Exploring Ecumenism

Views from the Pews

The Not Strangers but Pilgrims Inter-Church Process  started from an understanding that nothing would work without support from 'local, national and International levels'.  This was achieved in part by a massive consultation process over Lent 1986.

Fifty seven BBC and independent local radio stations produced programmes.  Local churches met once a week over Lent and listened to the programmes and used a book prepared for study: What on Earth is the Church For?

Not Strangers but Pilgrims

Staying with the theme of history , this new sequence will explore the recent history of ecumenism in Britain (mainly England).  My posts usually explore theological approaches to ecumenism.  This sequence will focus on the contemporary context in England, applying these approaches.

Ecumenical Reception: a Cinderella Discipline?

I wrote about ecumenical reception  about a year ago and I return to it for just one post.  This links with recent posts about the Global Christian Forum  and its implications for local ecumenism.

A helpful text about ecumenical reception is Ecumenical Reception: Its Challenge and Opportunity  by William G Rusch.  It is rather dry although persistence might reward the reader with a few interesting insights.

Participative Ecumenism

A few posts ago , I mentioned the use of participative methods as one of the distinctive features of the Global Christian Forum .  The intention has been to distance the Forum from formal talks about Faith and Order.

I have noticed a few other straws in the wind:

Reframing Ecumenical Theology in Local Churches

I was asked in a comment to my last post : how might we reframe our theology of ecumenism in real life terms for the average person in the pew?  This is of course in the context of the Global Christian Forum  and the increasing sense of Christianity as a global movement of people.

In my last post, I suggested local ecumenism in Britain might have more in common with global than national ecumenism.  This means local churches are perhaps less interested in the faith and order approach to ecumenism than they are in the practicalities of joint mission. 

Local and Global Ecumenism

Reading about the Global Christian Forum  has helped me think about local and national ecumenism in Britain.  It appears local ecumenism has more in common with global ecumenism than the national  ecumenical work of the denominations.

It seems local and national ecumenism have had less in common in recent years.  Think back to the English Covenant in the early eighties and then the 'Not Strangers but Pilgrims'  process in the late eighties.  The latter involved many local churches in meeting over Lent 1986 to discuss the future of ecumenism in Britain.  This process led to the Swanwick Agreement  and the new ecumenical instruments.

The Reconciling Mission of Global Christianity

The second of the papers from the plenary sessions at the  Global Christian Forum  meeting in Limuru 2007, by Dr Cheryl Bridges Johns , a Pentecostal scholar, underlies this post.  It is called 'When East Meets West and North Meets South: The Reconciling Mission of Global Christianity' and can be found on page 93 of  Revisioning Christian Unity .

Johns makes two assumptions: that the 'mainstream' ecumenical paradigm is no longer viable to meet the challenges of the 21st century; and that when global Christians are honoured as equal partners, their gifts are adequate for the tasks of unity and mission.

Spirituality on the Streets

This is the third of three posts exploring alternative visions for ecumenism.  The aim is not to predict the future but to show there are other possibilities besides full visible unity.  So, far I have written about a new ecumenical vision  and a lay ecumenical order .

When George MacLeod was a minister in Goven, Glasgow, during the 1930s, his church on the main road had a stained glass window, inscribed with the words 'Glory to God in the Highest'.  The story goes that after someone threw a stone through the window it read: 'Glory to God in the High Street'. 

When Father Christopher Jamieson agreed to Worth Abbey being used for the BBC television programme, 'The Monastery'  he was surprised at the interest from secular people in Christian spirituality.  Where could they find sanctuary in their places?  A weekend at Worth Abbey might be a possibility, but where are the local centres for sustaining spirituality?

A Lay Ecumenical Order

This is the second of three posts  suggesting new ways of envisioning the future of ecumenism in Britain.

Lay people in the churches are not under the same constraints as the ordained.  Nevertheless it tends to be the ordained who take a lead in ecumenism.  This is why there are so many stories of successful local ecumenical partnerships (LEPs) which fall apart when the ordained founders eventually leave.  It seems ecumenism is expected to depend upon the quality of relationships between the ordained, rather than the lay people.  Perhaps lay leadership, founded on their own commitments and friendships, is more likely to work.

A New Ecumenical Vision

In this and the next few posts I want to explore a few scenarios.  I suppose the first post in this series is the one about scenario planning .  One drawback of the method is its costs in terms of people, time and finance.  It would be a major step forward to carry out something like it.  Even within one country, to bring together the widest range of representatives of all types of church to work on future scenarios would be a very significant step.  Whilst this is something which could be attained over a few years focused work, it is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future. 

So, I want to ask what some new scenarios might be like.  The point of this and next two posts is not to suggest a way forward for the churches in Britain, only they can do that, but to show there are positive scenarios available to us beyond traditional full visible unity.