FAQ

• learn from each other and to explore what it means to be a Church united in Christ
• generate ideas
• share resources for worship, liturgy and spirituality
• engage and discuss current issues with people from diverse backgrounds
• publicise community and Churches Together events and get ideas from others about how to organise particular events and use the best resources

• help members use social networks
• share what is happening in local communities with other Christians
• make contact with new friends across the churches, the wider community, and around the four nations
• join other Christians from around the globe who will use Churches Together Connect as their means of sharing in the movement towards greater Christian unity
• help members use our resources and provide feedback on all that we do
• develop a new on-line community where we can explore the nature of what might be distinctive about an online Christian community
• allow members to become better informed about issues affecting Christians and to interact with subject experts at national and local level

 


Q) How private is the data I upload?
A) This is a public site, and the material needs to be suitable for people of all ages and from all communities. There are facilities to enable the private exchange of information, but all participants must abide by the terms of service as can be found at the bottom of page. Any abuse of the terms of service will result in the suspension of the user.

 
 
Q) Who decides the Churches Together Connect agenda?
A) The Churches Together Connect agenda is derived from users whose issues are highlighted via the moderators and editorial team. The editorial team wishes to promote examples of good practice and pertinent and relevant issues that are being asked by its constituency. We also seek to address problems which are faced by people in a positive way in the spirit of unity.
 


Q) Does Churches Together Connect replace face to face meetings?
A) No. It supplements and compliments face to face meetings, and allows people to connect together at distance and work to common purposes.
 
 

Q) Why don't I just use Facebook?
A) Facebook enables you to communicate with people you know. Churches Together Connect puts you in touch with other members of the Church community interested in issues around unity and ecumenism. You can have your own profile page specifically detailing your Church interests, and are able to view other members profiles and comment on their walls. You can also still use your Facebook details to sign-in, so there are no extra password details to remember.
 


Q) I’m a member of the media and I’d like to speak to someone. Who should I contact? 
A) Please contact Revd Bob Fyffe on 0845 680 6851 or at bob.fyffe@ctbi.org.uk  



Q) If I have any questions who should I contact?
A) If you have any questions or feedback relating to Churches Together Connect or the resources provided by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, please email your enquiry to Crystal Hall at crystal.hall@ctbi.org.uk.

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

Q) What is Churches Together in Britain and Ireland?
A) It is one of the instruments the churches have created to enable them to work together, and to co-ordinate the work they do separately. Its particular remit covers things it makes sense to do in common across more than one of the nations which make up Britain and Ireland. By "Britain and Ireland", we mean England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

Q) Why is it Britain and Ireland, not just the United Kingdom?
A) Because the Irish churches cover the whole of Ireland, not just north or south. So they can only be partners in a body which does the same.

Q) Who pays for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland?
A) Most of the work the churches do together is paid for directly by the churches themselves. There is, however, also a sum set aside to finance the CTBI office and some of its larger meetings, and each church contributes to this according to its strength.

Q) What is 'ecumenism'?
A) It has different meanings for different people. Traditionally, it has meant the movement by which the churches have come to accept each other as fellow Christians, find ways of working together, and explored pathways to greater visible unity. Some have complained that that puts too much emphasis on the organised church, and that ecumenism should be seen more broadly as a popular movement by which Christian people express and discover their unity outside the confines of the institutional church.
Others again have begun to use the term to talk about an inter faith dialogue - an ecumenism which embraces Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and the rest, as well as Christianity. And yet others point to the derivation of the word and want to use it to talk of the whole created world - of the unity between all peoples, and between people and creation.
These are all positive meanings, but there are also those for whom it is a negative word, reflecting unacceptable compromises about faith or culture. When someone talks about ecumenism, you have to ask them what they mean!

Q) What happened to the British Council of Churches?
A) Churches Together in Britain and Ireland grew out of the British Council of Churches (BCC), but it is not quite the same kind of organisation. The British Council of Churches existed for a long time until 1990, but it didn't include the Roman Catholics.
When they became partners in 1990, the organisation not only changed its name but took on a new way of working. The new body was to be understood as a way of helping churches work together, not a separate level of ecumenical work. That means it can speak and act only when there is consensus among the churches.
From 1990 to 1999 it was called the Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland, because for legal reasons it had to have a name similar to that of the BCC. It adopted its present name in 1999.