Interdenominational dialogue

Methodist/URC Liaison Group

The Methodist/URC Liaison Group meets twice a year and its task is to focus on the local and intermediate dimensions of the relationship between the Methodist Church and the URC. As such it deals with many practical aspects of our working together. The guidelines for the induction and welcome service of a new minister serving in a Methodist/URC Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) (PDF) is an example of this joint co-operation.

Both the URC and Methodist Church provide courses which provide an introduction to their respective denominations for ministers working in LEPs.

The Methodist/URC Liaison Group is convened jointly by the Revd David Chapman, Chair of the Beds, Essex and Herts Methodist District and the Revd Geoffrey Clarke, Moderator of URC East Midlands Synod.

The URC Ecumenical Officer, and the Methodist Connexional Ecumenical Officer act as joint secretaries to the Group.

Church of England/URC Contact Group

Since its formation in 1972, the URC has entered into various dialogues with the Church of England, beginning with the informal tripartite Anglican, Methodist and United Reformed conversations, which started in 1999 and was published in 2001 as ‘Conversations on the way to unity’; followed by the report ‘Healing the Past – Building the Future’ (2010) which led to a service of reconciliation in Westminster Abbey in 2012 on the occasion of 350th anniversary of ‘the Great Ejection’ in 1662; and then the subsequent document ‘Unity, Identity and Mission’ (2016).

In 2018, the Council for Christian Unity of the Church of England and the mission committee of the URC agreed to establish a contact group to continue this collaboration. Its work will be carried out particularly with reference to the Anglican Methodist Covenant (PDF).

The Roman Catholic/URC Dialogue Group

The Roman Catholic / URC Dialogue Group is co-convened by the URC’s Deputy General Secretary (Mission), Revd Philip Brooks, and Bishop Paul Hendricks, Auxiliary Bishop for the Kent area of R/C Diocese of Southwark and member of the Department of Dialogue and Unity of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. The dialogue group is coming to the end of its third quinquennial. The theme of the last few years has been ‘Journeying Together’, with the group making several visits to look at ecumenism in local contexts: in Milton Keynes, in Cumbria, in Cardiff and in Edinburgh, as well as journeying online together during the COVID19 pandemic. Instead of a conventional report, the group is compiling a practical Resource Pack for local RC and URC churches looking to working more closely together, as a small group resource and to encourage other activity. The group is currently planning this stage’s final journey together to Rome, where the resource will be received by the RC Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity and by officers of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

When complete you will be able to find the resource pack here.