‘An Intolerable Departure from Order’? Setting Mission and Ministry in Covenant in the Context of Anglican Ecumenical Agreements

Abstract Following the signing of An Anglican-Methodist Covenant in 2003 the Church of England (joined for a time by Anglicans from Scotland and Wales) and the Methodist Church in Great Britain engaged in more than a decade of further dialogue seeking to implement and develop the affirmations and commitments of that covenant. The culmination of this phase of dialogue was the text Mission and Ministry in Covenant which suggested a way in which the Methodist Church might become ordered in the historic episcopate and in which the Church of England might recognise and accept holy orders conferred in the Methodist Church. The proposals proved controversial and did not in the end proceed as planned. This article examines the proposals in the light of agreements entered into by other Anglican churches with churches not ordered in the historic episcopate and argues that the proposals in Mission and Ministry in Covenant are consistent with a developing Anglican method for bringing about relationships of communion with other churches.