DOCSLIB.ORG

2014 Book of Reports

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
2014 Book of Reports Contents PART ONE Introduction 3 Mission Council General report 2012-14 5 Mission Council membership 34 Assembly-appointed posts 35 Role of the synod moderator 38 Powers in pre-union trusts 44 Changes to the Structure 49 Membership of governance bodies 51 Changes to the standing orders 58 Synod moderators’ report 70 Scottish independence referendum 2014 76 Ministry and mission fund giving 77 Non-stipendiary ministry age limit 78 PART TWO Forward looking reports 81 Assembly arrangements 82 Children’s and youth work 83 Communications and editorial 88 Education and learning 91 Equalities 95 Faith and order 102 Finance 128 General secretary nominating group 129 Ministries 130 Mission 132 Nominations 137 Retrospective reports 153 Assembly arrangements 154 Children’s and youth work 155 Communications and editorial 157 Education and learning 160 Statistics of students in EM1 170 Students sent by synod 171 Equalities 173 Faith and order 175 Finance 179 Ministries 181 Accreditation 184 Church related community work programme 186 Maintenance of the ministry 187 Retired ministers’ housing 188 Mission 190 Pastoral reference and welfare 205 Church changes 207 PART THREE Information papers 215 PART FOUR RESOLUTIONS 229 United Reformed Church • General Assembly 2014 • 1 United Reformed Church General Assembly, Cardiff 2014 Introduction Dear friends, General Assembly 2014 will address some very big questions: What is the Spirit saying to the United Reformed Church? Do we still embrace an ecumenical vision and vocation as our founders did? Is it time to establish a new order of ministry? How can church meetings be revitalised so that they fulfil their purpose as a place for the believers to discern the mind of Christ for their life and mission? What is our Christian attitude and response towards mental illness? And not least, what do we understand to be the nature of marriage? I pray that our time together in Cardiff will result in new clarity about our future direction, priorities and witness. In the meantime, there are some practical things to say about this Book of Reports. We are experimenting with a new format. Responding to the request we’ve received from many people for more reading and preparation time, each Assembly committee was asked to report on its activities from the close of the last Assembly to December 2013, and that material was posted on the URC website at the beginning of March. The committees then wrote us a second report which described their current priorities – work in progress – together with the resolutions they bring for Assembly decisions. Both sets of reports are published in this book. Each of the reports in the forward-looking section has a cover sheet which tells you whom to contact if you have questions, sets out the resolution(s) clearly, summarises the main points, and answers the questions about financial impact and how the proposed work will affect relationships with external partners. The Assembly arrangements committee will be very interested to have your feedback on this style of presentation. We offer you this book as the working materials for Assembly as it meets to listen for the voice of the Spirit. Those of you who will not be coming to Cardiff are welcome to join us online as key debates are streamed for your viewing. We ask the whole Church to join with us in prayer. This will be my last Assembly as general secretary – let’s make it a good one! Yours in Christ, United Reformed Church • General Assembly 2014 • 3 ten statements of our mission purpose mission our of statements ten Statement 1: Spirituality and prayer We will grow in our practice of prayer and spirituality, nurturing strength for our witness to Jesus Christ, and developing our discernment of where God is and what God is calling us to do by reading and studying the Bible and through the power of the Holy Spirit. for Mission Framework Statement 2: Identity The URC will be a Church where every local congregation will be able to say who they are, what they do and why they do it. Statement 3: Christian Ecumenical Partnerships We will be more confident in our identity, valuing the treasures of our tradition, discerning when to seek ecumenical partnerships, and when and how to seek the further unity of the Church. Statement 4: Community partnerships We will be a Church that is more active in the life of local neighbourhoods. Statement 5: Hospitality and diversity We will be a Church committed to becoming even more welcoming and hospitable, and embracing all people equally. Statement 6: Evangelism We will be more confident to engage in evangelism, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God with friends, families and strangers, through story and action. Statement 7: Church growth We will be a growing Church with an increasing membership. Statement 8: Global partnerships We will be a Church that is an active partner in God’s global mission with other Churches around the world. Statement 9: Justice and peace We will be a Church committed to peacemaking and reconciliation that keeps faith with the poor and challenges injustice. Statement 10: The integrity of creation We will be a Church that has taken significant steps to safeguard the integrity of creation, to sustain and renew the life of the earth. 4 • United Reformed Church • General Assembly 2014 Mission Council Mission Council Mission Council: General report 2012-14 Basic Information Contact name and Roberta Rominger email address [email protected] Action required For information Draft resolution(s) Matters subject to resolution are presented in separate papers. Summary of Content Subject and aim(s) To report to General Assembly on the work of Mission Council 2012-14. Main points Key Mission Council discussions and decisions are reported, together with actions taken on behalf of General Assembly (sections 4 and 5) and implementation of previous Assembly decisions (section 6). Previous relevant Cited within the paper as appropriate documents Consultation has taken Not applicable place with... Summary of Impact Financial Not applicable. External Not applicable. (e.g. ecumenical) United Reformed Church • General Assembly 2014 • 5 Mission Council Mission Council Mission Council Mission Council report 2012-14 1. Introduction 1.1 Mission Council supports and furthers the work of the United Reformed Church between meetings of the General Assembly. It consists of the officers of Assembly, the synod moderators and three representatives from each synod, together with the conveners of Assembly committees, the chair of the United Reformed Church Trust and three Fellowship of United Reformed youth (FURY) members, including the FURY moderator. Its task is to take a comprehensive view of the work of the United Reformed Church, to decide on priorities, and to encourage the Church at all levels in its engagement with the world. The scope of this engagement ranges from the local to the international arena and includes relationships with ecumenical partners in the UK and overseas. 1.2 Mission Council acts on behalf of General Assembly on matters which require action between meetings of the Assembly. Some of this work arises from decisions of the Assembly which are referred to Mission Council for implementation. Section 4 records this activity. Sometimes there are matters requiring a decision which must be taken before the General Assembly is due to meet. Such decisions are reported to the following Assembly and are contained in section 5 of this report. 1.3 Mission Council also acts on its own behalf, taking advice from its advisory groups (e.g. human resources advisory group, ministerial incapacity and discipline advisory group) which report to its meetings and which may bring resolutions. It may also instigate work, appointing a special task group or asking several Assembly committees to cooperate in undertaking a piece of work on its behalf. It is often asked to be a sounding board for committees as they shape new policies for the approval of General Assembly. These actions and discussions are reported in the remaining sections. 2. Overview of the period July 2012 to March 2014 2.1 Since the last General Assembly, Mission Council has met on four occasions. The theme of the Assembly moderators, ‘Living Conversations’, has set the tone for searching discussion of the Church’s future and the host of issues challenging its common life. The faith and order committee has played a key role in posing questions about possible future scenarios and which distinctive elements of the United Reformed Church’s life and witness remain part of God’s calling to us. If this report records fewer decisions than usual, it is because Mission Council spent much of its time in discernment mode grappling with enormous questions and seeking the guidance of the Spirit. 2.2 The October 2012 meeting received a report from the general secretary which brought together the issues raised in a host of reviews undertaken in the previous 18 months. Noting that each group had begun with a focussed task and that each had identified larger issues requiring attention, she presented a list which allocated work to various Assembly committees. She also proposed the formation of a medium term strategy group to oversee and coordinate the responses from the committees and to take forward outstanding proposals from the reviews, significantly the review of the role of the synod moderator which had been remaindered at the close of the General Assembly. This was agreed. 2.2.1 The medium term strategy group has kept a strong link with the faith and order committee throughout the 18 months of its life. The faith and order committee has repeatedly challenged Mission Council to distinguish between first and second order issues, each requiring a different kind of approach.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Birmingham's Evangelical Free Churches and The
    BIRMINGHAM’S EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCHES AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR by ANDY VAIL A Thesis Submitted to The University of Birmingham For the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY School of History & Cultures College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham 2019 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis demonstrates that the First World War did not have a major long-term impact on the evangelical free churches of Birmingham. Whilst many members were killed in the conflict, and local church auxiliaries were disrupted, once the participants – civil and military – returned, the work and mission of the churches mostly continued as they had before the conflict, the exception being the Adult School movement, which had been in decline prior to the conflict. It reveals impacts on local church life, including new opportunities for women amongst the Baptist and Congregational churches where they began to serve as deacons. The advent of conscription forced church members to personally face the issue as to whether as Christians they could in conscience bear arms. The conflict also speeded ecumenical co-operation nationally, in areas such as recognition of chaplains, and locally, in organising local prayer meetings and commemorations.
    [Show full text]
  • Congregational History Society Magazine
    ISSN 0965–6235 Congregational History Society Magazine Volume 7 Number 4 Autumn 2014 ISSN 0965–6235 THE CONGREGATIONAL HISTORY SOCIETY MAGAZINE Volume 7 No 4 Autumn 2014 Contents Editorial 154 News and Views 154 Recollections and responses to 1972 154 The Morning after the Night Before Richard Cleaves 155 James Cranbrook 159 Kathleen Chater Sarah Vyrnwy Morgan: Almost a Minister 168 Gerard Charmley ‘In the Shadow of Death:’ John Foster Haigh (1901–1943) and the Free Church Faculty at Changi Camp 177 Neil E Allison Reviews 183 Congregational History Society Magazine, Vol. 7, No 4, 2014 155 EDITORIAL We welcome to our pages Kathleen Chater, Gerard Charmley and Neil Allison, all of whom are first time contributors to the CHS Magazine. Kathleen Chater writes of the life and career of James Cranbrook, in many ways a man of his time and yet quite remarkably, as a man of black ancestry in a white man’s world, an extraordinary achiever. Gerard Charmley offers a consideration of the equally noteworthy witness of a pioneer Welsh woman preacher, Sarah Vyrnwy Morgan. Finally in this issue, Neil Allison shows his expertise in drawing to our attention the experience of the inmates at Changi Camp during World War Two and, in particular, the courage and devotion of John Foster Haigh—itself a humbling story. Readers have then articles from the 18th to the 20th centuries to stimulate and satisfy their appetites. We are grateful to these contributors. I hope their papers are read with appreciation, as they deserve to be. NEWS AND VIEWS Recollections and responses to 1972 Some friends and critics have commented that my recent book The Transformation of Congregationalism 1900–2000 contains comparatively less material and analysis from the late 1970s onwards than it does on the earlier part of the 20th century.
    [Show full text]
  • Congregational History Circle Magazine
    Congregational History Circle Magazine Volume 5 Number 7 Spring 3115 ISSN 0965–6235 THE CONGREGATIONAL HISTORY SOCIETY MAGAZINE Volume 4 No 6 Spring 2004 Contents Editorial 398 News and Views 398 A Very Late Obituary: The Revd Joseph Davies (c.1844–1921) by Nigel Lemon 402 Margaret Stansgate—Radical Dissenter by Alan Argent 407 Samuel Newth’s Ms Autobiography at Dr Williams’s Library by Yvonne Evans 442 Reviews 453 Our Contemporaries 463 Congregational History Circle Magazine, Vol. 4, No 6, 2004 397 EDITORIAL his issue of our magazine is distinctly biographical in tone, with Nigel Lemon revisiting Cheshire in his treatment of Joseph Davies of Buckley, TYvonne Evans’ transcription of Samuel Newth’s own notes, and an account of Viscountess Stansgate’s life, giving some weight to her place in the history of twentieth century Congregationalism. Nigel Lemon has made the history of Cheshire Congregationalism his own territory while Yvonne Evans has discovered a rich seam of nineteenth century ministerial ore to mine. The discussion of Margaret Stansgate should place her near to the centre, not only of British political life, but also of church history, and specifically Congregational developments in the second half of the twentieth century. Regrettably it does not add much to our knowledge of her work to advance the ministry of women and that is explained by the inaccessibility of the records of the Society for the Ministry of Women in the Church. These have been deposited in The Women’s Library, now part of the London Guildhall University, (a responsible act and, in the long term, beneficial to scholarship) but are unlisted there and remain unavailable to researchers.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecumenical Church Renewal: the Example of the United Reformed Church
    ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY ECUMENICAL CHURCH RENEWAL: THE EXAMPLE OF THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH Martin Frederick Camroux A Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Submitted January 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Writing this thesis has been a delightful oasis of quiet and peace in the midst of a busy life. I am grateful to my family, my wife Margaret and my wonderful children, Eleanor and Michael, both for the practical help they have offered checking my manuscript for the seemingly endless grammatical errors and for their willingness to forego our normal discussions at dinner over the relevance of Kant’s critique of the ontological proof for the existence of God (or the like) for rather more arcane discussions such as the distinction between qualitative and quantitive research. I am especially grateful to my son Michael, the historian in the family, for his willingness to share his dissertation on Seebohm Rowntree with me. Anglia Ruskin University’s system of external supervision has enabled me to benefit from the endless encouragement and encyclopaedic understanding of the Revd. Dr. David Cornick, General Secretary of Churches Together in England, and before that Principal of Westminster College Cambridge and General Secretary of the United Reformed Church. Without David’s gentle support this thesis would not even have been conceivable. It has been a pleasure too to confirm that behind the façade of David’s Barthian exterior lies a genuinely liberal spirit. My supervisors at Anglia Ruskin, first Dr. Mary Abbot, and then, for most of the degree, Professor Sarah Brown, were both hugely helpful. I was continually amazed by the alacrity with which Sarah responded to my e-mails.
    [Show full text]
  • Congregational History Society Magazine
    ISSN 0965–6235 Congregational History Society Magazine Volume 7 Number 6 Autumn 2015 ISSN 0965–6235 THE CONGREGATIONAL HISTORY SOCIETY MAGAZINE Volume 7 No 6 Autumn 2015 Contents Editorial 256 News and Views 256 Correspondence 257 Perthshire to Pittsburgh—The Ministry of Rev. John Campbell 262 Gordon A Campbell The Atonement Controversy in the Nineteenth Century Evangelical Union and Congregational Churches of Scotland 278 Robert Richard The Evangelical Mission of an Independent Lay Preacher, A J Stanley 1833–1902 292 Meegan Griffin Reviews 297 Index to vol 7 302 Congregational History Society Magazine, Vol. 7, No 6, 2015 255 EDITORIAL In this issue, we welcome Robert Richard to our contributors. He traces the course of the atonement controversy in the Evangelical Union and the Congregational churches in Scotland. In addition we follow John Campbell in his exploration of a 19th century namesake from Perthshire to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and from Congregationalism to Unitarianism. South of the border, in Staffordshire, Meegan Griffin offers a fascinating account of the good works of a Congregational businessman and notable 19th century Evangelical lay preacher. NEWS AND VIEWS John Penry James Ashdown has written to our CHS member, Chris Gillham: Until last year my wife was the vicar of Llangammarch, Powys, and in August 2014, in response to a request from a local parishioner, I organized a celebration of John Penry, Llangammarch’s most famous son. I found myself becoming very interested in the man and how his reputation has ebbed and flowed over the years which led to my doing further researches, particularly involving the work of Congregational historians like William Pierce (John Penry, his life, times and writings 1923).
    [Show full text]
  • Congregationalism in Oxford the Growth and Development of Congregational Churches in and Around the City of Oxford Since 1653
    Congregationalism in Oxford The growth and development of Congregational Churches in and around the city of Oxford since 1653 by Michael Hopkins A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology and Religion School of Historical Studies The University of Birmingham January 2010 1 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT This thesis contends that the growth and development of Congregationalism in Oxford was different from elsewhere because of the presence of both the University of Oxford and Mansfield College. It explores fully the progress of Congregationalism in Oxford during the three hundred and fifty years from the Puritans in the English Commonwealth until the beginning of the twenty-first century. It considers these developments in the light of the national background and explains how they are distinctive, rather than representative, through the story of the New Road Meeting House, George Street and Summertown Congregational Churches in particular, and the other suburban and village Congregational chapels in contrast to other towns and cities with Congregational colleges.
    [Show full text]
  • Book of Reports Southport Convention Centre 8 to 11 July 2016 © the United Reformed Church, 2016
    Book of Reports Southport Convention Centre 8 to 11 July 2016 © The United Reformed Church, 2016 ISBN: 978-0-85346-313-9 Published by The United Reformed Church 86 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RT All rights reserved. This material may be used freely within the churches. No part of this publication may be reproduced outside the Church in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems – without the prior permission in writing of the publishers. The publishers make no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may take place. Environmental credentials All paper used in the production of the Book of Reports are Essential Velvet: - Contains material sourced from responsibly managed and sustained forests, certified in accordance with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). - The material is ECF (Elemental Chlorine-Free). - Is manufactured under strict environmental management systems, the international ISO 14001 standard, EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) and the IPPC (integrated Pollution Prevention and Control) regulation. Bio inks used conform to the international ISO 14001 standard. - All the paper used in the production of the Book of Reports has been carbon captured by a payment to the Woodland Trust. These funds are used to purchase endangered forest. Printed by Healeys Printers Healeys Printers hold the following environmental accreditations: FSC (certificate SGS-COC-004497); ISO 9001; ISO 14001; Carbon Balanced Publications Printer Produced by the communications department, on behalf of the Assembly arrangements committee The United Reformed Church, Church House, 86 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RT Produced with reference to See it Right: Making information accessible to people with sight problems (2006), Royal National Institute of the Blind, London.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Complete Issue
    THE JOURNAL of the UNITED REFORMED CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY (incorporating the Congregational Historical Society, founded in 1899, and the Presbyterian Historical Society of England, founded in 1913). EDITOR: Dr. CLYDE BINFIELD, M.A. Volume 4 No. 2 May 1988 CONTENTS Editorial and Notices ............................................................................................... 97 The Pembrokeshire Congregational Magazine by Alan P.F. Sell, MA., B.D., Ph.D., F.S.A. ...................... 98 Holy Murder at Cheshunt College: the Formation of an English Architect: P.R. Morley Horder. 1870-1944 by Clyde Binfield, M.A., Ph.D., F.S.A. ................................ 103 Constance Coltman-A Forgotten Pioneer by Elaine Kaye, MA. .............................................................. 134 D.H. Lawrence and Congregationalism by Margaret J Masson, MA. ................................................ 146 Reviews by R. Buick Knox, Anthony Fletcher, John Briggs, . Alan Sell, Ian Sellers, Linda Kirk, Clyde Binfield .......... 158 Some Contemporaries .............................................................................................. 168 EDITORIAL AND NOTICES We are again indebted to outside generosity for the luxury of an enlarged journal. Clyde Binfield's "Holy Murder at Cheshunt College" was originally delivered as the Westminster College Commemoration Lecture for May 1987. Its publication here in full is made possible by the generosity of Westminster Col- lege, Cambridge. · We welcome as a contributor Margaret Masson of the University of Durham, and recently teaching English at Whitworth College, Spokane. We welcome as reviewers John Briggs of the University of Keele and Editor of the Baptist Quar­ terly and Linda Kirk of the University of Sheffield. Two of our seasoned con­ tributors have changed hats or, rather, academic caps. Alan Sell is now Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary and Anthony Fletcher is now Professor of Modem History at the University of Durham.
    [Show full text]
  • THE JOURNAL of the UNITED REFORMED CHURCH HISTORY
    THE JOURNAL of the UNITED REFORMED CHURCH HISTORY SOCIETY (incorporating the Congregational Historical Society, founded in 1899, and the Presbyterian Historical Society of England, founded in 1913 ). EDITOR: PROFESSOR CLYDE BINFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. Volume 6 No 10 July 2002 CONTENTS Editorial and Note 719 A Letter of John Howe by Stephen Orchard . 720 The Rise of Evangelical Independency in Manchester by Henry Rack. 724. James Pigott Pritchett, Congregational Deacon and Architect by Edward Royle...................................... 743 Thomas Slade Jones and Vincent van Gogh: A Note by John H. Taylor . 758 From "Woman Minister" to "Minister"? One Hundred Congregational Ministers Ordained between 1917 and 1972 in England and Wales by Elaine Kaye. 761 Reviews by Kim Fabricius, Elaine Kaye, Stephen Orchard, Robert Pope, Graham Slater . 772 EDITORIAL This issue ranges from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. It touches on professional formation, gender, culture, and society. The evangelical imperative is a steady thread from the concern of John Howe and his father-in-law George Hughes as to what makes a Christian, to the concerns of Jane Brown, Hatty Baker, Constance Coltman, as to what makes a Christian minister. That last question played its part in determining Vincent van Gogh's course, at least while he was briefly working for Congregationalists in Tumham Green. All the contributions, but especially Henry Rack's on the emergence of Manchester's Congregationalism, remind us of the ragged, often contradictory, sometimes surprising, origins of English Congregationalism and of the dogged, often awkward, integrity which marked its development. The divine imperative and human fallibility make for uncomfortable but moving reading.
    [Show full text]