Ecumenism - A view from the shelter!

Being 'Churches together' (CT) appears to be a rather variable feast in that it brings a plethora (oooh, what a nice word) of benefits, hindrances and neutral happenings.

One of the biggest strengths of being in fellowship with other Christians has to be the fact that this is putting flesh on the 'See how these Christians love one another," thing! The unity that can be developed by having an effective, and real, go at being Church together is worth its weight in banane chips.

The downside is that having a go at ecumenism means that we end up in bed with some theologies and thinking that we might otherwise maintain an otherwise healthy distance from. There are even some groups, if the stories are true, who have opened their doors to groups I regard as decidedly not Christian (Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and Quakers to name but three).

There are benefits in bringing together the whole spectrum of Christian, from rampant liberal to ultra-orthodox, high-church to happy-clappy, bicyclng, nutters (a quote from a self-professed happy-clappy nutter!). Anabaptists, paedobaptist, pro and anti, informed and confused or unthinking. When there is diversity of thinking (and belief) there is also the potential to learn and understand the what, hows and whys.

The problem is that we tend not to share what makes us different and so before we know it we have a large mass of material that we dare not discuss lest it has an impact upon our unity. If we don't talk about it and carefully avoid referring to anything contentious we will survive, but the question is, what as?

The good thing is that is we work together for the benefit of the whole Church then we don't find ourselves regarding others as merely being in the business of self-interest and sheep-stealing. When we lose the unity we bring in the distrust of each other and lose collegiality for competition and this is where the Church really starts to lose out.

One of the key things of the Churches Together group where I am is that they covenanted together that where something could be done as a corpus then it would. The churches acted to work together and by so doing, they brought about relationships and trust which benefitted all. The problem is that in these financially challenging days we have the situation where within some of the Churches Together groups, and even within multiple benefice entities, clusters, circuits, parishes and the like, some are looking to pull up the ladder and look to their own, rather than the wider, interests of Church.

Where you find yourself today, in the church, fellowship or gathering that you are part of, what is the relationship with others who call themselves Christian. How are you working as a parish, cluster, circuit or whatever? How are you seeking to bless the others in the place you live and how are you blessing those other Christians around you?

We need to be careful lest we find the words of Tertullian (Apologetis ch.26) be made true:

"Vide", inquiunt, "ut invicem se diligant" - ipsi enim invicem oderunt - "et ut pro alteruto mori sint parati"; ipsi enim ad occidendum alterutrum paratiores erunt.

"Look," they say, "how they love one another" (for they themselves hate one another); "and how they are ready to die for each other" (for they themselves are readier to kill each other).

Pax