Bishop Mike Royal started work as the new General Secretary of the ecumenical body Churches Together in England in March and will be inducted in May. His previous career shows a commitment to help Christians have a transformative impact on their world. Reform met him at the London offices of Churches Together in England during his first week

I understand that as well as being a Pentecostal Bishop you attend a United Reformed church.
Yes, I am a Pentecostal Bishop in the Apostolic Pastoral Congress, which is a denomination that is both Pentecostal but also liturgical, particularly around the Eucharist where we take a very high view of the sacraments. But ecumenically I attend a church called Lodge Road community church, which is in Birmingham. It’s a great church doing great work on the ground in the local community.

I always have made sure that my church experience is broad – committed to local church, but very keen to make sure that that experience is broad.

So the other thing that I’ve been quite involved in is the whole Fresh Expressions movement. And I have been running something called Sanctuary which is an Asian-style fresh expression church. We deliver that at Lodge Road and had previously, for a number of years, delivered it at an Anglican church in Sparkbrook in Birmingham. There’s a lot in the mix, ecumenically, for me in terms of local church.

What is the mission of Churches Together in England?
At the starting point for mission are always the five marks of mission,* but very specifically for me Churches Together in England is a body that brings together the various Church denominations to work together, to build understanding, to learn from one another, but most importantly to walk together, even on the issues that are difficult….

___

This is an extract from an article published in the April 2022 edition of Reform

To read the full article, subscribe to Reform