Anglican – Methodist Covenant: Champions Sought

The Bishop of Liverpool, The Rt Revd Paul Bayes,  Lead Bishop on the Methodist-Anglican Panel for Unity in Mission, writes:

“The Church of England and the Methodist Church in Britain have been in Covenant relationship for many years now. This Covenant is enabling us to work closely together on the ground, and also to address some of the theological issues, mostly about the shape of Christian ministry, that have divided us in the past.

An enormous amount of excellent work is now being done as our two churches draw closer together, seeking to worship as one, to meet the needs of the world and to follow John Wesley’s famous dictum: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

I myself was trained for ministry in the ecumenical context of Queen’s College Birmingham, and my life as a Christian has been enormously enriched by the friends I have made in the Methodist Church and the commitment to evangelism and justice I have seen in the Methodist people. I am passionately committed to seeing the Covenant make a real difference on the ground wherever Methodists and Anglicans live, work, worship and witness together. So much is already happening – but so much more could be done, as Anglican and Methodist Christians see and appreciate the possibilities and the vision for unity which God is giving us.

All this good work needs to be shared further, and proclaimed and advocated more widely. So the two churches are now looking for a number of Covenant Champions – lay or ordained people in the Church of England or the Methodist Church who long for both churches to move towards fuller unity in mission, worship, and holiness.

Initially, we are seeking up to six people from the two churches to act as Covenant Champions in each of nine regions for a term of up to four years.

You could be one of these in your region and make a significant difference to how both churches live the Covenant. Your commitment would be about ten hours a month. People from the two churches would work with you to train and equip you for this vital work.

For further details, why not go to Latest News (https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news and scroll down) in order to find out more. All the information is available to download at www.methodist.org.uk/who-we-are/job-opportunities/jobs-around-the-connexion
Please consider offering yourself for this work and bringing the richness of friendship and partnership still more fully into being. Many thanks indeed!”

Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool