NATCHEZ — Two local churches will come together Thursday for an annual worship service to celebrate the common heritage of their two denominations.

Grace United Methodist Church and Trinity Episcopal Church are partnering to host the annual Methodist-Episcopal Covenant Service of the United Methodist Conference of Mississippi and the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi.

The fourth-annual service will commemorate the Covenant for Common Life that Methodist Bishop Hope Morgan Ward and Episcopal Bishop Duncan M. Gray III entered into in March 2009.

The goal of the covenant is to bring the two churches together in full communion, said the Rev. Darian Duckwork of Grace United Methodist. Full communion is a relationship between the two churches in which each maintains its own distinct independence while recognizing the Catholic and apostolic heritage of the other.

The covenant service and reception occur each year in conjunction with the Feast of Charles and John Wesley. The purpose of the service, Duckworth said, is to celebrate the two denominations’ common life in the Anglican tradition.

“This service is a time for all of us to come together to acknowledge that we have our unique identities but that we also share a common identity and come from the same heritage,” Duckworth said.

Duckworth said members of all denominations are welcome at the covenant service.

“We all came from one church and one tradition,” she said. “It’s important for the community to know they are invited regardless of denomination, because unity is so important.”

Gray will preach at the at the service, which will begin at 1 p.m., at Grace United Methodist Church. Ward will preside at the table during the reception in the parish hall of Trinity Episcopal Church that will immediately follow the service.