The Methodist Church in Britain currently ordains no bishops, and is instead headed by a conference, of whom the president is an ordained minister and the vice president a lay person. However, under the proposal being considered, the conference would be headed by a president-bishop, who will likely be ordained by a panel of three Anglican bishops.
In the Church of England, the proposal would mean the abandonment of 350-year-old laws stating that only ordained ministers may hold office in the Church.
Under the agreement, both denominations will maintain their governing structure. The Church of England governs on a diocesan system, where the Methodist Church in Britain is divided into districts and is largely oriented toward local communities.
After the birth of Methodism, the denomination in Britain became characterized by loosely associated non-conformist churches, hence the lack of an episcopal leadership model. However, in 1932, the non-conformist churches united as the Methodist Church in Britain but maintained their local approach. The denomination also emphasizes collegiality between the clergy and the laity.
The seeds for reunion between the ecclesial communities were first laid in 1946, when the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury called for the Methodists to begin ordaining bishops. However, Anglo-Catholics – a group of Anglicans who strive to keep the Church largely aligned with Catholic theology and practice – in 1972 resisted this move due to differences in the clerical treatment of men and women.
The first woman to join the Anglican priesthood in Britain was ordained in 1994, after a 1992 measure passed the Anglican General Synod permitting female ordination. The Methodist Church has long allowed for female clerics.