THE Methodist Church is expected to move towards the consecration of bishops next month, marking the culmination of nearly 50 years of debate.

The decision at the Church’s conference, in Torquay, could see the first British Methodist bishops consecrated in 2010. This would pave the way for full unity with the Church of England. It could even lead to unity between Methodists and Anglicans worldwide.

Methodists in the United States in particular are watching developments in the British mother Church “with interest”. The US Methodist Church is immensely influential, counting President Bush and Bill Clinton as members.

A combined Anglican-Methodist church would create a church of at least 150 million souls, making it the second largest in Christendom, after the Roman Catholic Church with 1.1 billion.

The exponential growth of the Methodist and Anglican churches in developing countries means that by the time any scheme for unity reaches fruition, a combined church could be much larger.

Methodist churches in most countries outside Britain already have bishops, but they are not consecrated in the unbroken line of apostolic succession — as the proposed bishops would be. The apostolic succession refers to the belief that Christian bishops are the spiritual successors of the Apostles. Methodism broke with this tradition when John Wesley began ordaining ministers for service in the US.

For Methodist bishops to be part of the apostolic succession, they would have to be consecrated by a bishop or archbishop from another church that has remained inside the apostolic succession. This would most likely be a bishop from the United Church of South India, which is a mix of Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Congregationalists and which is in full communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

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