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Welcome to the 2007 online edition of Assembly Hotline. Below
you will find a summary of the main events and decisions from the United
Reformed Church General Assembly, which met at the University of Manchester on
July 7th - 10th.
Every year a 2-sided A4 print
version of Hotline is sent to local churches. That will be available to
download from this website in a few days’ time.
A summary of business from the Sunday of Assembly
appears below.
For a summary of Saturday’s
business, please click here
For Monday's summary, please click here.
For Tuesday's business, please click here.
Sunday, July 9th
Ministers and Church Related
Community Workers who have been ordained since the last
General
Assembly were introduced to the Assembly and welcomed by the
Moderator, the Revd Prof Stephen Orchard. He praised them for offering
themselves for service in the church. He told them that no matter how lonely
or difficult or wonderful their ministry was, they had the support and
prayers of the whole Church. He wished them all joy in the Lord and in their
sharing of the kingdom Gospel.
Jubilee ministers
Assembly greeted Ministers ordained
in 1967, 1957, 1947 and 1937.
Resolution 56
Assembly sent greetings to the Revd
Arthur Macarthur on the 70th anniversary of his ordination.
Mission Council
The Revd Elizabeth
Caswell reported that Mission
Council had been busy but stimulating over the last year.
Civil partnerships
During questions concerning Mission Council, Alan Wharton, Medway District,
said he had been disturbed by the notes on civil partnerships published on
the URC
website for local churches thinking about blessing civil
partnerships. In reply, Elizabeth Caswell explained that there was a
wide divergence of views on the subject. In common with other denominations, Mission Council felt it right to have material
available on the website for churches if they wished to use it. The
intention was to assist, rather than making policy.
Resolution 56 – General Secretary
Following a review, Assembly
re-appointed the Revd Dr David Cornick to serve as
General Secretary from August 2008 to July 2015. He was greeted with a
standing ovation.
Resolution 50 - Consensus decision
making
“We will listen to one another more
and the decisions will be owned by everyone.” With this, Elizabeth Nash
introduced the resolution to commit future Assemblies to using Consensus
decision making.
The aim of the process was to seek
to come to a common mind through listening, she said; intentional listening
is at the heart of this process. There will be space for prayer and the
opportunity to talk in small breakout groups.
After a clarification about matters
related to statutory legislation having to be voted for under formal
arrangements, the motion was carried.
Synod Moderators’ Report
The Revd Peter Brain,
outgoing Moderator of North Western Synod, presented the Synod
Moderators’ report. He said the Moderators are convinced that the local
church is God’s primary instrument of mission.
There is, however, concern over the deployment of local church ministers and
the effect this has on churches. Perhaps, Peter Brain suggested, the
Spirit of God can be seen in times of changing circumstances. It is a
process for all of us. Finally, he said the Moderators want all
Synods and churches to be more authentically God’s instruments.
The Revds Peter Brain and
Arnold Harrison were warmly thanked for their service as Synod
Moderators
and both were wished well on their retirement.
Mission Council ’s Post-Moratorium Task
Group on policy decisions on homosexuality
“Many
of us have felt the pain of earlier discussions, and know very well that we
are not just walking on eggshells; we are stepping into a minefield,” began
the Revd Malcolm Hanson as he presented the work of the Post-Moratorium Task
Group. During Assembly 2006 he remembered sitting up late reflecting on Elizabeth Caswell’s 2006
Moderator’s address about
the
all-embracing nature of grace. What struck him was that if God's grace
touches the lives of those with whom he disagrees, he has to acknowledge
that they too have been touched by grace, and recognise that they too are
Disciples of Christ. With these opening words, Malcolm set the
mature tone of the debate that followed.
Following the end of
the seven year moratorium, the Church had choices to make about the way
forward. Rather than simply extending the moratorium, the task group felt
the Church should recognise we are now in a different place. There is a need
honestly and
openly to recognise the very substantial differences amongst us and then to
consider how we might handle them. The group writes of the need to strive
for the unity of the church despite those differences.
However, there is
real concern that tackling this controversial issue would again risk
splitting the Church. So, at the heart of the report was a liturgical
commitment to one another that could be used by churches and councils to
express the wish to listen, respect, and understand one another, in order to
hold the Church together during our exploration of human sexuality. There
was much still to think about and decide upon. There were differing
perspectives.
Following lunch, Assembly broke up
into about 40 groups to discuss the issues contained within the report,
before coming together to discuss the formal resolutions.
Before the debate opened Assembly
watched a DVD presentation from the Children’s Assembly.
Human Sexuality continued
There was a statement from the URC’s
legal adviser regarding anti-discrimination regulations in England. The
Equality Act 2006 makes it unlawful for someone providing services to be
discriminated against because of their sexuality. She was aware that more
work was needed on the implications for the church.
The Revd Malcolm Hanson then moved
resolutions 42 – 48.
Resolution 42
The motion welcomed the guidance
contained within the document concerning the ending of the moratorium.
One Assembly member said the report
gave the United Reformed Church a theological third way
to engage with the issue and in engaging with one another will see God’s
hand at work. The resolution was overwhelmingly carried.
Resolution 43 agreed to the wording
of the Commitment on Human Sexuality.
Resolution 44 asked the Assembly to
adopt the Commitment on Human Sexuality on behalf of the Church.
One speaker reflecting a GEAR
perspective said that there had to be compromises for groups on both sides
of the debate. Her prayer was that through ‘the commitment’, the URC “could
travel on a journey together with those with whom we disagree.”
The resolution was carried.
Resolution 45
This resolution called for further
detailed discussions in the light of the Catch the Vision process
and the
Vision4Life programme, with guidance from Mission
Council. Despite concern
that this should not be an open-ended discussion and that an early report
should be called for, it was accepted that the actual process needed time
and space to build on relationships.
One member asked that the
discussions should not be too narrow. He requested that other human
sexuality issues, for example living together outside of marriage, be
considered.
The resolution was carried.
Resolution 46
Malcolm Hanson reminded Assembly
that the Church must build on the excellent earlier work, done some years
ago. One speaker pointed out that we are now in a different social and
political context and that theological discussions were also different.
Resolution 46 was
carried with an amendment to remove the
clause concerning regret.
Resolution 47
This resolution proposed a task
group to oversee the process of addressing the issues of human sexuality, to
enable the process of widening discussions to involve the whole church.
After calls for a wide and
ecumenical discussion, and clarification that Assembly would be the final
decision making body, the resolution was carried.
Resolution 48
This motion asked for local churches
and councils of the Church not to press for policy decisions but to join in
with discussions to help understanding and unity. The resolution was
carried.
There was widespread
acclaim for the report and a consensus emerged: at the heart of the Commitment is
a recognition of three distinct positions. However, all opinions throughout
the Assembly considered this commitment to be the best way forward.
The Moderator warmly thanked The
Revd Malcolm Hanson for his work over the past year. He also
thanked Assembly for
its mature approach to this sensitive debate. He said, ‘Assembly
has offered decisive leadership to the church.’
The resolutions were concluded with
prayers, a reading of Psalm 90, the singing of Thuma Mina (Send Me Jesus).
The Assembly then collectively read out part of the commitment on Human
Sexuality.
Doctrine, Prayer and Worship Committee
Since this
committee
last reported it had concentrated mainly on Doctrine, the convener, the Revd
Dr Susan Durber, explained. During the past year, there had been a lot of
work on Eldership. “If we really believe Eldership is a great gift to the
church, what do we want to say and believe about it?” Who are the Elders and
how can we better understand their ministry, and help them prepare for a
future when they will be asked to make a larger contribution?
After a widespread consultation,
which included work with the other denominations, and a conference exploring
these issues, DPW produced a statement with a new confidence in the ministry
of Eldership.
The committee
also produced a series of leaflets on the Nature, Faith and Order of the
United
Reformed Church for local churches to use in discussion groups,
church membership preparation meetings, Elders’ training
and for enquirers about the URC.
Catch the Vision
The General Secretary, the Revd Dr David Cornick, began his presentation with
the story of how Shelley Road Church collected and sent aid parcels to
Germany from 1946 to 1959. This year we celebrate 50 years of the link with
the Palatinate Church that developed from this one church’s act of Christian
forgiveness and love.
We as a church do not celebrate
enough. We win the denominational prize for talking ourselves down, and we
trap ourselves in a discourse of defeat and decline, of ‘can’t do’ rather
than ‘can do’, David said. This is a ‘can do’ church, because it’s the
Church of Jesus Christ.
Declaring he’s had enough of
cynicism, David exclaimed “We are proving we can do things”. The URC has
1600 congregations, the grace of God is still at loose and people are still
giving their lives in God’s service. Be amazed at what you have done in three years, he said
to the Assembly.
The Church has done the difficult
bit of steering – changing structures and moving resources. We need to discover anew the wonder of
God’s love. God says: Come back to me and discover who you are again, my
children: be transformed by the Gospel. Read my Word, open your lives to me
in prayer, and let me touch your lips with good news.
Vision4Life
John Campbell introduced
‘Vision4Life’, an initiative to reinvigorate each local United Reformed Church over the
next four years with the Bible, prayer & evangelism: materials and support
will be offered to enable local churches to design and develop the material
for their own situation.
The project spans three key areas:
the centrality of the Bible, the ministry of the whole membership and
evangelism.
Our church membership asks
questions. How central is the Bible? How well is it understood?
Many are in two minds about their
involvement in their local church. Members can feel used rather than enabled
or encouraged. We are often excellent at action but when asked to speak
about our faith, we can get tongue-tied. There are large social forces
working against the church, arguing against the things we stand for but we
also have to recognise that parts of the URC aren’t working for us as well
as they should. We might not be able to do anything about the imposing
secular world but we can do something to improve our own understanding.
Vision4Life is an invitation to all
United Reformed
Churches and Local Ecumenical Projects to get on board and explore what we
mean when we talk about the Church – what it means to us.
The first stage in 2008 will ask
each congregation to look at themselves and then produce a programme to
improve the three elements of Bible, prayer and evangelism.
The programme is an attempt to offer
leadership without telling people what to do. There will be lots of
encouragement and challenge, of engaging with the Bible through conversation
and story telling.
Slave Trade Abolition celebration
The Liverpool Philharmonic Gospel
Choir performed for Assembly as part of a celebration to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of the act of Parliament that abolished the British slave trade.
Members of the Children’s Assembly
joined forces with the choir for parts of the celebration, and in another
first for
General Assembly, luminous glowsticks were used instead of candles
to symbolise the light of God.
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