THE Archbishop of York is backing plans to bring the Church of England and the Methodist Church in Great Britain closer together.

Dr John Sentamu supported a motion at the General Synod’s February meeting welcoming proposals to put the two churches in communion with each other.

An update on the proposals is now expected to be discussed in York at the General Synod’s July meeting.

If the churches do go into communion with each other they will remain separate and independent, but clergymen ordained in one denomination could work as clergymen in the other.

Speaking at the February debate, the Archbishop said: “I believe that the time has come for our two church traditions (Methodism and Anglicanism) to consult the people of God – the Laos, the Laity.

“A mute button must be switched off for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the urgent need to re-connect our two Church traditions with England. All has to do with God’s Mission.”

The governing organisations of both churches voted in 2014 to start work on the proposals.