We had a wonderful Circuit service on the evening of Sunday 28th April 2024 during which we welcome two of our colleagues from the United Reformed Church to work with us as Associate Ministers in the Ipswich Methodist Circuit. I invited Father John a colleague minister from The Church of England to preach during the service and we had a full Church celebrating this momentous occasion. Our opening prayers were led by a colleague from the Church of South India and the intercessions by the Ecumenical officer for Suffolk. We had a photo call at the end of the service to publicise the day on our online magazine on the Circuit website.
It was only by looking at this photograph in the light of Trinity Sunday (Today) that it occurred to me that the four of us in the picture above represent three different Churches. We are different because we worship in different buildings, following different traditions in our style of worship, but it isn’t just about what happens in the holy hour on a Sunday.
Each of our different denominations is governed in different ways, some are heavily dependent on clergy, others predominantly lay led or a mixture of the two, we all have our unique histories and our understanding of how faith works and the intension of what we are doing Ipswich is not in an effort to close Churches and become one, but strengthen our ability to work together in serving the community.
I remember having a conversation a few years ago with a friend who never came to church himself, who claimed never to have read a Bible and didn’t understand why any of did what we did. He commented that if we were all worshipping the same God, why was there a need for so many different Churches?
I can happily work with my colleagues from other denominations, I have my own preferences for how I like to worship God, I have grown up with my own understanding of what it means to be Church, with the politics and policies. The four men pictured above represent three different denominations, yet we are united in our love for God and our desire to witness for him in the world.
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!