Missionary and Ecumenical Council of the Church Assembly (MECCA)

Records of the Council and its staff, with the collection being a combination of general files and the files created and maintained by the MECCA Secretaries. Included are papers and documents, minutes of meetings of the Council and its sub-Committees, correspondence between MECCA staff and organisations and individuals from both within the Church and externally, reports on subjects related to the work of MECCA, pamphlets and brochures, and some financial records relating to Trusts and Legacies administered by the Council.

Often it is the case that files within series have overlapping content. This occurs because files on a particular subject were created by more than one staff member to reflect that individuals area of responsibility.

The Missionary and Ecumenical Council was formed by the Church Assembly in February, 1963, to continue and develop the work of the Overseas Council (OC) and the Council for Ecumenical Co-operation (CACEC). It met for the first time on the 3 January 1964 at Church House, Westminster, under the Chairmanship of Sir Kenneth Grubb. The purpose of the new Council was to 'continue and develop work previously carried out by the Overseas Council and the Council for Ecumenical Co-operation' and in 1967, and the functions of the Council were listed thus:

1. To stimulate in the Church of England a conviction of responsibility for the mission and unity of the Church at home and overseas.

2. To provide a channel of communication between the National Assembly of the Church of England and;

- The Missionary Societies of the Church of England

- The provinces of the Churches of the Anglican Communion; United Churches incorporating former Anglican dioceses; and other Churches working closely with some part of the Anglican Communion where matters of missionary policy or ecumenical co-operation are concerned

- The World Council of Churches

- The British Council of Churches and the Conference of British Missionary Societies

3. To assist, when invited, in the formulation of ecumenical and missionary policy and to promote and undertake such study and research to this end as may from time to time be requested by the Archbishops, the Convocations, the Church Assembly or the Executive Officer of the Anglican Communion.

4. To bring to the notice of the Archbishop of Canterbury matters in the relationship of Church of England with other Churches which merit his attention and, if requested, to recommend a course of action.

5. To care, where necessary;

- For the interests of members of the Church of England, both clerical and lay who return to the United Kingdom after serving overseas for varying periods

- For clergy and laity of the overseas Anglican Churches and of other Christian bodies whom the Church of England is in Communion who may temporarily be working in England

6. To serve the Church of England in helping to care for students and workers from overseas; to assist in the fostering of good race relations.

7. To administer all entrusted funds.

Chairmen:

- Sir Kenneth Grubb, 1964-1967

- Rt. Hon Earl of March, 1968-1972

Secretaries:

- Canon David M Paton, 1963-March 1969

- Revd. Dr. P.B. Hinchliff, April 1969-1972

In 1972 the Council was subsumed into the General Assembly Board for Mission and Unity.

Largely retains the arrangement created by an archivist in the 1990s. This follows a departmental structure of the central Board and its sub-committees, and then the areas of work of the Council. Within the series the files are generally in chronological order.

A number of the files commence prior to 1963 when the work of MECCA was undertaken by either the Council for Ecumenical Co-operation (CACEC) or the Missionary Council/Overseas Council (MC).

Open

Some material has been closed in line with the Data Protection Act (1998). This material will be released at the appropriate point.

This catalogue was created following the generous awarding of a grant by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation via the National Cataloguing Grants Programme for Archives.

The material was appraised in line with the Lambeth Palace Library/Record Centre appraisal policy when cataloguing took place in 2014/2015.

No accruals are expected.

Some records of the Council can be found in the archive of its successor, the Board for Mission and Unity (Search catalogue for BMU)

Publications acquired with the MEC archive are held at the Church of England Record Centre but are awaiting inclusion in Lambeth Palace Library's printed books catalogue. The material includes both publications produced by MEC and external publications acquired by the Council for reference.