This post relates to the sixth critical issue in Called to be One: What Now?, Leaders and the Whole People of God .
Support is offered to local church leaders, through organisations like Churches Together in England. This includes an annual training conference for new ecumenical officers. The English National Ecumenical Officers offer support for anyone working ecumenically. The Methodist and United Reformed Churches have a mentoring scheme for ministers new to Local Ecumenical Partnerships and a retired Bishop offers support to Diocesan Bishops and Methodist District Chairs. Further work continues to identify resources and opportunities for developmental support.
And yet everyone knows this is not enough. I don't believe the problem is lack of training and development, resources or even the negative attitudes of some church leaders. The problem goes deeper. It resides in a superficial understanding of ecumenism.
Any form of unity requires preparedness to sacrifice power to accommodate others. Church hierarchies seem to be reluctant or unable to do this. Why?
The problem becomes a self-defeating focus upon belief. This inevitably leads to a perception of differences as problems that need to be solved. Ecumenical conversations need to reframed to focus upon process rather than belief.
Re-orientation to process would lead to seeing the issue, not as faith and order but of ecumenical reception . The writers of the report are correct in stating, the whole people of God need to be involved. I'm not sure a national gathering alone would meet this need. We need to see more respect for the views of local people, similar to that seen during the Interchurch Process , the use of participative methods and accommodation of local conversations through new communications technologies.
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