peace."

Stephen also offered his “thoughts and prayers to our friends in the Anglican communion” on the eve of the Lambeth Conference. The five-year-old Anglican-Methodist Covenant will be discussed by both the Methodist Conference and the Church of England’s General Synod.

In his address, which marks the start of his year of office, Stephen recalled how he and his wife Myrtle arrived as a young couple in Jamaica to work with a church there. He said that the love showed by the people there did much to shape both of them, and gave examples of other acts of extraordinary kindness shown by people who had little or nothing for themselves.

Following the 2007 decision by Sheffield to become the UK’s first “city of sanctuary,” Stephen called for more places to follow that example by recognising “the contribution of asylum seekers and refugees to the city of Sheffield, and committing ‘to offering hospitality to people who come here in need of safety from persecution.’”

Stephen spoke about hospitality as a key example of grace, and expressed regret that the Church has not been more hospitable in the past towards people who moved to Britain. But he celebrated the modern examples of church work with asylum seekers and how Methodist churches are being hospitable to their communities, to children and young people and to other faiths. As Chair of the Methodist North Lancashire District, Stephen has seen many examples of churches working with the large Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities there.

Stephen is married with four children. His wife, Deacon Myrtle Poxon, was Vice President of the Methodist Conference in 2004-5, and they are the first married couple to have held both posts.

Methodist Conference at Scarborough

This year's Methodist Conference will take place in Scarborough at the Spa Complex, from 5-10 July. It is the first time that the Conference has been to Scarborough in ten years.

The annual Conference is the governing body of The Methodist Church, debating and determining policy and legislation for the Church and considering issues of national and international concern. Over five days, 384 voting members of the Conference will be joined by thousands of visitors at the Spa Centre to celebrate church life and debate issues of both church and public interest.

Topics for discussion include embryology and early human life, equality and diversity in the Church and the Church's new Youth Participation initiative. There will also be an update on the Anglican-Methodist Covenant.

The full timetable for the Methodist Conference, including downloadable versions of all the reports to be debated, will soon be available online at http://www.methodistconference.org.uk.