Uplifting meeting of Norfolk ecumenical officers

The Norfolk and Waveney Denominational Ecumenical Committee (DEO) meet three times a year.  The last meeting was held on 5 November 2025. Dr Ian Watson County Ecumenical Officer and Convenor of the Committee reports.

For the first time in a while the DEO committee ventured out of the Norwich Metropolis to hold the meeting in the lovely Salvation Army Church in Dereham.  

The committee was delighted to welcome the new Quaker DEO for Norfolk and Waveney: Joy Croft.  Joy, who has considerable past experience as a minister and in various roles in the Quakers, will be a wonderful servant for ecumenism across the county.  She takes over from Liz Hoffbauer who, in line with the policy of the Quakers, must step down after serving her term of office. We thank Liz for her wisdom, love and service as she moves onto other things.  Her commitment to Christian unity is an exemplar to us all. 

Each of the seven Christian denominations that make up NWCT has a DEO whose role is to represent their own tradition on Church unity.  They are here to support ecumenical activities and advise on any specific denominational consideration that may arise.  The DEOs meet formally in a committee convened by the County Ecumenical Officer (CEO) three times a year.  The current DEOs are:

The meeting started with an uplifting presentation from Jo Stevenson, who is the Area Manager for Trussell in the Eastern Region, and Helen Gilbert, King’s Lynn Foodbank Manager.  We discussed their crucial service across Norfolk and Waveney and received an update on some of their ongoing campaigns.  It was an interesting and informative session.  They are keen to have broader denominational involvement in working together across the county.  They would be happy to come along to engage with any local Churches Together Group or individual church.  Please do reach out to them and invite them along to your local gatherings.  Click here to contact Jo Stevenson.  Details of their ongoing national campaigns can be found by following these links:

The Trussell Two Child Limit Campaign

Guarantee our Essentials Campaign

The DEO committee then went on to discuss the following:

NWCT Senior Church Leaders. 
The next meeting of the leaders is when they come together later this month for prayer and collective worship on Christ the King, 23 November, in St John the Baptist’s Catholic Cathedral in Norwich.  This is their annual ecumenical service to give thanks to Christ the Lord of Unity and to all those involved in the effort of ecumenism across the county.  The DEOs were keen to encourage as many people as possible to come along to support Jesus’ call for unity and pray with the senior church leaders.  The service starts at 3.30pm and people are asked to be seated by 3.15pm.

NWCT communication and website.  
The NWCT website (set up in partnership with Network Norfolk) has been running for 20 months.  There have been over 255k visits to the site. Over 200 ecumenical articles, reflections and opinion pieces have been posted.  After producing 6 ecumenical updates (newsletters), the CEO has decided to stop producing these as it is simply too difficult and time consuming to get sufficient contributions from across the county.  However, 108 people are now registered for the Enews update, which is emailed out 2-3 times a month and only ever includes four articles at a time. To register for the update (or to contribute) email Dr Ian Watson at: nwct-watson@outlook.com.  The County Ecumenical Officer reminded the group that he is always available to give a short talk to local Churches Together Groups, especially at AGMs.  

The DEOs were reminded that the CEO’s major objective was to establish a visible communication presence on ecumenism across Norfolk and Waveney, with regular articles and a growing number of people accessing the content. This has largely been achieved. Indicative of this is that the NWCT website was shortlisted as a finalist in the Norfolk Christian Communication Awards (in the category of Best Christian Organisation Website).  At the same Awards event, the CEO was also a finalist in the Best Christian Communicator category.  Positive feedback has also been received from Churches Together in England on our local ecumenical communication effort.  The DEOs were keen for them (as well as others involved in local ecumenical effort) to offer future articles to be posted on the website: NWCT Home Page

​CEO update on activity. 
On 10 July, along with 25 fellow Christians from different traditions, the CEO visited HMP Norwich to hear about a new initiative to support young offenders.  It is the first time in the UK the Kairos Torch Prisoner Programme (aimed at young men under 25 years of age) is being run. It is a transformative initiative aimed at fostering genuine rehabilitation among inmates. Kairos, who is running the programme under the auspices of the Chaplaincy service, is an organisation dedicated to bringing the message of hope and transformation to incarcerated individuals through the love of Christ.  More recently, the CEO attended their final session of the pilot. It was an uplifting experience and clearly transformative for the offenders involved – watch out for a future article on the programme – click here for the CEO’s previous report.

The CEO visited St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School in Costessey, Norwich, to speak with three separate classes of bright, thoughtful, and enthusiastic pupils about the meaning and importance of Christian unity. The visit was centred around an interactive talk designed to explore why Christians from different traditions should walk, pray, and work together as one big family in Christ. The children and teachers were amazing.  There is scope for churches to do more talks on Christian unity for this age group across the county, as the subject resonates so strongly with them – click here for the CEO report.

The CEO attended the 2-day CTE All Ecumenical Representatives Conference on 29 September.  The focus was Ecumenism: Journeying Together.  Speakers included Dr Peter Colwell from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Fr Dragos Herescu of The Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies - click here for the CEO report.

The CEO completed four talks on Christian unity for local Churches Together groups. Due to capacity, these are only done when invited rather than promoting the opportunity.  They seem to be well received.

The CEO continues to pursue the invite for the Orthodox Church to join NWCT, despite assurances of interest received, no progress is being made mainly down to changes in role and personnel within their church. 

The CEO continues to provide ecumenical advice and resources on request; these requests are sporadic but on average amount to 2/3 times a month. The CEO continues to represent NWCT (as an intermediate body of CTE) at regional and national events where appropriate.

Forthcoming Churches Together in England (CTE) Events. 
There will be New Ecumenical Officers Training on 3rd - 4th February 2026 at Highgate House Conference Centre, Creaton, Northamptonshire, NN5 8NN. The next All Ecumenical Representatives Conference in 2026 is on 29th September – 1st October at The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire DE55 1AU.

The meeting then closed with the Grace.  

The DEO committee will next meet on 22 January 2026 to give thanks to Liz Hoffbauer for her service to ecumenism in Norfolk and Waveney as she steps down from the Quaker DEO role.

Any queries about NWCT should be directed to the County Ecumenical Officer for Norfolk and Waveney Dr Ian Watson at: nwct-watson@outlook.com or on +(44) 7939 228163.