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Church of England
UK News

Church of England and Methodist Church in Britain seek to use each other's leaders

by Tola Mbakwe

It includes proposals to enable all presbyters and priests serving in either church to serve in both Churches.

Rev Dr Jane Leach is a member of the Methodist Church Faith and Order Committee.

She told Premier how the unification would impact church-goers.

She said: "You might be networked together not just with other Anglican churches or Methodist churches. Your priest might be working with both Anglican and Methodist churches, or your Methodist minister might be working with both churches, so it enables us to be grouped geographically."

The two Churches state that there are no doctrinal differences between them and the unification would show symbiotic support for Christ's work.

Rev Jane said: "Patterns of church life and patterns of community life are developing. Things are moving fast and the more effective we can be by pooling our resources. But it's also about Christ's imperative that we be one.

"This would be a more visible way and organic way on the ground to demonstrate unity in a world which is really struggling with difference and working together. That would be a really hopeful sign."

The proposals would also see the Methodist Church recognise the office of a President-Bishop as expressing the Conference's ministry of oversight in a personal form.

Rev. Jane told Premier the reason for the proposed new title for Methodist Church's president.

She said: "Because we conceive the unit of church as the whole connection governed by the Conference, the most natural place for us to locate the historic episcopate is in the president. So the proposal is for us not to change our structure, but to ordain our president as bishop."

The requests will be discussed at the Methodist Conference this week and the Church of England's General Synod in July.

Formal decisions about initiating the legal processes with both churches will start in 2018.

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