Ecumenism: the dissenters

In an earlier post I briefly told the story of ecumenism and the move from the old Council of Churches model to the new Churches Together model.  In a later post I suggested that the new ecumenical paradigm is already with us.  By this I meant there is significant dissent from traditional or mainstream ecumenism and suggested the main determinant of this dissent was age.

This time I want to attempt an initial overview of the diversity of this dissent in Britain.  There is no way this can be anything other than incomplete but perhaps I will revisit this list from time to time to clarify it further.

1. I suppose there has always been a traditional dissent from mainstream ecumenism.  The Free Church Group (FCG) includes members who for one reason or another are unable to join Churches Together in Britain and Ireland or the national instruments in England and Wales.  The FCG maintains a close working relationship with Churches Together in England and so I suppose it represents those who dissent from the mainstream but not so much as to sever all links with it.
2. The formal ecumenical instruments are parallelled to a degree by the Evangelical Alliance (EA).  This is an ecumenical organisation in its own right and some members of the mainstream instruments are also members of the EA.  I'm not sure what the breadth of theological perspectives are in EA with respect to ecumenism; it will cover a range from sympathy to suspicion to antipathy, I suspect.  Suffice it to say that financially, EA could lay claim to being the most successful ecumenical organisation in the country.
3. Evangelical, charismatic and pentecostal churches comprise many local congregations and have a range of theological positions.  Some will take extreme positions, believing they represent the narrow range of those churches that are truly Christian.  There are recent signs of a more open stance, especially through the Global Christian Forum.  These might be described as churches with a conservative theological position.
4. Some house churches take a position described as post-Christendom.  This includes a rejection of the ecclesiology not only of the mainstream churches but also of the Pentecostals.  They reject most of the paraphernalia of church and meet in homes like the first century church.
5. There are those like the Progressive Christian Network which although sympathetic with ecumenism in theory, are disillusioned and see modern ecumenism as an exercise in control.  These groups will take a radical or liberal theological stance.
6. There are a growing group of people who do not understand the traditional denominations or simply don't want to know.  Fresh expressions are one way these people can relate to the churches.  Sometimes fresh expressions are overseen by established churches and sometimes they are more like house churches with little or no explicit link to mainstream denominations.
7. Others simply shop around until they find a church they like.  They will attend for a few months or years and then move on, perhaps because their work takes them away.  These people genuinely do not see the denominational differences as relevant and consequently will be reluctant to become members and take part in running the local church.
8. There are also significant world church in Britain congregations which have a variety of relationships with mainstream churches but for one reason or another keep their distance.

This is my first attempt and I am immediately aware of several inadequacies.  I hope to return to some of these in more detail so that I can fill in the detail and clarify these types.

One last point, the purpose of this list is not to criticise the various stances but to clarify the nature of dissent from mainstream ecumenism.  I suspect a new ecumenical paradigm may already exist amongst or between these groups.  I also suspect this new paradigm will be difficult to articulate.