The key element of ecumenism is the "Churches Together" approach to being united in faith.
The key element of ecumenism is the “Churches Together” approach to being united in faith. This is a commitment by each church and denomination to deepen fellowship with others without losing what makes each different. The aim is to work towards a greater visible unity. This works at a local, regional and national level.
At a local level it fosters co-operation between the churches both in terms of common worship and common action. The regional bodies exist primarily to facilitate this. Nationally, Churches Together seek to encourage the various denominations to work together on things which are of mutual concern.
Many Catholic parishes in England and Wales form part of a formal ‘Local Ecumenical Partnership’ – some even sharing church buildings with other denominations. In many places there are examples of co-operation, especially in respect of social issues. There are also many examples of common Christian witness, such as Good Friday processions and even joint missionary activity.
Baptist churches are found in almost every country in the world. As part of the world-wide Christian church, Baptists form one of the largest families of faith, alongside other trinitarian Christian traditions such as Anglicans, Methodists, Reformed, etc.
For Baptists the concept of a family is important. The church is not so much a particular place or building, but rather a family of believers, committed to Christ, to one another and to the service of God in the world.
More information: https://www.baptist.org.uk/
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. The Church of England traces its history back to the arrival of Christianity in Britain during the 2nd century. It has been the original church of the Anglican Communion since the 16th-century Protestant Reformation
More information: https://www.churchofengland.org/
The Church in Wales believes and proclaims the Good News of Jesus Christ. This is Good News, because it encourages each one of us to realise that God loves us, that he has gone out of his way to meet us in the person of his Son, in whom he accepts us as we are. He asks us to draw on his strength to live life to the full, and to bring healing to the world.
More information: https://www.churchinwales.org.uk/en/
The Lutheran Council of Great Britain are a communion of churches coming together to further the work of all Lutheran churches in the UK. Each church is closely linked to the church in its country of origin or one of its synods or dioceses. Each church offers unique ministries and programmes in Britain for the language groups that they serve.
More information: https://www.lutheran.org.uk/
Methodism, an 18th-century movement founded by John Wesley that sought to reform the Church of England from within. The movement, however, became separate from its parent body and developed into an autonomous church. The World Methodist Council (WMC), an association of churches in the Methodist tradition, comprises more than 40.5 million Methodists in 138 countries. The calling of the Methodist Church is to respond to the gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission
More information: https://www.methodist.org.uk/
The URC is a family of Christians who meet in local churches across England, Scotland and Wales, part of the worldwide family of Reformed Churches, a group of more than 70 million Christians.
The URC has around 47,000 members in about 1,300 congregations with more than 600 ministers. More than 60,000 people worship in our churches each week, and many more take part in the weekday activities of the churches.
More information: https://urc.org.uk/
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It is a community of churches on the way to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life in Christ.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is the broadest and most inclusive among the many organized expressions of the modern ecumenical movement, a movement whose goal is Christian unity.
More information: https://www.oikoumene.org/
The Coptic Orthodox Church is one of the most ancient Churches in the world, founded in the first century in Egypt by Saint Mark the Apostle and writer of the second Gospel of the New Testament. A conservative Church, it has carefully preserved the Orthodox Christian faith in its earliest form, handing it down through generations, remaining true to the Apostolic doctrines and patterns of worship.
More information: http://www.copticorthodox.london/
The Faith of the Armenian Church is transmitted through the church’s Holy Tradition, that is, the ongoing life of the church from the time of Christ to our times. The Bible, liturgy and worship, writings of the church fathers, church councils, saints, canons, religious art and rituals ‘organically linked together’ formulate the Holy Tradition of the Church. This Faith is articulated in the Creed of the Armenian Church, the formal declaration of beliefs, which in turn defines the church’s raison d’etre and sets the parameters of its mission and functioning.
More information: https://armenianchurch.org.uk/
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland was set up to take forward the churches’ ecumenical agenda on a strategic Four Nations basis.
It works closely with Action for Churches Together in Scotland, CYTUN (Churches Together in Wales), Churches Together in England and the Irish Council of Churches.
CTBI is therefore an expression of the churches’ commitment to work ecumenically across the Four Nations and beyond.
More information: https://ctbi.org.uk/
Churches Together in England is the national ecumenical instrument supporting and encouraging churches from a wide range of traditions to work together in unity.
With churches drawn from the Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Orthodox and Lutheran traditions, as well as Free Churches, Quakers and others, they unite one of the broadest range of churches in the whole of Europe.
More information: https://cte.org.uk/
It is Cytûn’s task to help the churches to worship together and to witness in the light of each other’s convictions. This work continues in worship and service. Please visit the churches’ websites to appreciate the breadth of their ongoing work. Wales’ churches and denominations are very active in a number of locations and fields of interest.
More information: https://www.cytun.co.uk/hafan/en/home/
The Christian Enquiry Agency (CEA) is a charity registered in the United Kingdom. Funded purely by grants and donations from churches, trusts and individuals who want ordinary people to hear the good news of Jesus.
Aim to give clear, balanced, information about the Christian faith, with God’s love running as a thread throughout and hope to encourage people to explore more about Christianity.
More information: https://christianity.org.uk/
Eco-Congregation is an ecumenical programme helping churches make the link between environmental issues and Christian faith, and respond in practical action in the church, in the lives of individuals, and in the local and global community. Although we share most of our resources each Eco-Congregation initiative is responsible for its own website and publications and is not accountable for the content of any of the other initiatives.
More information: http://www.ecocongregation.org/
