Movements towards Church Union

Movers Sharwood, A.L.

That this Synod
(a) Welcomes the various movements towards union at present taking place in many parts of the world.
(b) Without necessarily agreeing to the setting of any time limit on such negotiations, supports the suggestion
made at the 1965 Annual Meeting of the Australian Council of Churches by the Anglican representatives that positive steps towards union of the Churches in Australia be taken in the near future; and in particular refers to each diocese for study and suggestion the two reports of the Join Commission of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches – i.e. (i) “The Faith of the Church”, 1959, and (ii) “The Church – Its Nature, Function and Ordering, together with the Proposed Basis of Union”, 1963.
(c) Asks the Ecumenical Committee or other appropriate committee of the General Synod to initiate whatever
steps are necessary to commence negotiations for union with other churches in Australia and in particular to approach the Joint Commission of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches with a view:
(i) to discovering whether the Church of England in Australia might acceptably and usefully participate in the
Commission’s current negotiations and, in the event of a favourable response from the Joint Commission and its constituting churches;
(ii) to commencing provisionally the participation sought, and
(iii) to reporting regularly to the Standing Committee of General Synod on the progress of these initiatives.

(The Reverend Canon A.L. Sharwood, 27.9.66

Resolution year: 1966
Resolution number: 17/66