IT IS a brave ecumenical Commission that admits in the preface
to its latest report that "the Churches are . . . awash with
ecumenical reports". This honestly acknowledged fact, together with
a to-boldly-go title and the acronymic nature of the authors, mean
that queues might not be forming for copies of Into All the
World: Being and becoming apostolic Churches by the
Anglican-Methodist International Commission for Unity in Mission
(AMICUM). This would be a pity, since the report is intelligent and
well informed, outlining the progress towards unity that has been
made by the two denominations, mapping the ground still to be
covered, and detailing ways in which different manifestations of
the two Churches around the world have approached the matter.
As the Commission suggests, no more introductions are needed to
bring the two Churches together. Each has long exercised
eucharistic hospitality, joint working on ethical and political
matters is now the norm, and there are many more formal agreements
in parishes around the country. The commitment made a few years ago
not to do apart what could be done together has borne fruit. As a
result, one of the final hurdles, the interchangeability of
ministers, is once again the focus of debate.
The apostolic-succession question has sent the Methodists back
down the garden path on more than one occasion, to their
justifiable annoyance. In this report, however, the Anglican
understanding of succession, and the problem it poses for the
interchangeability of ministers, is explained fully and
sympathetically. "Anglicans believe that the historic episcopate is
a precious aspect of the fullness and wholeness of the Church, of
catholicity." More challengingly, it states: "The historic
episcopate does not require that there should be an empirically
verifiable manual transmission of ordination, going back to the
apostles, in every case. The emphasis is on the formal intention of
a Church not to make a new church . . . but to preserve the visible
historical continuity of the Church from the beginning." Seen in
this light, there is an equivalence in the ordaining of ministers
and superintendents in the Methodist Church, made more overt in
countries such as the United States. Just how equivalent these are
needs to be teased out further.
The value of such reports rests entirely on how they are
received, and this depends on how accurately their readers see
themselves represented. It is impossible to read sentences that
begin "Anglicans believe" or "Methodists believe" without being
aware of the range of doctrinal views encompassed by each
tradition. This is a weakness that has thwarted unity attempts in
the past; but it is also a strength. A Church that can hold
together divergent views on every aspect of Christian belief and
practice ought to be better able to tolerate that diversity in
another.