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What is an Ecumenical Shared Ministry?

• It is people worshipping and serving God in a unified way while still maintaining their denominational identity and connections.
• It is any combination of denominations sharing a program, mission, ministry or building.

What do Ecumenical Shared Ministries look like?

Ecumenical shared ministries take many forms. They may be as simple as sharing programs and/or staff. Some congregations may share a building only and otherwise maintain their own denominational ministry and services. Sometimes several denominations may have one ordained minister and alternate the forms of worship of the participating denominations. Sometimes several denominations may have one ordained minister and one common service that meet the needs and requirements of each denomination. Sometimes several denominations share and maintain church buildings in a number of locations and rotate services. Many other combinations are possible, but the primary focus of this Handbook is on congregational shared ministries.

Over the past 30 years such ministries have become an exciting option in Canada, for a variety of reasons. In some cases, a commitment to an ecumenical model of ministry is the primary motivation for collaboration. In other cases, declining membership and resources move congregations in both rural and urban settings to consider shared or collaborative ministries. Small, isolated, or ecumenically committed congregations from different denominations may choose to worship together so that in this way they may be able to continue as a community of faith in an alternate form. In other cases the formation of a new ministry in a community may prompt those involved to deliberately choose to form a collaborative ministry from the outset.

The Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Churches in Canada have formed (as of November, 2006) a national ecumenical shared ministries task force, which will collect and disseminate resources about ecumenical shared ministries.

This webpage is intended as an initial location for compiling some of the resources available about Ecumenical Shared Ministries. As well, we hope to develop a directory of ecumenical shared ministries. We seek your support in this development, so that we can be as inclusive as possible. Please send us your contact information and a brief description of your shared ministry.

Some existing resources

• Ecumenical Shared Ministries Handbook (2009 edition)
  Information for congregations interested in becoming (or already being) ecumenical shared ministries. It is prepared by the Ecumenical Shared Ministries Task Group, which has representation from the Anglican Church of Canada, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, United Church of Canada, and the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Using material initially developed by ecumenical shared ministries in northern Alberta and British Columbia, and reviewed by the Anglican-United Church Dialogue, they have prepared this Handbook for Ecumenical Shared Ministries. This material is intended as a resource for those engaged in or contemplating the establishment of an ecumenical shared ministry, and those interested in learning more about the dynamics of ecumenical shared ministries. The guidelines in this handbook are not authoritative, and need to be utilized with reference to the relevant policies, regulations and practices of the participating denominations.
• Towards greater co-operation in ministry
  A communiqué issued by the church leaders of Saskatchewan in December 1990 encouraging shared ministries. Shared ministry is a distinctive contribution of Canadian churches to ecumenical structures. A shared ministry is normally a congregation in which a single minister is called to serve by two or more denominational bodies. The congregation belongs to each denomination and the minister is responsible to the respective judicatories.
• That They All May Be One: Building Shared Ministries
  Notes from the 1999 Urban Shared Ministries conference held at Lumsden, Saskatchewan. The notes were prepared by the Rev. Peter Wyatt, who was associate general secretary for theology and ecumenism for the United Church of Canada.