Exploring Ecumenism

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.

The Goal of Ecumenism 4: Openness versus Effort

This is the fourth in a sequence of posts based upon Chris James' blog post  The Goal of Ecumenism: Why and how to be one , part V.  The first of these posts is  Why Are We Divided?, the second is  The Visibility of the Church and the third is Ecumenism and Ecclesiality .

I must confess to a degree of impatience with the idea that ecumenism is a some sort of eschatological truth.  Of course I understand that the fullness of God's plan for humanity will not be revealed until the end times.  But how practical is it to assert this truth?  It feels like a cop out: we can't do anything about it now because it is an eschatological truth.

The Goal of Ecumenism 3: Ecumenism and Ecclesiality

This is the third in a sequence of posts based upon Chris James' blog post  The Goal of Ecumenism: Why and how to be one .  The first of these posts is  Why Are We Divided? and the second is The Visibility of the Church .

Section IV of the post explores 'Ecumenism and Ecclesiality'.  Here James contrasts the view that the churches are united through a common baptism with the view that no church is in itself complete.  This incompleteness is expressed through disunity amongst other things and requires repentance as the root of the ecumenical vision.

The Goal of Ecumenism 2: The Visibility of the Church

This is the second in a sequence of posts based upon Chris James' blog post The Goal of Ecumenism: Why and how to be one .  The first of these posts is Why Are We Divided? 

Section III of the post, 'Ecumenism and the Visibility of the Church', explores the "the most hotly debated ecumenical question": should the church be one visible community or is its unity somehow invisible?  I summarise it below but it is better to read the section in James' post in full.

1. James explores the thinking of Stanley Grentz, a free church theologian who argues denominationalism emphasises the invisibility of the church and that visibility is inevitably sectarian as it must point to a particular visible church.   
2. James then turns to a Catholic view of visible unity.  This view recognises the baptism of other traditions but seeks a reunion within the Catholic Church and so in a way is similar to Grentz's position in its desire not to call its own ecclesiology into question.
3. Then James turns to the ecumenism of the World Council of Churches.  The WCC seeks a united church in a single communion.  It is this view that has given rise to the contrasting positions of full visible unity and reconciled diversity.  The latter is understood as the openness churches have to each other.  Newbigin is quoted as an advocate of the former although he seems to take a midway position, seeking for example interchangeability of ministers, which is somehow short of full institutional union.  His criticism of reconciled diversity is that it make intellectual agreement the basis of unity, which is a mistake because it overemphasises the importance of doctrinal agreement.

Is the Tide Going Out for Ecumenism?

Photo by Sten.  Marsh at the small island Vorsø in Denmark. Ebb-tide.

I am grateful to Ian Chisnal for his comment on my last post.  You can read my response if you visit the post.  What I want to do is start here with one of Ian's statements:

'Ecumenism is not about bringing structures together to create a reconciled structure, ecumenism is the recognition that despite our differences (structural or tradition based) that we are one church and despite these we can work together on matters of mission and bring reconciliation between man and God.'

I don't disagree with this sentence except that I wonder whether there is to some degree a false dichotomy between 'bringing structures together' and working 'together on matters of mission and bring reconciliation between man  and God'. 

Arguments For and Against Ecumenism

I received a comment the other day which asked for positives and negatives about ecumenism to enable the reader to come to a conclusion.  I'm not sure I can achieve the last part because ecumenism is in its nature something we all have to make a decision about.  The aim of this post is simply to suggest some things you may wish to consider if you are unsure about ecumenism.

Why is Communion so Divisive?

I think there are three reasons why Communion is so divisive. 

1. There are the issues to do with authority. Communion is the foundation liturgical practice of all the churches and it matters. It spills over into all manner of faith and order issues.
2. Even closely related traditions have grown apart. This covers what we believe about communion and also how we decide what constitutes right practice.
3. There is the matter of ecumenical reception and that is what I intend to focus upon in this post.

Anglican Methodist Covenant 4: Disposal of the Elements

Let me be clear from the outset I have no particular problem with consuming the elements immediately after the service.  I don't see any objection to feeding the bread to the birds either, or pouring the wine back into the bottle, although there seem to be hygiene considerations here.

My problem with the report I referred to yesterday is the assumption that there is one correct interpretation of communion.  I fully appreciate we need to consider the sensibilities of those who believe differently from us but that means we need to be clear about what we're doing out of conviction and what is to protect the sensibilities of others.

Approaches to Ecumenism

Owing to its history, ecumenism in England is often perceived as focused solely upon structural unity.  The goal of ecumenism is to bring the churches under one unified structure.  It is easy in these more cynical times to lose sight of the vision of the sixties when the churches glimpsed the possibility of a united church in England.  This vision is long gone and now we have to face up to a number of models of ecumenism.

The Culture of Congregations

Another dimension to ecclesiology is to do with the culture of congregations.  Formal statements of doctrine are set through each tradition's councils (with some degree of influence from ecumenical councils).  However, the reception of these by local churches is not as straightforward as it might first appear because churches have different cultures and will interpret their formal doctrine according to their culture.