Delegates from over 120 Churches in Europe arrive for CEC Assembly

Today is the main arrival day for the delegates to the 14th Assembly of the Conference of European Churches, (CEC), which is being held in Budapest from 3 - 8 July. There are over 120 member Churches of the CEC, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and Old Catholic. The Church of England is a member and I am one of the delegates from that Church.

The theme is "And now what are you waiting for? CEC and its mission in a changing Europe". The last Assembly took place in Lyon in 2009. Since Lyon a working group has been preparing proposals for a new constitution for CEC, to re-tool the organisation to be a more efficient and responsive ecumenical instrument of the European Churches. Member Churches want CEC to be re-shaped to better enable ecumenical dialogue and cooperation, including with the (RC) Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) and with the various European Institutions. So there will be much discussion here about what we want CEC to do, and how we can structure the organisation to be able to deliver on the tasks that the member Churches will identify. It will be a heavy 6 days!

 

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