Christian unity a dream in progress
MONTREAL, QC—It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. For ecumenists, that is—people who work intentionally at establishing visible forms of Christian unity.
The ecumenical movement did not exist 100 years ago when Christianity was the predominant religion in the West and a relative unknown in many parts of the world. But the need to work together in a unified and concerted was given impetus by the great Edinburgh missions conference in 1910.
Academics and others are now reviewing the progress of the past 100 years. Which is what brought about 60 ecumenical workers from all over the continent to the annual gathering of the North American Academy of Ecumenists (NAAE), hosted by the Canadian Centre for Ecumenism in Montreal (CCE).
"The Montreal conference explored ways of witnessing to Christ while acknowledging the religious plurality in a secular society," explains CCE director Anthony Mansour.
"This gathering is primarily for informal fellowship of practitioners at all levels," adds NAAE president Russell Meyer, executive director of the Florida Council of Churches. "Nothing is on the line. We can freely talk about what's working—and what's not. We can exercise our imaginations without compromising our church's discipline. This is the place to develop relationships."
It also means confronting differences. Guest speaker Hegumen Philip Riabykh, a senior ecumenical and interfaith worker with the Moscow patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, challenged the placidity with a provocative address that put the blame for religious fractiousness squarely on the policy decisions of western liberal Christianity.
"Protestant theology has not produced unity," he insisted.
In a lightly veiled reference to female ordination and same-sex blessings, he observed that "innovations are sometimes made by those who espouse unity." But these types of actions "break unity. Orthodox Christianity has not introduced novelties…Don't talk about unity and take actions that divide in reality," he cautioned.
According to Meyer, the presentation "represents a certain phenomenon ecumenism faces in church life. When official spokespersons engage an audience, there's a tendency to make their church the hero of the Christian Church and defend it."
Such provocations aside, the gathering heard of the considerable progress made by the World Council of Churches and other affiliated bodies at fostering better understanding among Christians and being more respectful of each other's regions of influence. But the enormous growth of evangelical Christianity was scarcely mentioned, and few identifiably evangelical representatives were present at the gathering.
Thomas Best, a veteran ecumenical academic and Disciples of Christ churchman from the U.S., acknowledged that evangelicals as a "serious and substantial" factor in global Christianity. He noted the mutual suspicion dividing the mainstream and evangelical mission movements.
"But both Lausanne and the World Evangelical Alliance have made efforts at rapprochement in the past 10 years," he said. "They are seeking greater ecumenical involvement."
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