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CITY CHURCH AS AN ECUMENICAL CENTRE

Resourcing the Cardiff ecumenical scene has been a key mission strategy at City United Reformed Church since its inception. We have intentionally developed our premises to create the kind of space required by such a mission strategy and have committed staff resources to make it happen. Today City Church is a hub of ecumenical activity, with the Cardiff Adult Christian Education Centre, the SPCK Book Shop and the catering facilities of the Refectory Coffee Shop at its heart. City Church provides a central venue for meetings of such ecumenical organisations as Cytûn (Eglwysi Ynghyd yng Nghymru/ Churches Together in Wales), Enfys (Covenanted Churches in Wales), Christian Aid, Mothers Union, One World Week Committee, and Christian Socialists. Re-development of City Church's South Porch (finished Spring 2004) created more meeting space, a first-floor kitchenette for more efficient conference catering, and an additional accessible toilet (with shower!) to meet the continuingly expanding demand for a central meeting space for Cardiff churches.

City Church is actively involved in the work of Cardiff City Centre Churches Together, a fellowship of churches now stretching all the way down to Cardiff Bay, reflecting the changing dynamics of Cardiff's "centre". Have a look at our ecumenical website. A major ecumenical conference on city centre ministry was jointly planned by Cardiff City Centre Churches Together and Cardiff University for Cardiff's centenary in 2005, with a far more than expected enthusiastic response from city centre churches across Wales, England and Scotland.

 

THE CITY CENTRE COVENANT
A Covenant of the Cardiff Circuit of the Methodist Church, the Glamorgan east Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Wales and the South Wales District of the United Reformed Church to work together in serving the city centre as the hub of Cardiff’s urban/metropolitan community.

What is the City Centre Covenant? Tom Arthur wrote the following for City Lights, the newsletter for the covenant network of churches:

When I returned to Wales in 2001 to serve at City Church one of the most exciting things on the horizon was the covenant that had been signed by the Methodists, the Presbyterians and the United Reformed Church to minister together here in the city centre.

What would that ministry be like? Clearly, the city seemed a far more vibrant place than when I left nine years before. Where would the church be in all this new urban energy?

The city may be central to our lives, but we are central to the life of the city as well. As caring Christian communities, we have a history of engagement with and being engaged by public life in all its urban complexity. Our covenanted relationship among the Methodists, the Presbyterians and the URC creates a valuable focal point for such a public faith, and a means to practice it better.

Some exciting developments have taken place in the last year. in October 2002, the Cardiff Circuit of the Methodist Church appointed Maggie Crompton to work with the Covenant at City Church Then, last January, we highlighted this covenant with an afternoon celebration: gospel music, jazz and traditional hymns. I interviewed the Lord Mayor Russell Goodway that afternoon on the theme, “Beyond Economic Development: Seeking a New Humanity for the City”. Not put off by our friendly grilling, Russell asked Maggie to serve on a local authority strategy group.

Moving into 2003, we got involved in some important networking in criminal justice, housing and community development here at City Church and through the city centre ecumenical network. The point of our engagement with the “powers that be” and the networks and the issues, of course, is to bring them together with the life of our local Cardiff churches, enabling you to have a voice and a role in the heart of the city.