I found this paragraph in an article by Jill Sandham and Hugh Dawes, chair and honorary secretary of the Progressive Christianity Network, Hope for Church in the 21st century which can be found in Together in Hope: Proclaiming God's Justice Living God's Love, edited by Adrian Alker. The article refers to Christianity's history of 'self-preservation and justification':
In reaction to that history, it is hardly surprising that in the twentieth century institutional Christianity became so preoccupied with the pursuit and recovery of unity. We who write shared in that ourselves, and were excited by it. But the liberation all too quickly turned sour. In the hands of institutional Christianity, unity, which briefly seemed so exciting and so possible, got twisted into a concern for uniformity of a narrowly doctrinal and credal form. With the result that today the institutional church can appear more divided and distorted than ever before. (Page 39)
They look forward to the end of the institutional church and the formation of an associational church. They argue that Western society 'uses power to enforce obedience'. Further, 'institutional church governs largely through the clergy in much the same way'. In an associational church, authority is 'something freely granted and bestowed by others'.
When I started working in formal ecumenism in 2003 there was some excitement about the possibility of a new paradigm for ecumenism. Overall the thought was that it was not for us to formulate this paradigm; perhaps the generation of ecumenists to follow us would do it.
I am beginning to think it is too late. The new paradigm is here, perhaps not fully articulated, but many Christians have already made up their minds about ecumenism. The paradigm cannot be fully articulated by the Progressive Christianity Network or indeed any single organisation because the intriguing thing is there seems to be a consensus of sorts across a wide range of theologies and ecclesiologies.
If there is a common factor it is age. Somewhere between 30 and 40 years, there is a divide between older people who still see the traditional denominations as key to ecumenism and the younger who do not recognise denominations in the same way. This younger group either rejects denominations altogether or moves between them; unwilling to make a commitment to one for life.
The quotation refers to the excitement at the pursuit and recovery of unity. I hope to try to convey some of that excitement, as well as ask what has happened to it, in a future post.
Perhaps PCN is right and we must look forward to a future associational church. The problem is that not everyone is going to travel in that particular direction. It is an idea that is attractive to me but I don't see how we can turn our back on other churches that do not choose this path. Somehow the ecumenical vision has to be wider than any one approach to the faith. The ecumenical task has become more complex.
Comments