RICHARD REDDIE
‘We would have more impact working together’

My son’s school has the Latin motto Unitate Fortior which, when translated, means ‘Strength in Unity’ or ‘Unity is our Strength’. As someone who works for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, whose raison d’etre is church unity, I know how important, yet challenging, this much-vaunted ideal is. (I write this piece with January’s annual ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’ still fresh in my mind.) For me, the real question is: ‘What is the purpose of our unity?’ And the answer to this, through an adaptation of my son’s school motto, is that united we have the strength to address the injustices in our world while sharing the love of Christ with those in need.

In my work as the Director of Justice and Inclusion, I can see how the churches, if they work together, can tackle issues such as the scourge of serious youth violence in Britain and Ireland. I am acutely aware of different church denominations and para-church groups’ projects to address this problem. While most of these do excellent work, they would have more impact if they worked together. I am part of an ecumenical, church-based initiative called the Synergy Network which encourages churches to stand together in an effort to change young people’s lives.

Away from work, I have also seen first-hand the way in which a united church can have a positive impact on local communities. The Covid-19 pandemic has created havoc in so many areas of our lives, yet the churches in my part of southwest London have come together (like never before) to meet local needs in the form of food banks, and a helpline offering spiritual and practical advice…

Richard Reddie is Director of Justice and Inclusion for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

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VICTORIA TURNER
‘Church unions are useful – if they heal relationships’

The union between Congregational and Presbyterian Churches that created the United Reformed Church was not envisioned as an ecumenical end goal. We saw ourselves, in our beginnings, as a loose ecumencial body, inviting other Churches to join and, as Martin Camroux has expertly discussed in Ecumenism in Retreat, we solidified into a denomination almost accidently. Did this happen because the union of, eventually, four Churches was enough?

Ecumenical enthusiasm in Britain had its heyday from the 1940s to the 1970s, and it concentrated on the Faith and Order agenda – the end goal conceptualised as institutional unity. Some outcomes of this effort are that we understand each other’s ecclesiologies and practices more, we have affirmed the legitimacy of others’ ministries, and we can also share rites with denominations where before we could not. However, energy for ecumenism came out of mission: at Edinburgh in 1910, missionary and Church leaders realised that the Church needed to cooperate to effectively evangelise the world.

It was the few representatives from the global south who said that cooperation was not enough and that they wanted a united Church without the imposition of foreign denominations. The reaction to this was to educate the ‘newer Churches’ as to the reasons for our divisions. Ecumenism has been focused on British institutions, but it goes beyond our Church structures. Oikumene, the Greek word behind ‘ecumenical’, can be translated as ‘the whole inhabited earth’ and, ultimately, it asks about the unity between our relationships with each other, with those outside of the Church, and with creation. For me, Church unions are useful when they fulfil this larger reality – if they heal relationships…

Victoria Turner is a PhD researcher in ecumenism at New College, Edinburgh