Ecumenism: An introduction
1. What is Ecumenism?
Ecumenism (from the Greek oikoumenh meaning ‘the whole inhabited world’) refers to the movement in the church towards the recovery of the unity of all believers in Christ, transcending differences of creed, ritual and polity.
2. Why is Ecumenism important?
Ecumenism is very important for many reasons – drawn from scripture, tradition and reason/experience.
- Because Our Lord tells us that it is (e.g. John 17:6-11; I Corinthians 12:12-26).
- Because church history has shown how damaging division can be.
- Because experience testifies to the power of unity in witness and mission.
3. What is the background of the Ecumenical Movement?
Ecumenical aspiration can be clearly traced from the New Testament, but the movement itself may be identified as a particular theological development of the twentieth century. Important landmarks during this century include:
- 1925 Universal Conference Life and Work (concerned with Christianity in society).
- 1927 World Conference Faith and Order (concerned with theology of unity).
- 1948 World Council of Churches (WCC) was born as ‘the fellowship of Churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour’. This included all mainstream confessions and denominations except the Roman Catholic Church and the Unitarian Church.
- 1961 Roman Catholic observers were permitted to attend WCC and in 1963 non Roman Catholic Churches were invited to attend the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church.
4. How has the Church in Wales been part of this Ecumenical Movement?
The Church in Wales (CIW) has been very active ecumenically on many levels.
On a World level:
- The CIW is one of the 326 member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC)
On a European level:
- The CIW participates in the Conference of European Churches (CEC). Since 1959 this has been the ecumenical organisation of Orthodox, Anglican, Old Catholic and Protestant Churches of Europe.
- The CIW gave its support to the Meissen Declaration in 1992. This was a commitment by the Church of England and the Federation of the Evangelical Churches in the German Democratic Republic and the Evangelical Churches in Germany to strive for ‘full visible unity’.
- The CIW entered into the Porvoo agreement in 1996. This created common membership and a single interchangeable ministry and structure amongst the four Nordic Lutheran Churches, the two Baltic Lutheran Churches and the four British and Irish Anglican Churches.
On a British and Irish level:
- The CIW is a part of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) inaugurated in 1990 which has 31 members and exists so that ‘they may listen to and appreciate one another in their diversity and increasingly share their talents and traditions’.
On a Welsh level:
- The CIW entered into a Covenant for Union in 1975 (later named ENFYS) which brought together the CIW, the Presbyterian Church in Wales, the Methodist Church (in Wales) and the United Reformed Church of England and Wales. In 1977 certain Baptist Churches came into the covenant. (Since 2005, this Covenant for Union - formerly called ENFYS - has now found a new home within CYTÛN and is called The Covenanted Churches within CYTÛN)
- The CIW entered into CYTÛN (Churches together in Wales) in 1990. This involves most of the Christian Churches in Wales and is fully expanded in the next chapter.
Different activity takes place at each of these levels but they all seek in some way to:
- Enable Churches to improve relations and to understand each other better.
- Enable Churches to worship and pray together.
- Enable Churches to engage together in practical projects and issues of justice.
5. Where does the Church in Wales want to go with ecumenism?
The Provincial Division for Ecumenism decided in 1999 that it had 5 goals:
- To ensure that the Church in Wales acts together with other Churches in all matters except those in which deep differences of opinion compels it to act separately (Lund principle).
- To nurture ecumenism – by fostering local initiatives, including LEP’s, reviewing relationships with Roman Catholics at all levels and by bringing about the appointment of an Ecumenical Bishop.
- To discover sources for funding ecumenical opportunities.
- To send delegates (especially young/lay) to international denominational events.
- To develop links with Churches in Europe and other parts of the world; and to train ecumenists in our own Church; to administer the allocation and proportion of Church in Wales contributions to ecumenical bodies.
6. How does the Church in Wales encourage ecumenism at grass-roots level?
The CIW encourages us to worship and work together with other churches in many ways.
Worship together
- Through welcoming Christians of other denominations to worship with us and accepting the invitation of other Churches to worship with them.
- Through the opportunities provided in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
- Through sharing buildings (Sharing of Church Buildings Act 1969)
- Through the possibility of a local covenant or LEP (see ch 3 and 4)
Work together
- Through working together in issues of social justice, internationally, nationally and locally – e.g. through response to Wales: A Moral Society (CYTÛN) and Unemployment and the Future of Work (CTBI).
7. What is the Diocese of St Davids doing about ecumenism?
In 1997, the Bishop appointed the first St Davids Diocesan Ecumenical Officer (DEO). In 2002 a Diocesan Ecumenism Team was established (DET) as part of the Inter-Church Team of the Diocesan Council for Mission and Ministry (DCMM). The team is currently thinking about the future of ecumenism and its own role in the diocese. To date it has:
- Prayed for the unity of Christ’s Church in the Diocese.
- Represented the diocese at provincial and interdenominational levels.
- Organised the Diocesan review of the ENFYS covenant.
- Explored ways of building links between the St Davids Diocese and other churches/denominations.
- Built up networks of friends in other churches/denominations
- Provided advice and encouragement for churches concerning ecumenical issues.
This handbook is an initiative of the DET to introduce the clergy and people of our Diocese to ecumenical activity in Wales and beyond and to encourage and facilitate parishes to explore ways in which their mission and ministry could be strengthened and enhanced through ecumenical activity.
8. How might our parish increase its ecumenical cooperation?
What ways could ecumenism practically help mission and ministry in our parish?
You could ask yourselves the questions:
Do churches in our parish/area worship together and if so how?
(There is good reason to express our unity in acts of worship, which are organised jointly by different churches. There is also good reason to worship at each others churches - learning from the rich deposit of various traditions and styles of worship – broadening our own vision and learning about each other at the same time)
Do churches in your parish use opportunities for study and prayer together?
(There are lots of opportunities provided by bodies like the Missionary Societies and occasions like the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to join together in prayer and study. But why not initiate further prayer and study together - a Bible study group; discussion group; prayer group. Once again, when different traditions and people meet, our visions are broadened and we are enriched by seeing things in different perspectives).
Do churches in your parish do mission together?
(One of the most significant questions that emerged from the Third World Conference on Faith and Order in 1952 was “Should not our Churches ask themselves whether they are showing sufficient eagerness to enter into conversation with other Churches, and whether they should not act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately?’ In other words, whilst we recognise that there are differences between our churches, there are so many ways in which we can pool our resources and work together. Why not join with local churches in your area in a specific missionary project or task?)
9. What might we think/How might we cope when boundaries and divisions seem insurmountable?
In other words, what about the ‘deep differences of conviction’ that the Lund Principle speaks about? Deep differences of conviction can be difficult to manage. There is no easy answer. Archbishop Rowan Williams does, however, provide a few helpful questions we can ask ourselves in facing such difficulties (Open to Judgement DLT, 1994 p.105ff).
- When Peter gets too concerned about what’s happening to the Beloved Disciple in John 21, Jesus tells him to ‘mind your own business and follow me’! Are we being too concerned and spending too much time on issues that might not be the greatest priority?
- How wide is our vision? How big is our God? Are we talking about a God that can only be saving and life-giving to me? Or might we worship a God who relates to different people in unique ways? Maybe we can rejoice in the fact that their God and church is as life giving to them as ours is to us?
- If we do have rival visions of something then can we not at least say that the focus of those rival visions are central to all of us. In the case of Christianity, Christ should always be at the centre of all that we are and do. So long as we are all facing that way, surely some sense of objectivity is preserved?
- To give Christ the authority we do as Christian people is to accept that he interrogates all our ideas of God and each other – He will always question us and remind us of the mystery which lies at the very centre of our worship and mission.