New proposals could see Church of England and Methodist Church repair 'tear in the body of Christ'

The Church of England and the Methodist Church in Britain are to consider proposals that would bring them into a new relationship, after almost 200 years of formal separation.
 
The proposals, presented in a joint report from the two churches’ faith and order bodies, sets out how the Methodist Church could come to have bishops in the UK, and how ministers from one church could become eligible to serve in the other.

The Methodist church in the United States already has bishops but the church in the UK has never adapted to the episcopal model before.

The report, ‘Mission and Ministry in Covenant’, says if the proposals are accepted they “will enable a new depth of communion between our churches and enhance our common mission, to the glory of God.”
 
The Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker, Anglican Co-Chair of the joint working group, said:

“The separation between Anglicans and Methodists in Great Britain is a tear in the fabric of the Body of Christ.“The proposals in this report are offered as a means of helping to repair that tear. They maintain the catholic, episcopal ordering of the church while at the same time acknowledging the real and effective ministry exercised by ministers in the Methodist Church. I warmly commend them for prayerful reading in the churches,” he concluded.
 
The report has now been released with the aim of “enabling a wider discussion” in the Methodist Church and in the Church of England, and to allow consultation with other ecumenical partners, reports the Church of England press office.

It will also be debated at the Church of England’s General Synod in July.

Methodism developed in the 18th century through the radical and evangelical sermons of John Wesley, a Church of England priest. It split decisively from the national church after his death, in 1795.

In 2003 the churches signed a national Covenant including a commitment to work towards “organic unity”.

PICTURE: Church of England Bishops at the General Synod in 2012 - the new proposals will be debated in the General Synod in July.