Updated Friday night, Saturday morning and afternoon
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Official press release General Synod backs motion to tackle food waste
Christian Today CofE backs campaign to reduce food waste
Anglican Communion News Service C of E Synod endorses Anglican Communion links as central to mission and discipleship
Read the Archbishop of Canterbury’s address to the General Synod in London today: Archbishop of Canterbury’s presidential address
Harry Farley Christian Today Archbishop warns Church of England against dangers of ‘radical change’
Olivia Rudgard Telegraph Church should not ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’ by making radical changes, Archbishop says
Official press release General Synod welcomes move towards communion with Methodist Church
Press release from the Methodist Church Church of England and Methodist Church to continue exploring closer communion
Tim Wyatt Church Times Synod shows its enthusiasm for closer unity with Methodists
Harry Farley Christian Today Church of England embraces unity with Methodist Church
Ruth Gledhill The Tablet Church of England and Methodists move towards unity
Diocese of Guildford Synod affirms Anglican Communion links in run-up to Lambeth 2020
summary of the day’s business from Stephen Lynas: Move in a little closer, baby
video recordings
morning session
afternoon session
“The Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, spoke of how the church in Kenya was growing, and that the Kenyan diocese linked with Chelmsford had been made into five dioceses. He said that the Bishops from Kenya did not attend the last Lambeth Conference in 2008, but did attend the pre-Lambeth hospitality initiative hosted by the Diocese of Chelmsford. “In other words, the friendships we have with each other were strong enough to bridge what could have become an ever-lengthening divide. “We have learned a lesson in Chelmsford that the whole Anglican Communion and every Christian community needs to learn, and… Read more »
“‘That means that the questions of change are ever more complex, unless we reject our catholicity and the very concept of the church as universal,’ he said. “
Because everyone knows that homophobia is a fundamental tenet of Christianity…
“How Long, O Lord!”
The Methodist Press Release says that Methodist Conference will not discuss interchangeability until 2019. I thought that the plan was that both churches were to address this issue this year. Is this a sign that more time is needed by the Methodists to convince their membership of the virtues of Episcopacy? Could the hopes for interchangeability fall this time not at the hands of General Synod, but the Methodist Conference?
Paul, the motion was amended to call for more substantial work. The annual Methodist Conference is in June and the next meeting of General Synod is in July (we are unlikely to meet in November). So 2019 will be the next realistic opportunity to discuss new proposals, no need to read more into it than that. Although I’m sure you’re right that the discussion about episcopacy will be a robust one.
It was a good debate on Mission and Ministry in Covenant, with the hopes and concerns on all sides well expressed, both mission and ecclesiology discussed. The Archbishop of York said further work needed to be done on the kind of episcopacy envisaged. The Bishop of Portsmouth’s amendment committed the church to further work on the relationship between episcopal ordination and Eucharistic presidency. These were the two main areas for concern singled out in the ACF and FinF statements, so it seems to me Synod has responded to that. I don’t think the next steps can be taken for granted,… Read more »
Father Ron I thought +Stephen explained it well – ‘the friendships we have with each other were strong enough to bridge what could have become an ever-lengthening divide’. Personal relationships and relating to an ‘institution’ are very different things. I am happy to take the positives here.
For reference, here is the text of the motion on relationships with the Methodist Church as passed by Synod. That this Synod: (a) welcome the report Mission and Ministry in Covenant (GS 2086), produced by the faith and order bodies of the Church of England and the Methodist Church in response to resolutions passed by the General Synod and the Methodist Conference in 2014; (b) call on the Faith and Order Commission to report back to the Synod at the next group of sessions on work carried out jointly with the Methodist Church to address the areas for further reflection… Read more »
“Church of England Embraces Unity with Methodists” opines Harry Farley. Before we get too excited, nothing of the sort has happened after last night’s vote. I am not a theologian, but there are some serious issues to be thrashed-out here: not just about the nature of ordination; but on some rather subtle – but important – doctrinal differences. The Bishop of Portsmouth’s point about Eucharistic presidency seems to have hit the spot. But hasn’t the House of Bishops already produced a report about this some years ago? The Methodists haven’t even started their formal processes yet. Who knows, given that… Read more »
Harry Farley’s headline is over exuberant. Most people voted ‘yes’ to more work being done. Whether any proposals can be drawn up that can secure a broad consensus remains to be seen. What will the threshold for approval be? It was 75% last time.
I can’t understand why Methodists, observing our House of Bishops over the last few years, are not scrambling to have bishops themselves! Or, maybe I can.
The Methodists are so High Church Sacramentalist that many of the ‘Welby Evangelicals’ will struggle with to embrace this view of sacramental life and faith, I’ll warrant.
We have been here before– or somewhere similar….