Methodists and Anglicans ‘close enough for unity’

From The Church Times-

ANGLICANS and Methodists know enough about each other, and need to stop timidly "watching every careful step", seeking "impossible perfection" before agreeing to unity.

This is the message of a report by the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission (AMICUM), launched by the World Methodist Vice-President, Gillian Kingston, and the Archbishop of Canterbury on Tuesday.

Into All The World: Being and becoming Apostolic Churches, a report to the Anglican Consultative Council and the World Methodist Council, is the outcome of 20 years of work. It hints at an impatience also noted in last year's report by the Joint Implementation Commission, which warned of "frustration and even boredom" with the Anglican-Methodist Covenant (News, 23 May 2014).

More here-

http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/20-march/news/uk/methodists-and-anglicans-close-enough-for-unity

50 Ministers Bless Gay Marriage Of Bill Gatewood And Rick Taylor, Showing Solidarity With Rev. Frank Schaefer

From Philadelphia-

Bill Gatewood and Rick Taylor only needed one minister to marry them at their longtime place of worship, Arch Street United Methodist Church.

Instead, they got fifty.

Risking the loss of their credentials, the ministers came to show their support of same-sex marriage, an issue currently being hotly debated in the Methodist Church, as well as to show solidarity with an embattled colleague who has been personally affected. Rev. Frank Schaefer of Lebanon, PA, will stand trial on Nov. 18 in front of the church because he officiated his son's same-sex wedding, which is currently against church law.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/50-ministers-gay-marriage_n_4260490.html?ir=Religion

Hark The Herald - Charles Wesley Letters Outline Early Methodism And Religious Radicalism

From Science 2.0 (believe it or not)

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is the beginning to one of the world's most popular hymns, yet while millions of people can oddly identify Nicki Minaj, almost no one knows the name of Charles Wesley or his Hymns and Sacred Poems. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” became regarded as one of the Great Four Anglican Hymns and was published as number 403 in "The Church Hymn Book". It has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to the kids on "Charlie Brown"(1) and now the private letters of the composer have been edited by Dr. Gareth Lloyd of The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library and Professor Kenneth Newport of Liverpool Hope University and published by Oxford University Press. They provide a rare glimpse into both the man and the birth of Methodism.

The early Methodists were viewed by their opponents as dangerous extremists: they had visions, fell into trances and some even developed a reputation for possessing supernatural power. Likely for that reason, some of the letters were written in a complex 18th century shorthand developed by John Byrom, sometimes inter-mixed with Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

More here-

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/hark_herald_charles_wesley_letters_outline_early_methodism_and_religious_radicalism-110493

Margaret Thatcher: her unswerving faith shaped by her father

From The Telegraph-

Finkin Street Methodist chapel is quiet now: on its occasional Sunday services, 90 worshippers gather in a building built for 600.

For three years, the church was on the market, with the only potential buyer, a pizza chain, pulling out once it realised that the interiors were protected under its Grade II listed status.

But rewind to the Thirties and Finkin Street was a hub of activity, a thriving centre point for Grantham’s Wesleyan Methodist community. In the pews was a young Margaret Roberts, listening to her lay preacher father evangelise on the meaning of the Word.

Most people are aware that Baroness Thatcher was a product of a Methodist household and that her father was a lay preacher; most, however, probably think that Methodism was part of her childhood that dissipated later in life.

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9992424/Margaret-Thatcher-her-unswerving-faith-shaped-by-her-father.html

Communique from the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission

From ACNS-

The final meeting of the Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission (AMICUM) took place 22 February to 1 March 2013, in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, hosted by the Anglican Communion. Members of the Commission worshiped together morning and evening, and the Eucharist was celebrated according to both traditions. 

he Commission has after five years completed the phase of work mandated to it by the World Methodist Council and the Anglican Communion, and has now prepared a report for both bodies. As the last three words in its title suggest (Unity in Mission), AMICUM aims to foster the unity of the Church so that the Church can engage more fully in God’s mission of love to the world. The report begins and ends with biblical reflections, on our Lord’s prayer for the unity of his people that all might believe, and on the radical nature of Jesus’ ministry as a mandate for mission.

AMICUM has set out key points of agreement concerning the interchangeability of ordained ministries, and the awareness of each Communion’s need of the other. It sees a common, interchangeable ministry as crucial in making the unity of the Church visible.

The report analyses the place of the apostolic tradition and the nature of the oversight (episkope) in the life of the Church. It explores the history of oversight, and the way it has been exercised in the Methodist and Anglican traditions, and the way it is exercised today.

- See more at:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2013/3/1/ACNS5331#sthash.h1DtdRJV.dpuf

Ground-breaking partnership between churches to take place in North Yorkshire

From England-

A GROUNDBREAKING partnership between the Church of England and the Methodist Church will be inaugurated in the region this Saturday.

The agreement, between the Ripon and Leeds Anglican Diocese, which covers a large chunk of North Yorkshire, and the Leeds Methodist District, will mean greater sharing of clergy and joint services, with both churches working together to support their ministry and mission.

Under the Covenant Area Partnership – the first of its kind in Great Britain – there will be greater consultation and co-operation between 85 Anglican parishes and their 65 neighbouring Methodist churches.

The agreement is being signed at a celebration at Trinity Methodist Church, in Harrogate, on Saturday at 1pm. The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Reverend John Packer, said the partnership was an important opportunity for both.

More here-

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/9967711.Ground_breaking_partnership_between_churches_to_take_place_in_North_Yorkshire/

All the world can still be John Wesley’s parish

From the London Times a story about the possible renewal of Methodism in England.

The latest biography of Donald Soper, the great preacher, pacifist socialist, and one of the best-known Methodists since John Wesley himself, has the eye-catching and thought-provoking title The Last Wesleyan.

Are we to infer from this provocative title that Methodism itself is in terminal decline? The answer depends slightly on the questioner’s standpoint. For example, in the 1880s Hugh Price Hughes, a leading Methodist and one of Soper’s predecessors at the West London Mission, asked the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, why there was no portrait of Wesley alongside other famous former students. Wesley, Hughes said, had founded a movement with 25 million members worldwide, surely an achievement worth noting. The Rector was surprised: “Surely you mean 25,000?”

The incident illustrates one of the challenges facing Methodists in Britain: many outside the Church know nothing about them. For nearly 250 years Methodism has been a significant religious movement in Britain. With its distinctive mix of evangelical preaching, powerful hymnody and emotionally engaging spirituality, it revolutionised English and Welsh Christianity in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 19th century Methodist chapels gave a sense of community in many expanding city districts. In mining areas in Cornwall, Wales and Co Durham it did its job so well that it became for all practical purposes the people’s Church.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5253443.ece