Ecumenical Policy

At its General Assembly in 2001, The United Reformed Church adopted ‘Three Ecumenical Principles for a Missionary Church in Today’s World’:

To expand the range and deepen the nature of the Christian common life and witness in each local community
To proclaim more clearly, in word and deed, that in Christ we are one World Church family living in a world which God loves, and to celebrate the rich diversity of cultures, languages and church traditions, and to seek, as appropriate, to work with members of other faith communities for the promotion of biblical values of love, peace and justice.
To persevere in the search for the visible and organic unity of the Church through church-to-church conversations on matters of faith and church order so that sinful, and sometimes death-dealing, divisions may be healed and the Christian message of reconciliation be proclaimed with integrity.

The Wessex Synod tries to follow these principles in all its work and is seeking to implement them in the following specific ways:

The Synod Strategy (approved by Synod in November 2005) includes the following commitments:

Wherever possible, developing and extending relationships with our ecumenical partners in the region to enable the more efficient and effective use of resources
Sharing in commitment with ecumenical partners (at appropriate levels) in stimulating and supporting the planting of new churches and creating new ways of being church

Thirty-five of the 144 churches in the Synod (almost 25%) are in a formal ecumenical partnerships. These include a number of purpose built churches shared by a number of different denominations. There are also excellent examples where congregations have decided to join or co-operate. In addition, we are involved in a number of shared chaplaincies
The Wessex Synod has reached clear agreements with its ecumenical partners for sharing resources in most of the existing Local Ecumenical Partnerships (LEPs) in the area of the Synod
The Wessex Synod encourages ecumenical support of LEPs by the wider church
The Wessex Synod provides generous financial support for projects in LEPs
The Wessex Synod encourages the development of vibrant and effective ecumenical relations locally

For many years, representatives of the Wessex Synod have met regularly with representatives of the Southampton District of the Methodist Church to explore and recommend to their respective councils ways of working more closely and of sharing resources
As a result of the work of this liaison group, a great deal of shared work is now undertaken in the areas of lay training, youth and children’s work and social responsibility. Only limited success has so far been achieved in the sharing of ministry and building
Regular meetings take place between the Synod Moderator and others in leadership positions in partner churches across the area of the Wessex Synod
We have appointed Ecumenical Officers for each county within the Synod and they are in regular contact with their opposite numbers in other denominations and with the County Ecumenical Officers who represent Churches Together in England

The Wessex Synod works very closely with the Methodist Church and the Church of England at Sarum College and was a full partner within the Southern Theological Education and Training Scheme (STETS) prior to the decision of General Assembly in 2006 to focus all initial ministerial training on Resource Centres for Learning in Cambridge, Manchester and Glasgow
the Synod is fully involved in the South Central Regional Training Partnership, co-operating with Methodist and Church of England partners in the delivery of training across seven counties

A joint programme of youth and children's work training has been established with the Diocese of Winchester and the Southampton District of the Methodist Church taking part
We are working closely with our ecumenical partners to ensure good practice in youth and children’s work

On behalf of the whole United Reformed Church, the Synod is developing exciting and valued international links:
We have worked with the Région Nord-Normandie of the Église Réformée de France for many years
We are developing links with the Lusaka Presbytery of the United Church of Zambia