Four churches in and around the City of London will consolidate over 15 years of working together by signing an Ecumenical Partnership on Thursday 23rd January 2020. This will take place during a 12.45pm lunchtime service to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity at Wesley’s Chapel, 49 City Road, London EC1Y 1AU.
The various church councils of Jewin Welsh Presbyterian Church, the Anglican St Giles’ Cripplegate, St Joseph’s Catholic Church, and the Methodist Wesley’s Chapel and Leysian Mission have offered their support to the Partnership Agreement which will be signed by clergy and laity from each of the churches. The document makes explicit a commitment from these local churches to working, praying, and worshipping together, as well as their journeying together in ecumenical pilgrimages to Rome, Latvia, Portugal, Spain and, later in 2020, to Oberammagau, Germany. The Agreement thus celebrates their mutual relationships as they seek to give Christian witness on the edge of the City of London.
Text of the ecumenical partnership:
An Ecumenical Partnership between Jewin Welsh Church, St. Giles’ Cripplegate, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, and Wesley’s Chapel & Leysian Mission.
Introduction: This Partnership, reviewed by the respective Ministers and agreed by each Church’s Council, makes explicit the ecumenical commitment shared for the past 15 years. A formal Partnership ensures that our ecumenical journey is established beyond the individual interest of any particular minister and has reason to continue after any minister moves from the area.
Drawn together in one baptism, confessing our faith in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are inspired by the Holy Spirit to hear his Good News and pledged to share it, and so we commit ourselves to:
- Promote reflection on the Christian Church, its mission and its proclamation of God’s reign in our midst;
- Take time to listen, try to understand and respond to each other and to the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the people of our time and place;
- Value each person, rejoicing in their gifts, and celebrating our rich human diversity;
- Support those seeking to recognise Christ in their own lives;
- Enjoy each other’s company as we worship, study, and journey together as God’s pilgrim people.
Where possible this will be done through:
- The sharing of occasional worship, especially during Advent, Lent, and the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity;
- Collaboration in planning and holding regular adult faith education programmes;
- Going on pilgrimage together;
- Supporting action for justice and peace initiatives in one another’s churches.
We give thanks for the many years of growing unity and friendship which we have shared together and which has brought us to this time of grace, and we regret our continuing divisions. We undertake to promote understanding, respect and dialogue with people of good will as we work for the common good of all. We affirm our intent to work, pray, and study together for that unity which is Christ’s will for the Church and so formalise this commitment in this present Partnership Agreement.
