In the four countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) that make up the United Kingdom there are four somewhat different patterns of the relationship of the churches to the particular nation and to the state that includes them all. These patterns are ‘somewhat different’, not completely divergent. They have elements in common that can be attributed to the fact that in the UK Christianity is comparatively homogeneous. It is not, on the whole, in a state of mutual suspicion, hostility or conflict. Historical continuity is strong in that there are two established churches and two disestablished churches (perhaps one should say more correctly: churches that have been ‘re-established’ as free churches: see below).
Several church ‘families’ cover more than one nation of the UK. The Methodist Church of Great Britain, the United Reformed Church and the Baptist Union of Great Britain exist in England, Scotland and Wales. The Roman Catholic Church is not distributed on a national basis, except in terms of its bishops’ conferences. There are four Anglican churches in Britain and Ireland, member provinces of the Anglican Communion.
Inter-church relations in the UK are quite advanced both locally and nationally, compared even with other parts of Europe. Various ecumenical dialogues, especially within England, bring the churches into theological conversation, sometimes resulting in a formal agreement for a new relationship and shared mission (such as the Anglican-Methodist Covenant of 2003). There are numerous local and regional Churches Together groups as well as various types of Local Ecumenical Partnership. The four-nations ecumenical instrument is Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (which includes the whole of Ireland), while each nation has some kind of national instrument (Churches Together in England; ACTS in Scotland; CYTUN in Wales). The Evangelical Alliance brings together individual Christians and congregations or parishes of several Christian traditions and thus contributes to the positive climate of inter-church relations in the UK.
