During the early part of 2011, following many conversations on the nature of the future of ecumenical working, the governing Council of Greater Manchester Churches Together embarked upon a review of the organisation’s purposes and processes. This was something the Ecumenical Development Officer worked towards and fully welcomed. In June last year, the Council received an interim report on the progress of this review and agreed to set up a Review Implementation Group (the RIG) to take it forward. This review process, however, was suspended owing to the need for discussions that were needed to deal with budgetary crisis that emerged in late summer. The RIG has now reconvened, following the December meeting of the Council. All those involved in Churches Together Groups locally and other partners will be informed by the Council of the outcome of RIG’s work as soon as is practicable.

At the GMCT Council meeting on 14th December, a number of issues relating to the budget for the coming year 2012 were also resolved. A Special Committee, appointed at the October Council meeting when it became clear there would be insufficient funds to continue GMCT in its current form, reported on the result of its consultations with staff on how to handle the 2012 budget. The Council received the report, in confidence, on the outcome of their negotiations on the implications for staffing of GMCT. It resolved that the recommended settlement arrangement with the Ecumenical Development Officer post-holder should go ahead and that the budget for 2012 that included the settlement costs be agreed. The terms of a personal reference have also been agreed for the EDO and will be supplied to any future employers as needed.

The Council has asked the Review Implementation Group to plan a pathway during 2012 which will provide improved governance arrangements to come into being. This will include clarification of the work of the Denominational Ecumenical Officers, the Presidents and the Council. This will involve clarification of their role when acting as trustees of the charity. It is also hoped that an Assembly of GMCT will take place within the first three quarters of the year. The Council hopes that the original appointees to the RIG will continue their work on behalf of the Council and bring the review to a conclusion. The Council is aware that further work needs to be done on developing an ecumenical vision and strategy for the future. The Council was also mindful at the December meeting of the need to resolve the size and capacity of the 2013 budget in a timely way during the coming year so that sufficient funding to enable the work of GMCT to continue can be secured.

As a result of these decisions Revd Graham Kent will be leaving GMCT at the end of February and this is a formal notice to this effect. GMCT can confirm that the reason for termination has been purely as a consequence of budgetary considerations and the need to put in place restructuring plans and bears no reflection on his performance or capability. The Council very much regrets this outcome and is extremely grateful for the development work that Graham has been able to achieve over the course of the last decade and wishes him well for the future.

It is anticipated that the Ecumenical Office at St Peter’s House will remain open for the foreseeable future and certainly during 2012, Mrs Elaine Rowlinson will be in post as the Administrator and can be contacted in the normal way following the end of February.

Nick Clifford
Chair, Council GMCT January 9th 2012

Greater Manchester Street Pastors Together

Dear Church Leader

The timing is significant; it will take place in 2012, the 350th anniversary year of the Act of Uniformity and the Great Ejection. It will also be the 40th anniversary of the United Reformed Church coming into being.

The service arises from a joint report – Healing of Memories – which has been before General Synod and the United Reformed Church Mission Council, and it will be a Service of Reconciliation, Healing of Memories and Mutual Commitment. There will be testimonies about martyrs of the past and stories of shared work in the present, leading to an act of commitment for the future.

The Revd Elizabeth Welch was URC co-convener of a study group that produced the report. She said: "I'm delighted that in a doubly significant anniversary year, when we remember both the separation of churches, and the coming back together of some (through the founding of the URC), we can meet for such a historic service. I hope this is but the beginning of a closer drawing together, as we seek to commit ourselves to further shared work."

It is hoped that people from across the URC – and in particular from around 25 local ecumenical partnerships involving the URC and the Church of England – will be present in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 7 February 2012 beginning at 6.15pm.

The Revd David Tatem, URC secretary for ecumenical relations, said: “Right across the country in villages, towns and cities our two denominations work together in a whole variety of ways. At the heart of that cooperation is the friendship between us that both heals the past and enables the future. Friendship is the inspiration for this service and I believe that will lead us, along with our other ecumenical partners, into exploring new possibilities together.”

The Act of Uniformity required all ministers and schoolmasters to give their "unfeigned assent and consent" to The Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England by 24 August 1662. On theological grounds, almost two thousand Presbyterian, Congregational and Baptist ministers refused to comply. They left their livings and (apart from some who later conformed) joined those Congregationalists and Baptists already serving outside the Established Church. This significantly increased the ministerial strength of Dissent in what became known as the Great Ejectment or Ejection. Many of these men and their families suffered much hardship; the United Reformed Church, as well as present-day Baptists and Congregationalists, are their heirs.

Tickets for the service are available from the United Reformed Church ecumenical office ecumenical@urc.org.uk or via the Westminster Abbey web-site.

More details at: http://www.urc.org.uk/what_we_do/ecumenical/WestminsterAbbeyService

The report “Healing of Memories” is here: http://www.urc.org.uk/what_we_do/ecumenical/docs/healing_the_past__building_the_future

The Revd Dr J. Blackstone
Secretary, The Society for Ecumenical Studies