AN ANGLICANMETHODIST COVENANT

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AN ANGLICAN-METHODIST COVENANT
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The Common Statement

• Charts issues concerning unity in faith,
  ministry and oversight
• Proposes a new relationship between the Methodist
  Church of Great Britain and the Church of England

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The formal conversations

• Seeking visible unity by stages
• Building on existing convergence and co-operation
  
• Mutually affirming each others churches

• Seeking a stepping stone to the next stage
• Releasing energy for mission
• Using the language of covenant

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We share a common history

• We each have myths about the other
• We must challenge our own stereotypes
• To tell the common story of God at work in both
  churches

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The Methodist Church in Great Britain believes
it is part of the Holy Catholic Church, called by
God for mission and service

• A community of over a million people
• In England 300,000 active members
• 6,000 local churches
• 600 circuits
• 33 districts

• Ministry of Circuit Superintendents and District
  Chairs
• 2,000 active ministers
• 100 deacons
• 10,000 local preachers
• The World Methodist Council

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The Church of England

• Two provinces each with their archbishop
• 44 dioceses each with their bishops and
  cathedrals
• a million Sunday worshippers
• 1,200,000 on Church Electoral rolls

• 16,000 parish churches
• 9,000 stipendiary clergy
• 10,000 Readers
• The Anglican Communion

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Our aim is NOTto put the clock backto gloss
over differences andto construct a monochrome
unity.

• It IS
• to harvest our diversity
• to share our treasures and
• to remedy our shortcomings,
• so that we may enjoy together
• what we believe God has given our churches
• and still holds in store for us.

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The formal conversations

• Were given a specific, deliverable mandate
• 11 Church of England participants
• 12 Methodist Church participants
• Five observer-participants from four other
  churches

• Drew upon the work of Releasing Energy
• Went in parallel with the tri-lateral informal
  conversations with the United Reformed Church

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We share in Gods mission

• Gods purpose is to draw redeemed humanity and
  the created order together into communion through
  Christ
• The Church contradicts its own nature and calling
  when its members are unable to live together in a
  reconciled fellowship
• Anglicans and Methodists share a conviction that
  unity and mission belong together

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Our growth towards full, visible unity is based
in

• Scripture and the Creeds
• Church of England formularies and other doctrinal
  statements
• Methodist doctrinal standards
• Reason and experience
• A common expression of faith

• But there are two areas of doctrinal difference
• The question of freewill or election
• The doctrine of Christian perfection

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Sharing one baptism and one eucharist a vital
dimension of full, visible unity

• We already recognise each others baptisms
• We already welcome each others communicants to
  the Eucharist.
• We share ecumenical convergence and common
  practice in baptism

• We basically agree about confirmation but express
  it differently
• We agree that baptism is fundamental to
  membership
• We have similar liturgies of the Eucharist but
  some differences of practice

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A common ministry of word and sacrament

• All ministry is rooted in baptism
• All ministry is the ministry of Christ himself
• The diaconate differences of understanding and
  practice
• The presbyterate pastoral, preaching, teaching
  and sacramental ministry

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A priest in the Church of England is
a person called and ordained to the same ministry
of word and sacrament as is exercised by
ministers in Methodism. We believe that there is
a common understanding of the presbyterate and
that this provides a sound foundation for the
eventual interchangeability of presbyteral
ministries.
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Convergence and unresolved issues

• There is theological convergence on so many
  essential things. Faith and vision are what are
  chiefly needed now.

• There are unresolved issues about
• the ministry of women at every level and
• presidency at the Eucharist for those not
  ordained to the presbyterate

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A common ministry of oversight

• A united pastoral oversight
• Leading the Church in mission
• Different patterns of oversight in our two
  churches
• Personal episcope in both churches is exercised
  in a collegial and communal context

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We make this Covenant

• From all we have in common
• Making affirmations
• Making commitments

• With penitence for our past divisions
• With thanksgiving and joy for our convergence in
  faith and collaboration in mission

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We affirm one anothers churches as

• Having ministries from Christ and the Holy Spirit
  
• Embodying the conciliar, connexional nature of
  the Church and exercising episcope in various
  forms
• Sharing a basis for agreement about episcopal
  oversight

• Belonging to the One, Holy, Catholic and
  Apostolic Church
• Authentically preaching the Word of God
• Duly administering the sacraments of Baptism and
  the Eucharist
• Confessing the historic creeds
• Having ordained and lay ministries which are
  instruments of Gods grace

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We commit ourselves to

• Overcoming remaining obstacles to unity
• Realising our common life and mission
• Continuing to welcome each other to our churches

• Encouraging eucharistic sharing
• Listening and taking account of each others
  concerns
• Developing further structures on the way to a
  fully united ministry of oversight

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The report makes recommendations to

• The General Synod of the Church of England
• The Methodist Conference

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The recommendations are

• Study and response in our two churches
• Study and comment by our fellow Methodists and
  Anglicans in these islands and by our partner
  churches, especially the URC, and in the
  ecumenical instruments
• A small joint group to monitor these developments

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And after the study and responses...

• Recommendation that the governing bodies of the
  Churches enter into the Covenant on the basis of
  the Common Statement
• Working out the commitments through a Joint
  Implementation Commission
• Priority to the question of the
  interchangeability of ministries

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The heart of ecumenism is renewal we need to
dwell far less upon our ecclesiastical structures
and far more upon what we can do together as
Christians, learning from one another across the
denominational borders, in the deepening of
spirituality, in the exploring of theological
depth, in evangelism together and in together
saying something and doing something towards the
secular community beyond the Churchs
frontier.Archbishop Michael Ramsey to the
General Synod 1972