1. Sturry (Kent)
2. Heworth (York)
3. North Marston (Buckinghamshire)
4. Toft (Cambridgeshire)
5. Whiteley (Hampshire)
6. Toton (Nottingham)
7. Osmotherley (North Yorkshire)
8. Westlands (The Potteries)
9. Beacon Church, Pheasey (Walsall)
10. Wideopen, Northumberland
11. Ettiley Heath, Cheshire
12. Gaywood, Kings Lynn
From Sturry, Kent
The Revd Peter Cornish reports: The origins of the partnership between Anglicans and Methodists in Sturry and nearby villages, just outside Canterbury on the Margate road, go back to 1970 and resulted from the direct intervention and initiative of Archbishop Michael Ramsey, who delegated pastoral care for the (then) parish of Westbere with Hersden to the Methodist minister in charge of Hersden.
Since a couple of years ago we now call ourselves 'Sturry and District United Church' because that is what we are - a true 'local ecumenical partnership' with a completely united self-understanding. If you are united you might as well say so and people will hopefully understand a bit better! We still have to keep a separate Anglican electoral roll and a separate Methodist membership list, but in practice many of our members have been baptised or confirmed or received into full membership of both churches over the past 20 or 30 years (the first joint confirmation was in 1985).
Financially we're now in a pickle. We are now being expected to pay a full Anglican quota and a full Methodist assessment - in other words, we are being financially penalised for being ecumenical and doing what we're supposed to do. If there are other churches which have succeeded in resolving this major problem, we'd love to hear from them.
We're still finding more bits to work on in the direction of unity - the latest is trying to get Westbere church licensed for Methodist weddings as well as Anglican weddings; that would mean my Methodist colleague could take weddings there when I am away on holiday, rather than me having to find an unknown Anglican minister to plug the gap.
What most bewilders our longer-standing church members is that, while the LEP here has been going for 35 years now, there's been nothing much else in the way of Anglican-Methodist unity taking off in the area. It's almost as if other churches are content to leave us sticking out like sore thumbs, and with very little understanding of what we are doing. People say to me at Deanery Synod, "You have some kind of links with the Methodists, don't you?" when actually we are united. But I guess that sort of experience of total non-comprehension is inevitable when you're waiting for the rest of the church to catch up!
Our website features the text of the presentation I gave to the first Joint Synod of Canterbury Diocese and the relevant circuits of the London South-East District which took place in Canterbury Cathedral in November 2002.
See: www.sturrychurch.org.uk/pages/synod1.shtml
where you will also find a lot more information and loads of pictures.
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From Heworth, City of York
Nicola Normandale reports: Heworth Methodist Church and Heworth Holy Trinity Church, York, have run a joint Young Church (ie.Sunday school) for at least two years, with an about equal number of leaders and helpers from both churches. We also have a children's mid-week group called Kid's Plus, and a monthly cafe style service that are joint ventures, - although Holy Trinity do the lion's share of the work for these at the moment. We have also recently paid for a joint website domain at http://heworthchurches.net, although Holy Trinity have yet to make use of it.
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North Marston (Buckinghamshire)
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In Buckinghamshire, Anglicans and Methodists at North Marston are discovering how to be a single Christian presence in the village as they work towards a formal Local Ecumenical Partnership. |
See:
www.aylesburymethodists.org.uk/northmarston.htm
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From Toft (Cambridgeshire)
Both the Anglican parish church and a Methodist church still serve Toft, a village in Cambridgeshire. The Methodist minister lives in the village; the Church of England parish is served by a non-stipendiary priest who lives elsewhere.
The formation of a covenant Local Ecumenical Partnership between the two churches allows the two ministers to work as a team in both churches, In particular it makes it possible for the Methodist minister to be authorised to conduct Baptisms in the parish church.
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Whitely (Hampshire)
A new church sponsored by Anglican, Methodist and United Reformed Churches is now growing vigorously in the new housing area of Whiteley, near Portsmouth.
See:
www.whiteleychurch.org.uk
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Toton (Nottingham)
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The two churches in Toton, Nottingham, have been working closely together for many years running a community care scheme for their area. |
See:
www.btinternet.com/~malcolmbatchelor/stps/0local.htm
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From Osmotherley , North Yorkshire
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The Lady Chapel |
The covenant involving the four churches in the North Yorkshire village of Osmotherley has extraordinary history - a history which draws today's Christians together in a common purpose:
Carthusian monks founded Mount Grace Priory in the valley below the Hambledon Hills in the 14th century. On the hilltop above Osmotherley they built their Lady Chapel, which still stands in a grassy glade. |
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The Catholic Church |
After the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII, it became illegal to celebrate the Catholic mass. In Osmotherley, however, Franciscan friars were given a house in 1665 and the Old Hall has been a place of Roman Catholic worship ever since.
In 1745 it was the Franciscans who invited John Wesley to the village where he preached in the Old Hall and in the parish church.
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The Methodist Church |
It is said that the long-standing Quaker community in the village moved across to join Wesley's new Methodist society almost en masse. A Quaker community meets, however, in the historic Friends' Meeting House to this day.
250 years after Wesley's first visit, the four churches in the village signed a Local Ecumenical Covenant committing themselves to serve the whole community together and to welcome the many pilgrims visiting the Mount Grace Lady Chapel on the hilltop above the village. |
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The Parish Church |
Osmotherley Churches now also share in the wider covenant between the Mowbray Deanery and the Thirsk and Northallerton Circuit (qv) |
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Westlands (The Potteries)
The Church in the Westlands is a covenant partnership between St Peter's Methodist Church and St Andrew's parish church which began as an 'Area of Ecumenical Experiment in 1973. Both churches date back to the development of the area in 1938 and they continue as separate worshipping communities.
But Peter and Andrew were brothers! Apart from their worship, the two churches do everything together.
See also under Specialist Ministries - Schools/Youth Chaplaincies
Full details on their web site http://homepage.ntlworld.com/becky.loo
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Beacon Church, Pheasey (Walsall)
Just outside Walsall i n the West Midlands, the Beacon Church at Pheasey has been a single-congregation Anglican-Methodist church for around ten years. Recently it has become involved with two more Methodist and two Anglican churches to form what in Lichfield Diocese is known as a 'cluster'. It's enabling them to think and plan mission together.
See:
www.churches.lichfield.anglican.org/walsall/pheasey/
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Wideopen, Northumberland
In 1983 the new church of St Columba's was built jointly by Anglicans and Methodists in Wideopen, on the edge of Newcastle. It is now home to a thriving congregation.
Ettiley Heath, Cheshire
A single-congregation partnership exists at Ettiley Heath, near Sandbach - one of almost 500 across England.
Gaywood, Kings Lynn
Anglicans and Methodists in Gaywood have been sharing a common life since 1974.
