The Anglican Communion and the Methodist Church say they must address the areas that continue to divide
Representatives of the two Churches were in Cape Town, South Africa,
this week for the Third Annual Meeting of the Anglican-Methodist
International Commission for Unity in Mission (AMICUM).
The Commission was set up in 2007 to advance the full visible communion of Anglicans and Methodists at every level.
A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting said there was a “much
clearer awareness of the need for the Commission to identify and begin
to tackle some of the issues that are at the heart of our present
denominational divisions”.
“These divisions and the causes behind them are not always being named in our churches worldwide,” the Commission said.
It said “significant” work would need to be undertaken on some
specific areas over the course of the next two years if the goal of
fuller communion was to be realised.
The areas identified in the communiqué related specifically to the
interchangeability of ordained ministries and the ministry of oversight.
“Our hope is to find ways in which, in ever place, the churches of
our two world families may work as one in the urgent task of mission,”
the Commission said.
Referring to the local setting, the Commission said it could not
forget the courage and conviction of those who had fought against the
“sin of apartheid” in South Africa and who “set about a process of truth
and reconciliation”.
“The Commission was left in no doubt of the need to be honest with
each other if the painful divisions that deny the Gospel call to unity
are to be overcome,” it said.
The Commission went on to acknowledge the bilateral conversations
taking place between the two communions in the US, England, Ireland, New
Zealand particularly.
In England, Anglicans and Methodists have been engaged in talks for
decades but more formally since signing the Anglican-Methodist Covenant
in 2003.
The covenant bound the two Churches together on a path towards
greater unity through the deepening of relationships and mutual trust.
In its communiqué, the Commission went on to say it had become more
aware that questions of identity and belonging to wider Christian
fellowships “require ongoing attention”.
Commission members from England included the Rev Gareth Powell, of
the Methodist Church, and the Rev Canon Professor Paul Avis, of the
Church of England.
It will meet again in February 2012, in Maryland, USA, where it will be hosted by the World Council.