CTBI Undergoes Reform to Move with Changing Religious Face in Britain

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), the official national ecumenical body in the UK, has announced that it is to radically reform in the context of "post-Christendom". The most significant challenge faced by CTBI is the 21st century multi-faith Britain, which has many more hugely diverse religious groups.

CTBI said that as ecumenism is mainstreamed into Church life, its member Churches have changing priorities and have shrunk resources to fund the work they wish to do together.

As a result, the Churches’ commitment to work together will have to be renewed, so essential work on race relations and mission and faith and interfaith will continue, as well as working with the growing number of minority ethnic people in all the Churches.

CTBI reported an increasing number of member churches and more Churches are continually applying to join CTBI, bringing the total of member churches and bodies of churches of CTBI to 35. CTBI trustees have said they faced difficult decisions on how to prune budgets and posts.

During the one-year long consultation period, options were considered that might have scrapped CTBI altogether - leaving the national bodies to coordinate their activities without a separate body for Britain and Ireland. However, Churches finally affirmed that relating together across the whole UK and the Republic of Ireland matters to them theologically, practically and politically. Therefore, the new CTBI will embody that relationship.

The name of the organisation, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), will not be changed, which is an agency of the "Churches Together" bodies in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England. It will be recast as a company limited by guarantee.

A third of staff posts will go or funding will need to be sought from new sources, CTBI says. The members of the company will be the Churches while its governing board will be nominated by the national ecumenical bodies.

CTBI's general secretary, Dr David Goodbourn said of the changes ahead, "The Churches are all clearly committed to ecumenism, but they have differing expectations of ecumenical bodies. The last year has been a time of balancing the desire of some for lighter structure, focusing more on relationship, with the continuing need of others to be resourced ecumenically."

Aziz Nour, Secretary of the Council of Oriental Orthodox Churches reflected on the changes, "The work of CTBI is essential to us. If CTBI was to cease it would be like removing the heart from the body. You can replace it with a machine, and it may pump or it may not. The bigger Churches have departments who could function without CTBI, but the smaller Churches do not."

Some major personnel changes are announced as well. In March 2006, Dr David Goodbourn will complete his seven-year term as the General Secretary of the CTBI. He will take up a new post as the president of the Partnership for Theological Education, based in Manchester, in September 2005. A new CTBI general secretary is expected to be installed by March 2006.

The Secretary of the Churches’ Commission on Mission (CCOM) Simon Barrow will be succeeded by Janice Price from Anglican Diocese of Worcester in September 2005 as well.

CTBI grew out of the British Council of Churches, formed in 1942. In 1999 it changed its name from the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, which had been founded in 1990. It brings together Churches across the spectrum of denominations including Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant, Reformed and Pentecostal Churches.

CTBI employs around 20 staff whose salaries are paid for by the Churches, plus a further 14 whose salaries come from other sources such as charitable trusts, the Department for Education and Skills and Christian Aid.