The Church Society council, Reform council and the trustees of the Fellowship of Word and Spirit (FWS) all agreed to pursue a merger, it was announced in February.
A statement issued by the organisations said: ‘In the light of our shared Biblical, Reformed, Anglican faith and common goals, we have decided that the challenges of the present time require us to unite our efforts so that we are better placed to harness the energies of evangelicals in contending for the gospel.
Hard work and trust
‘Bringing such bodies together requires a lot of hard work and much trust, but it is right for biblical Christians to pursue this. In the Bible the impact of sin always seems to be fragmentation and dispersal, but the fruit of the gospel and living under the rule of Christ is unity and gathering together. Furthermore, we believe that in the circumstances of the present Church of England the coming together of these bodies will enable us to be more effective in the pioneering, establishing and securing of healthy local Anglican churches.
