Members of the General Synod backed a motion on Friday welcoming a joint report published last year, which sets out proposals on how clergy from each church could become eligible to serve in the other.

The report, Mission and Ministry in Covenant, which was co-written by the two churches’ faith and order bodies, also sets out how the Methodist Church could come to have bishops in the historic episcopate.

The motion acknowledges that there is further work to do to clarify a number of areas, including how the proposals would be worked out in practice.

It also calls on the Church of England’s Faith and Order Commission to update Synod at its next group of sessions in July on this work.

But an amendment to the motion speaks of “confident hope” that outstanding issues can be resolved quickly.

Speaking during the debate the Most Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury said: “I want to support this motion very strongly indeed.

“It seems to me that in voting for it we respond to the word of God in the scriptures where there is a clear command to unity in diversity and in responding to this paper positively we respond to the Spirit who is already working in both of our Churches bringing us together.”

General Synod February 2018

Opening the debate, Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth ,  Bishop of Coventry,…

The TV presenter has written an emotional blog post about the depression he experienced after his wife Gemma lost a baby after undergoing IVF.

He said they had been desperate for a brother or sister for their son Ethan and he was left “angry, disappointed and bitter” after the miscarriage.

He wrote: “Until this point I had never had depression. I didn’t really know what it was, I thought it was something they labelled people when they felt a bit down.

“As the days and weeks went on after Gemma’s miscarriage I became more and more detached from what was going on around us. I struggled to be around close friends.”

The former Blue Peter star said he found their local church a painful place to be and struggled to get out of bed.

He wrote: “Gemma knew (obviously) and some of my closest friends, but mostly I faced this new battle alone, unable to admit to, or talk about the depression that had taken a grip on my life.

“I felt totally cut off from the world around me. It was like being in a parallel universe – life carries on as normal around you and you’re part of it, yet you feel totally cut off from it. You’re in the world but not of the world.”

Thomas said he contemplated taking his life after going for Christmas drinks with friends.

He said: “As we walked home that night I felt like the pit I was in had reached a deeper, more sinister depth. As my friends walked ahead…