Reviewing intermediate (county) ecumenism

August 2011 saw the end of a major review of how ecumenism is encouraged and supported at intermediate or county level.

'Intermediate' isn't a very friendly term but it is used because not all the ecumenical instruments in between the local and the national serve counties, some are metropolitan areas or special places like Milton Keynes and Telford. They have in common the responsibility to support and encourage local ecumenism and are supported by Churches Together in England in many ways, particularly through the two Field Officers.

Read the report!

A Review of Intermediate Ecumenical Life in England, August 2011 is available here as a pdf document. It is expected to be a major agenda item for Intermediate Bodies during 2012.

Request to Intermediate Bodies

On 27 September 2011, David Cornick sent copies of the report to all County Ecumenical Officers saying:

Churches Together in England's Directors will be setting up an implementation group, and the work of that group would be aided if you were able to respond to the statement about the purposes of Intermediate Bodies on page twelve of the report:

An Intermediate Body is

a visible sign of the Churches' commitment to deepen their communion with Christ and with one another, and
an instrument [for the Churches] to proclaim the Gospel together by common mission, witness, and service in their county/region.

(At CTE's Enabling Group this month, the clarification in brackets were added to clarify the original meaning.)

In the light of those overarching themes could you let us know:

the three most effective areas of work in your IB;
the three most important aspirations of your IB;
the key services you look for from CTE resources.

Naturally we would be very interested in any feedback that you wish to give us as we work with you to support ecumenical work in England If you were able to report back to us (at least initially) by the end of March 2012 that would be most helpful. We would hope to receive all final responses by 1 September 2012.

A page about the review document for County Officers is available here.