Declaration of Covenant Partnership

Ecumenical County of Cumbria
A Declaration of Covenant Partnership by the Church of England, Methodist
Church, Salvation Army and United Reformed Church

With the whole Christian Church, we believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We share a life of faith which is the Spirit’s gift, continually received through the Word, the
Sacraments and our Christian life together.

We believe that we are being called by God to realise more deeply our common life and
mission, to share and respect the distinctive contributions of our traditions, and to bring
about closer collaboration in all areas of witness and service.

We commit ourselves and our churches:

a. to seek out every possible opportunity for joint initiatives, especially God for All, at
local and county level in mission to all the people of Cumbria.

b. to work together to equip both lay and ordained ministry whenever possible, and to
share that ministry wherever appropriate.

c. to continue the work of developing strategies whereby we optimise the use of our
church buildings for the benefit of communities throughout the county.

We believe that God has given our four churches a particular opportunity to work together
more closely.

We adopt together a Covenant Partnership in Extended Area (CPEA) to allow sharing of
ministry as appropriate in view of our traditions.

We also affirm our intention to go on praying and working, with all our fellow Christians, for
the visible unity of the Church in the way Christ chooses, so that people may be led to love
and serve God more and more.

Major Drew McCombe
Divisional Leader of the North West England and North Wales Division of the Salvation Army

Rev Sarah Moore
Area President of the Cumbria Area of the North Western Synod of the United Reformed Church

Rt. Rev. James Newcome
Bishop of Carlisle, Church of England

Rev. Richard Teal
Chair of Cumbria Methodist District