I suppose, compared with some people, I am a fan of partnerships. It is an effective way of working, particularly in community regeneration. I'm sure too that many business partnerships are entirely beneficial (at least to the business). On the other hand I've sat on partnership boards and they can be bloodless affairs. The problem is people are there to represent their organisations, so there is little opportunity to socialise or develop friendships.
That is why I have always felt a little uneasy about the Methodist Church's use of the word partnership when it speaks of its 'partner' traditions. Partnership is a good thing but is it in this instance the right thing?
Theodore Runyon in The New Creation writes:
Clearly orthodoxy by itself is not the answer, and just as clearly orthopraxy by itself is insufficient. Not even putting the two together will work. Believing the right things, plus doing the right things, still does not add up to what Wesley considers essential. This is our clue that there must be another factor to be taken into account, a tertium quid not covered by the usual standards of right belief and right practice. What is this third factor? I have called it "orthopathy", from the Greek ortho (right) plus pathos (feelings affections, and in the larger sense, experience), the new sensitivity to and participation in spiritual reality that marks genuine faith.
Wesley applied orthopathy to faith (he called it experience) but it is experience of things spiritual. This is intended to be a practical spirituality, not personal subjective faith. I think it can equally be applied to ecumenism.
Formal talks are concerned with orthodoxy. Unity in Mission emphasises orthopraxis. But it is experience that makes the difference. The experience that cements relationships to a common enterprise.
A lot of local ecumenism is based upon friendships between ministers of different traditions. The positive dimension to this is that such friendships can make a significant positive difference and this can be seen time and again. The problem is when one of these friends moves on, the ecumenical enterprise can be lost.
Yes, friendship may be more powerful than partnerships but it needs to be friendships between the lay people, the people who have a long term commitment to the area, if their work is not to be in vain.
Comments