page_title: Methodist Church of Great Britain
section_title: Ecumenical and interfaith relations
hierarchical_section_title: Methodist Church of Great Britain / Ecumenical and interfaith relations
caption_attribution_description: English: Christ Church, Nelson, Lancashire I have never before seen a church like this one. It is shared between Methodists and Roman Catholics. What an extremely sensible idea. A bright and welcoming building which was open for a cup of tea or coffee on a Friday morning.
context_page_description: The Methodist Church of Great Britain is a Protestant Christian denomination in Britain and the mother church to Methodists worldwide. It participates in the World Methodist Council, the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical associations.
  Methodism began primarily through the work of John Wesley, who led an evangelical revival in 18th-century Britain. An Anglican priest, Wesley adopted unconventional and controversial practices, such as open-air preaching, to reach factory labourers and newly urbanised masses uprooted from their traditional village culture at the start of the Industrial Revolution. His preaching centred upon the universality of God's grace for all, the effect of faith on character, and the possibility of perfection in love during this life. He organised the new converts locally and in a "Connexion" across Britain.
  Following Wesley's death, the Methodist revival became a separate church and ordained its own ministers; it is called a Nonconformist church because it does not conform to the rules of the established Church of England.
context_section_description: The Methodist Church participates in various ecumenical forums and interdenominational associations. The church is a member of the three national ecumenical bodies in Great Britain, namely Churches Together in England, Cytûn in Wales and Action of Churches Together in Scotland, plus Churches Together in Britain and Ireland. The Methodist Church is also one of the Covenanted Churches in Wales, along with the Church in Wales, the Presbyterian Church of Wales, the United Reformed Church and certain Baptist churches. It participates in the Conference of European Churches and the World Council of Churches. The church has sent delegates to every Assembly of the World Council and has at various times been represented on its Central Committees and Faith and Order Commission.
  The Methodist Church is officially committed to "seek opportunities to work in partnership with other denominations" and "seek opportunities to join with other Christians in sharing the Good News of the Gospel and to make more followers of Jesus Christ through together bearing witness to the unity of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church." From the 1970s onward, the Methodist Church has been involved in nearly 900 local ecumenical partnerships (LEPs) with neighbouring denominations, such as the Church of England, the Baptist Union and the United Reformed Church. Christ Church in Nelson, Lancashire, is a rare example of a joint Methodist–Catholic church in Britain.
  In April 2016 the World Methodist Council opened an Ecumenical Office in Rome, Italy. Methodist leaders and Pope Francis met together to dedicate the new office. It exists to offer a resource in the city of Rome for the global Methodist family and to help facilitate Methodist relationships with the wider Christian Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church.
caption: Christ Church in Nelson is a local ecumenical partnership between Methodists and Roman Catholics.
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