Whither ecumenism?

May 31, 2022 by

by Martin Davie:

For sixteen years I was involved in the ecumenical work of the Church of England, first as a member of what was then the Church of England’s Faith and Order Advisory Group, and subsequently as the Theological Secretary of the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity. During this time, I took part in numerous ecumenical conversations on behalf of the Church of England and was responsible for helping to draw up a number of ecumenical agreements between the Church of England and other churches. Since ceasing to work for the Council for Christian Unity in 2013 I have kept an interest in how the ecumenical scene has developed.

This article draws on this experience of ecumenism to try to answer the question ‘whither ecumenism?’ or in other words, what is the future for the ecumenical movement?

The theological basis for ecumenical activity.

Ecumenical activity is activity undertaken by Christians which seeks to make manifest the unity between them that is a result of the saving work of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is often said that Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.  It is true that Pentecost was the occasion when the Church received the power of the Holy Spirit to enable it to begin to witness to Jesus Christ in ‘Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the end of the earth’ (Acts 1:8).  However, according to the New Testament Pentecost was not the birthday of the Church in the sense that it was occasion on which the Church was created.

What the New Testament tells us is that the birthday of the Church was Easter when the Church was formed through Christ’s death and resurrection. Paul tells us this in Ephesians chapter 2.

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