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CHRISTOPHER GUILDFORD Chairman GS 1841 GENERAL SYNOD RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH A report by the Council for Christian Unity, to which is appended HEALING THE PAST – BUILDING THE FUTURE : REPORT OF A CHURCH OF ENGLAND – UNITED REFORMED CHURCH STUDY GROUP 1. The report is the fruit of three separate series of informal conversations between our two churches in the past two decades, but it deals with unfinished business that goes back to the English Civil War and the Restoration in the mid-seventeenth century. In the view of the Council for Christian Unity, the report and the actions that it proposes will contribute to the healing of the historic divisions between our two churches and will draw them closer together for the future. The United Reformed Church has welcomed the report and approved its recommendations. 2. The report summarises the history of the relations between the Church of England and the United Reformed Church and its historic predecessor churches and outlines areas of theological convergence, together with areas where differences remain. 3. The report concludes (paragraph 144) with the following recommendations, which have been endorsed by the CCU and the Faith and Order Commission: a) That representatives of the two churches should join together in an act of worship in 2012, that would mark both the 350 th anniversary of the Great Ejection of nonconforming ministers following the Act of Uniformity 1662 and the 40 th anniversary of the inauguration of the United Reformed Church. The service should contain an expression of penitence for our part in perpetuating the divisions of the past, a desire for the healing of memories and an act of commitment to work more closely together in the future. b) That in the new climate created by the joint act of reconciliation and commitment, further joint work should be undertaken on certain topics, mainly concerning ministry and authority in the church. 4. The report will be introduced by the Bishop of Guildford as Chairman of the Council for Christian Unity. The Synod will be invited to approve the two recommendations of the report outlined in 4 above. On behalf of the Council CHRISTOPHER GUILDFORD Chairman 1 HEALING THE PAST – BUILDING THE FUTURE The report of the Church of England – United Reformed Church Joint Study Group. Introduction by the co-convenors Jesus prayed ‘may they all be one, as you Father are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ’ John 17.21 NRSV The Church of England and United Reformed Church agreed to explore their shared ecumenical commitment through the study of the international Anglican Reformed document, God’s Reign and our Unity. A group of seven people, three Church of England, three United Reformed and one Methodist, met on seven occasions over the period 2007 – 2010. This study group built on the insights of various conversations, both multi-lateral and bi-lateral, over the last seventy years, including most recently, an Anglican/United Reformed Church dialogue and a trilateral informal conversation between the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church. The shared commitment to unity was re-visited through looking at the Church of England’s Thirty- nine Articles and the United Reformed Church’s Basis of Union. Scripture, the tradition of the church and God’s mission imperative in a changing world are all drivers in the search for unity. Within each of our two churches, there is a varied understanding of the role that Scripture plays in the Christian life. However, there is common agreement about the centrality of scripture in shaping the Christian life. Our two churches have historically diverged from one another, as we have each sought to be shaped by the Holy Spirit, but discovered that our discernment of the Spirit was leading us in different directions. However, we each affirm the activity of the Spirit in the life of the church and share a common desire to be shaped by the mind of Christ. We also gathered aware of the influence that the discrepancy in size of membership between our two churches has to play. The context of the conversations undertaken by this study group has been one of challenge and change, in the church and in the world which the church seeks to witness to and to serve. Society has become more plural in terms of faith, whether in the major faith traditions, more contemporary outcrops of spirituality, or in the rise of atheism. Spirituality has become a watchword, but has not necessarily been interpreted within a Christian context. The post-Enlightenment rise of individualism has led to a point where each individual feels free to determine his or her own beliefs without need of a wider reference point. In the main, church-going has been declining, apart from areas blessed by immigration and the rise of Pentecostalism. Mainstream churches have been faced with ageing congregations and reducing resources. External pressures have turned churches inwards in terms of their priority being their own renewal. Internal divisions have led to questions about unity being more widely debated within, rather than between, churches. 2 In this context, responding to Jesus’ prayer that his followers might be one, has become more of a challenge. However, the study group believes that it is an essential challenge for the churches to respond to and a key part of the churches witness to a fragmented world. The setting up of a Church of England/United Reformed study group, rather than formal conversations, has been a reflection of the diminution of the emphasis on unity across the churches. However, the life of a study group has meant that discussion could happen more freely and under less pressure, than in a formal conversation which needed to lead to a specific agreement. The study group would like to offer this ecumenical methodology as a way forward in building relationships and reflecting on difficult issues between churches. This process has allowed nettles to be grasped without the pressure of decisions needing to be made. It is our hope and our prayer that the Holy Spirit will continue to open up new possibilities of conversation with one another, conversations that lead us more closely to the mind of Christ and equip us better to engage in the wider mission conversations that lie before us in the world. We have been grateful to the work of the two co-secretaries in drafting an extensive and valuable report, outlining the conversations that have already taken place over the last century, the particular issues that arise today and the setting of these issues within the context of other international agreements, such as Reuilly and Leuenberg and through the work of the World Council of Churches. The Venerable Dr Joy Tetley, Church of England co-convenor The Reverend Elizabeth Welch, United Reformed Church co-convenor 3 The shape of the report The report is in three sections. Section 1 (pages 3-16) explains the background to the meetings of the study group in the history of the relationship between the Church of England, the United Reformed Church and the Christian traditions out of which it was formed. Section 2 (pages 17-32) describes the meetings of the study group and sets out the key areas of convergence and divergence between the Church of England and the United Reformed Church that emerged during these meetings. Section 3 (pages 32-33) contains the study group’s conclusions and recommendations. The key conclusions are that the two churches can and should take steps towards a closer relationship and the key recommendation is that there should be a joint service of recognition, penitence and mutual commitment at Westminster Abbey in 2012, the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the United Reformed Church and the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Great Ejection of 1662, as a way of formally inaugurating this closer relationship. Section 1. The background to the study group 1. During the period of the Civil War and the Commonwealth a series of Acts of Parliament abolished episcopacy, the 1559 Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty Nine Articles and the traditional liturgical calendar from the life of the Church in England. Those who remained loyal to the Church of England as it had been before the Civil War looked for the day when all these changes could be reversed and those clergy who had lost their livings because of their loyalty to the bishops and the king could have their livings restored. 2. Their opportunity came with the failure of the Commonwealth and the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 and their sense of bitterness over what had happened in the preceding years meant that they were not inclined to compromise with those who thought differently from them. The result was that when the Savoy Conference of 1661 failed to achieve agreement on the revision of the Book of Common Prayer between those representing the newly restored bishops and those representing a Presbyterian approach to church polity, those clergy who were unwilling to promise to use only the rites and ceremonies of the Prayer Book or to receive episcopal ordination were given a choice of either conforming or being deprived of their livings on St Bartholomew’s day, 24 August 1662. Many of those who felt they could not conform held to an understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in worship which set them against a restriction to prescribed forms. Freedom of worship, an antipathy to prelacy and a rejection of Establishment were all theological issues involved in the early history of Dissent which continue to be alive today.
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