CCBI Assembly, 23-26 February 1999

`Serving the Nations in Partnership'

As I attended the assembly on your behalf here is an impression of it and an attempt to summarise some of what happened in those four incredibly full days - if you think Churches Together in England assemblies are busy, try these, with no sign of free time and final evening worship not even beginning until 9.30pm!

Arrival at Swanwick is a pleasure, but I had always been before in the summer, so there was a delight in seeing crocuses covering the front area and snowdrops all around the Swanwick Declaration plaque by the chapel. Many faces were familiar from CTE assemblies, but here there were more black faces, more younger people, more bishops, and of course, Welsh, Scottish and Irish accents to be heard. I gathered that some churches deliberately send the same representatives to both CTE and the CCBI assemblies while others try to send different people - already this raises the question about the relationship between the two bodies, which remained in my mind throughout the four days.

The structure of the assembly was to have two key addresses, small groups for discussion after the daily Bible studies and seven sub-theme forums which would each report back to the full assembly at the end. There were also some plenary sessions for business - and the real low-light of the whole time there was such a session which lasted for an interminable two and a half hours late on the Wednesday afternoon, while the constitution was altered, processes were explained, groups and commissions reported - and several around me slept soundly! The main fruit of this session was to provide material for the final night's hilarious revue, of which, more later.

The keynote addresses were given by Angela Sarkis of the Church Urban Fund and by Lord David Steel, who spoke about the implications of devolution. Angela spoke passionately about the need for partnership between churches and those excluded by society's structures and processes, in order to build more inclusive communities. Unfortunately the programming of the assembly meant there was no real opportunity to take up the points made and to turn them into challenges or practical proposals for the churches to take forward.

The Bible studies were on the journeying aspects of discipleship as found in Luke's gospel and were superbly led by the Scottish Catholic theologian, Fr John Fitzsimmons. His scholarship was imparted with a lively humour and the real privilege of attending these assemblies is to hear people of such calibre for 3 successive days, although, as he himself pointed out to the less than full attendance at the final session, one of the key characteristics for `would-be disciples' is perseverance! The other characteristics to be nurtured are consciousness i.e.. a real appreciation of what we are taking on, and a sense of the urgency of the task.

There were seven sub-theme forums, and we remained with the one area we chose. These were:

Serving the Nations in Partnership
.. .through church life;
.. .through vocation in daily life;
....through political engagement;
....in global community;
....in ethics and moral leadership;
....through justice, reconciliation and social action;
....in vision for future community.

I joined the group on `Engaging politically' and learned a lot about what is already happening. Did you know that an ecumenical `social responsibility consultation' exists and meets regularly with government ministers?

We outlined four main ways of workings

• setting up a new group, as happened for the report on unemployment;
• using the lead church model, as was done by the Methodist church monitoring the national lottery;
• supporting the agencies in tackling an issue, e.g. Church Action on Poverty; and
• participation in movements of church and non-church organisations e.g. the Jubilee 2000 campaign.

I have copies of the reports from each of the groups but, although they all make some very good points, they are in different styles and formats and it will be interesting to hear what the steering committee makes of them. It became apparent that the steering committee, for which we elected six new members from the assembly, has the task of turning the issues and reports into a manageable agenda for the Churches' Representatives' Meeting to grapple with. This latter body was described to me as “where the real power and authority lies”, and I am eager to meet members of it and also to sound out people from the churches to see if this is also their perception. It is an intriguing example of that issue which causes such a problem in and between our churches, that of authority.

The assembly was a nightmare for those of us who find it hard to make decisions and choices; there were decisions to be made about which worship to attend, which sub-theme forum to join; and finally which of the workshops to attend. For me the three that I attended were strong contenders for highlights of the assembly, but I admitted defeat on one occasion and joined those who decided that if they were to survive the course an extra hour's sleep was an absolute necessity! The workshops on `One Bread, One Body' led by Bernard Longley, were an example of how we are learning to share our own churches' deepest convictions in a sympathetic and helpful way. The one led by Janet Morley helped us place the assembly in the wider context of a world of great need but great resourcefulness. And Trevor Williams of the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland led us through the difficult area of how we can come to terms with our histories as we approach the new Millennium. He looked at the examples of the Reconciliation and Truth Commission in South Africa and the pleas for justice for victims of the Chilean dictatorship as well as the needs of Northern Ireland. There is an excellent booklet which he helped produce, entitled `Remembrance and Forgetting' from the Faith and Politics Group in Ireland.

Other business dealt with in the assembly was the fond farewell to John Reardon as he retires from the post of General Secretary and the warm welcome to his successor, David Goodbourn; and the name change from CCBI to CTBI. This stands for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and not, as the revue suggested, for “Churches Together But Independent”, nor “Carey Takes Basil In"!

Ah yes, that revue. On the final evening we joined together to hear a wonderfully harmonious plainsong version of the amended constitution; an unusually compliant Jean Mayland obeying every order as the ship of unity was steered on its uneven course; and a couple of old codgers, looking strangely like Roger Nunn and Michael Doe, (chairman of the Anglican Local Unity Committee) ruminating on the peculiar proceedings they had experienced in the last few days. There was great humour and the ability to laugh at ourselves, and this is an important point in these assemblies; we now are so comfortable with one another that the `we' is all of us, not our denominational identities. We are able to laugh easily because we regard the quirks, foibles and idiosyncrasies of all of our churches as ours, and all part of what we have become. The analogy of the family which Bill Snelson used when talking about `One Bread, One Body' comes to mind. There is beginning to be a real feeling that the differences we are facing and attempting to resolve are indeed within the family, not between a family and those outside it. Whatever the shortcomings of an assembly such as this, in its procedures, structures and results, the reinforcing and nourishing of the experience of being a family together makes them continue to be worthwhile.

Val Potter -
County Ecumenical Officer for Dorset and
the South-West Regional Representative to the CCBI Assembly.

Copyright ©1999 Churches Together in Dorset
Page last updated on 11th March 1999 by Steve Potts