About us

Churches Together in England is the national body set up by the churches in 1990, and has partner bodies in Scotland, Wales and Ireland - co-ordinated by "Churches Together in Britain and Ireland" (the successor body to the British Council of Churches).

Working and witnessing together in a Common Life - Churches Together

Churches Together in England unites in pilgrimage those churches in England which, acknowledging God's revelation in Christ, confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures, and, in obedience to God's will and in the power of the Holy Spirit, commit themselves:

• to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another in the Church, which is His body
• and to fulfil their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world
  to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Local Churches Together groups are served by Intermediate Ecumenical Bodies, which sponsor Local Ecumenical Partnerships and try to help the Churches to witness and work together at district/diocesan level, as well as local level. "Churches Together in the Merseyside Region" (contact Revd Martyn A Newman) is the Merseyside Ecumenical Body.

Churches are also continuing to develop ecumenical commitment locally where local churches have formed themselves into ecumenical groupings (e.g. "Churches Together in Bebington"). Local Christians engage in a wide variety of activities together - meeting for worship, discussion, prayer and practical service in the community.

'Churches Together in Wirral' was formed in 1999 to connect together the individual churches, and the local church groupings on Wirral - its formation is described below.

Who we are

The members of the Council Meeting of “Churches Together in Wirral” are appointed by the member denominations at county and regional level.

Chairman - Rev Leon Ostaszewski

President - Revd James Booth

Vice-Chair - Chas Raws

Anglican - Rev Dr Adrian Hezel

Anglican - Rev Derek Seber

Baptist - Rev Alison Gidney

Methodist - Rev Arnold Dixon

Roman Catholic - Rev Paschal Byrne

Salvation Army - tba

Secretary/Administrator - Norman Polden

TFH (co-opted) - Dr Alex Johnston

Treasurer - Mal Wright

URC - Rev Richard Hambly

CTiW - who, what and why

Up until 1999 the Christian Churches in Wirral were in an Ecumenical Sense connected to one another through MARCEA (Mersey and Region Churches Ecumenical Assembly) and did little together in a Wirral only connection.

At that time, Wirral Borough Council were seeking to find a Church voice for consultation purposes within the Wirral Community. Through contacts that the Chief Executive had with Churches already involved in Community Work within the Borough, he asked that a body be formed which could provide the voice that the Borough so urgently needed.

A meeting was called, using the database of MARCEA, and a Committee elected; this committee was comprised of the Denominational Ecumenical Officers and other interested people.

The first Chair was Mr. Chas Raws a member of the Society of Friends from Heswall, the Executive Secretary was Revd. Pat Billsborrow, Methodist Ecumenical Officer for the Wirral, and somewhat later Mr. Paul Wilson, a lay Catholic from New Brighton, was appointed as Treasurer. The Bishop of Birkenhead became the President.

Since that time "Churches Together in Wirral" (CTiW) has provided representatives on a variety of strategic bodies including Local Community Forums, the Standing Advisory Body for Religious Education, and the Local Strategic Partnership. The Local Authority regard our work as being crucial to the partnerships they seek, and appreciate the integrity that CTiW give in their communications with a variety of bodies including National Government.

From a Community-funded “Survey of Faith Community Activity on the Wirral” in 2005, this website was developed to provide a database of religious activity in the Wirral.

We who form Churches Together in Wirral prayerfully undertake our work, seek the well-being of the Community we serve and rejoice in having a united purpose in what we do.