It is one thing to say as I did yesterday that mission is an essential dimension of unity. But is the opposite also true? Is unity essential to mission?
There is no straightforward answer and I suspect I will return to this topic many times. However, it has to be said the most obvious answer to this is no, unity is not essential to mission. Many missionary enterprises have worked very well (at least according to their own objectives) when practiced unilaterally. There are many stories of break-away groups being more successful than their parent bodies. Methodism (many times in its history) is a case in point. However, it also must be recognised that the Edinburgh missionary conference of 1910 is viewed as the origin of modern ecumenism. Here a wide range of missionary churches met to explore their missionary enterprises.
Today, I will explore two common arguments which aim to link mission and unity. The first is the view that by pooling their traditions, churches will be more effective. The offering of a range of resources for mission (as well as for worship, spirituality, pastoral support ...) will provide something for everyone perhaps even in every neighbourhood. This could be true but the prevailing image is of churches in competition, rather than collaborating over provision of a range of spiritual services. Many people have found spiritual sustenance from a single tradition rather than a variety of traditions, inevitably approached superficially.
A second common argument is that so long as churches are divided they offer an impression that Christians are at war. Love is not paramount and adherence to each tradition is more important. In theory this hangs together but as I pointed out earlier many successful missionary movements were split from parent churches. It is almost as if Protestant churches at least, grow from splitting.
Both these arguments are unsatisfactory and I think it's worth asking why. I think they betray an inadequacy in our understanding of unity and it is only through understanding unity in diversity that we can find a better purchase on the relationship between unity and mission.
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