Churches Together in Dorset

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Churches Together in Dorset has 3 expressed aims in its charitable constitution:

• To facilitate common witness to the Christian religion by the Churches
• To provide means of consultation between the Churches
• To work in co-operation with other ecumenical bodies

In practice this means:

• Mounting and supporting ecumenical initiatives across the county and conurbation of Poole and Bournemouth such as joint worship events, training, chaplaincies of many kinds, and a wide range of community initiatives
• Providing support for the 21 local groups of Churches Together in the county and 14 groupings within the conurbation.
• Working with Christian organisations on shared activities: Christian Aid, CAFOD, Faithworks Wessex, IBEX (the Church in the Economy)
• Sharing oversight and review of the 13 formal Local Ecumenical Partnerships, 6 of which involve the Diocese.
• Maintaining links with the ecumenical bodies at wider level: the South West Churches’ Forum, Churches Together in England and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.

The executive committee members are mainly the denominational ecumenical officers. Colin Brady, as the social responsibility adviser, is a member of DORCAS (Dorset Church and Society), our social responsibility committee: colin.brady@salisbury.anglican.org

• Churches Together in Dorset is developing strong partnerships, engaging constructively with the 3 Local Strategic Partnerships for Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole.
• There are open Forum gatherings and a newsletter, Pilgrim Post in Dorset, is produced 3 times a year.
• The website www.ctdorset.org.uk has basic information, news and useful links and we are looking to re-design it to be a more widely used notice board for events.
• The main ecumenical partners are Anglican (Salisbury and Winchester Dioceses),Baptist (Southern Association), Methodist (Southampton District), Quaker (Poole and Sherborne Area Meetings), Roman Catholic (Diocese of Plymouth), Salvation Army (Southern Division) and United Reformed Church (Wessex Synod).
• We are also making increasing contact with new and independent churches, particularly in Weymouth and Poole.

For further details, email ceo@ctdorset.org.uk.