It seems to me the key to successful ecumenical conversations is to find common ground. The reasons for distrust between traditions are varied. Last time I considered the position of the new small churches and their relationship with the mainstream churches. The approach I took will be controversial but it is a powerful argument to say that ecumenical relationships are the mark of a true church.
This is a brief note to draw attention to a recent exercise carried out by the Church Times and the Baptist Times. They asked the leaders of the five main traditions in England, namely the Church of England, URC, Baptist, Roman Catholic and Methodist churches, five questions about their views of ecumenism.
Follow the link to read an overview and then another link will take you to a page where the details of what each leader said can be found.
The message is that the leaders of our main churches, do not share the emphasis of many ecumenists on formal talks. Their focus is on local churches. They all claim to value formal talks although the impression is they are not where the church leaders' hearts are.
This simultaneously opens up some common ground with the new churches but also raises questions about how the conversations of local churches can have the rigour of the formal talks. For the mainstream churches, allowing for differences of emphasis, it is most important that the church engages in ecumenical talks as a whole church. The question for them is not whether they should do this, but how.
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