This piece is part of an on-going blog series called Plurality 2.0 (watch video here). Full schedule of guest authors throughout April and May is available here.
Jeremy Zach is a husband, dad (of two cats), small church youth pastor, and an avid, addicted youth pastor blogger. He lives in Laguna Beach, CA and he knows his life is hard. He’s been involved in youth ministry for 5 years. Jeremy has a Communications degree from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and a MDIV from Fuller Theological Seminary. He serves as the youth pastor at the Little Church by the Sea.
{Ecumenism} The Challenge of Unity
From the time of the Reformation to the present, countless numbers of denominations, congregations, and new religious movements have been formed. Denominations have formed because people did not hold common ideas or beliefs, people had different colors of skin, different nationalities, or different ethnicities, people were attracted to or repelled by different personalities, people attempted to integrate faith and life in new ways, people claimed to have been given divine authority to lead in new ways, people differed on their understanding of experience, and people were unwilling to forgive one another.
The list seems endless and in some sense ridiculous.
How should the church maintain unity in the midst of diversity?
John 17.20-21: “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be ONE, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.”
The attempts to rebuild the way back to church unity are full of difficulty, and Evangelicals have frequently contributed to splits and criticized all efforts made to return to a previous state Universal church. The 20th Century will undoubtedly go into the history books with two major notations.
First, it was the century in which the Church rediscovered the Holy Spirit. This fact has been evidenced in the rise of the modern Pentecostal Movement and its appearance within the historic churches in the form of Charismatic Renewal, namely AZUSA Street Revival.
Second, it was the century in which the churches became concerned once again about the visible unity of the Church. That fact became apparent through (1) the famous 1910 Edinburgh missionary conference, (2) the 1920 encyclical issued by the Ecumenical Patriarch, and (3) the formation of the World Council of Churches.
The first Assembly of the World Council of Churches was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1948. Leaders from 147 denominations and 44 countries around the world gathered there for worship and discussion. The basis for membership in the World Council of Churches requires all members to “confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Also, the President of Fuller Theological Seminary, Richard Mouw has made great strides and attempts to make Evangelicals more Ecumenical.
Where do we go from here? The options are nearly endless, and the future is open to those who move towards church unity. There are some who feel that the formal ecumenical movement has had its chance, and it has failed. Others are looking to less formal ways of relating. Still others are asking about new paradigms and relationships, and new configurations. With whom should Evangelicals be most ready to cooperate? How should they do it? The new ecumenism is up to you and I.
In John 17, Jesus commands that His followers unify.
It is essential to recognize that the unity of the Church is the nature of God and the reality of His redemptive activity. Since the unity of the Church is rooted in the unity of God and the redemption achieved in Christ, we are to understand that the prayer of Jesus was answered: God has made the Church one in Christ. Let us seek and pursue Church unity even if it means to associate with that “other” church down the road.
Related posts:
- C. Wess Daniels on Plurality 2.0
- Nanette Sawyer on Plurality 2.0
- John Franke on Plurality 2.0
- Melissa DeRosia on Plurality 2.0
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Dear Jeremy, I am sorry Pomo crapped on your guest post by posting his ordination kerfuffle just after your post. Not very good hospitality on his part. Second, you cannot ignore other ecumenical movements like the Lausanne Covenant which were formed as the WCC drifted to the left.
@Brian…Jeremy and I have already spoke about that, and things are fine. I realized after posting mine that his was up to be posted (I set all of these to go automatically) and realized my mistake after posting it…but once it was out there, it didn’t make sense to take it back since lots of folks would already have it in their RSS readers.
I’ve let people know via Twitter a couple of times re: Jeremy’s post, but like I said, Jeremy and I have already talked about this.
Richard Cizik was also making inroads into ecumenical as well as interfaith dialogue before the more conservative members of his organization cut his legs from under him.
Unity in the Church scares people because motives, emotions, faith backgrounds, prejudices, and spiritual maturity are all laid out on the table.
I am a fan of partnering with other Christians. I believe that if the Church does not start working together, we will slowly fade away into the world.
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