I think I realised only the other day that I am a structural ecumenist. This has crept up on me silently and I'm not sure I'm happy to find myself in this place. But here I am.
It is easy to think of this in terms of implementing decisions made by the councils of the churches. This is what I am paid to do. I cannot ignore the decisions made by Conference and my role is to do my best to help local Methodist Churches participate ecumenically with other churches.
Christians often speak of the call of the Spirit, which leads them into mission. But once committed to a course of action any Christian will find they are facing confusion. mess and frustration and even the collapse of what they are doing. When I do community development I tell community groups that it is the second idea which is the most difficult. It is easy to be carried on the tide of a brilliant first idea until barriers are encountered. At this point a second idea is needed and often this is when the inspiration runs out.
The first idea is of the Spirit. But the Spirit always leads into the world because any action led by the spirit aims to change the world. Generally the world is very happy as it is and so it will resist change. This is where the second idea is needed. At this point we often find the Spirit is waiting for us to identify the resources available to us. We have to learn discernment. Fats Waller, jazz pianist, put it well when he said creativity is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration.
The aim of structural ecumenism is to find the 'elegant solution' to often many second questions; the best organisational structure for the task in hand. The reality is that many church resources are governed by charity law, historic trusts and the regulations and culture of the churches involved.
The aim of this is no all encompassing vision of a single visibly unified church. Its vision is wherever churches work together they are not overwhelmed by the vagaries of church legislation.
The work is a difficult mix of regulations, legal obligations, congregational cultures, leaders' attitudes, custom and practice, things that appear to have worked elsewhere ... Structural ecumenists are the fixers, the engineers of the ecumenical world. It is not simply a matter of knowing the rules; it is dependent on a shared vision, inspiring and grounded. Like it or not I suspect we'll be needed for a very long time.
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