the church's mission in an ecumenical context

questions

·         Can the Church’s mission exist in any context other than an ecumenical one?

·         What is the nature of the Church’s mission?

·         What is the nature of the Ecumenical context?

·         How does the Church’s mission apply to the Ecumenical Context?

ecumenical experience – personal

·         Alpha and Emmaus

·         Ministers’ Forums

o   White River, Nelspruit, Garsfontein

·         CUC Malelane (Anglican/Methodist)

o   Confusing Symbolic message

·         Trinity, Lynnwood (Presbyterian/Anglican)

o   Control of worship space

·         Serene Street, Garsfontein

o   Carol Service

·         Anti-Apartheid Struggle initiatives

the church’s mission

·         In its broadest sense the Church’s mission is to make God known to the Nations (Isaiah)

·         Roxburgh and Romanuk in their book The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World (2006:xiii) speak of

o    “... a missional understanding of church that emphasises an incarnational, servant approach and sees church not as a once a week gathering but as a community to which one belongs that relates to the whole of life. It is a community in which each person makes an active contribution, during gathered worship as well as dispersed service. These churches emphasise hospitality ... [and] are committed to maintaining their values of community, accountability, and service ... .”

·         Nelus Niemandt, Professor of Missiology at Tukkies, commenting on a definition offered by Craig van Gelder in his book The Ministry of the Missional Church: a Community led by the Spirit (2007), says

o    “… the missional church as called (from the world), gathered (by the Spirit as the body of Christ) and sent (to the world) to participate in God’s mission. The missional church’s purpose is to equip authentic disciples as missionaries in order that the church may be the agent of God’s mission in the world.

·         Basis in Scripture: Acts 17:16-34

o   Paul’s methodology in Athens a useful model for mission in the 21^st century.

an ecumenical context

·         Canon Alyson Barnett-Cowan, Director of Faith, Worship and Ministry in the Anglican Church of Canada, addressing a session of the Lambeth Conference in 2008, comments

o   “If the 20^th century was the great century of ecumenism, the early 21^st  century provides an opportunity for churches to begin to live out the reality of their unity. After all the theological debate, the examinations of each other’s ecclesiologies, orders, and practices, there is now the possibility for real shared life and mission.”

o   There has been a clear trajectory over the past 100 years for agreements variously termed ‘intercommunion’, ‘communion’, ‘full communion’ or simply ‘agreement’

o   Three generations of agreements

§  Recognition of sufficient similarity in faith and order: declared that people could receive communion in each others churches.

§  A wave of schemes of union devised in many regions of the world

§  Proposals of “full communion”: leaving each church independent, but making commitments to work together and live into a fuller reality of shared life.

o   Emerging generation

§  Agreement to consult with one another on matters of faith and order, life and witness

·         How will churches discipline themselves to do this?

·         How will they shift their self-understanding in order to do so?

·         A definition of Communion, from The Lutheran World Federation document  Mission in Context: Transformation, Reconciliation, Empowerment

o   “Used ecclesiologically, the term “communion” expresses three levels of church relations:  first, the unity of the church across all times and space; second, the nature of life together in the local church; third, the relationship between local churches in a regional and global context.”

o   “The tendency to compete for mission fields in different parts of the world, in the race to expand the profile and sphere of influence of one’s own denomination or organization, should be replaced by cooperation and joint action.”

o   “The vision and practice of communion can help the church address the prevalent fragmentation and division of communities and bring healing to a world broken by greed and violence.”

·         Maintaining Communion – a move to Covenant

o   The Anglican Communion is struggling to maintain communion and is moving towards a Covenant. Professor Iain Torrance, representing the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, addressing the final plenary session of Lambeth Conference 2008, described a covenant as follows:

§  “A covenant is different [from a contract]. As all of you know, covenant in the Hebrew Scriptures begins  with the unconditional promise of God’s love. And who can come close to God and not be changed? So, a covenant is an initiative undertaken by transformed persons in response to a gift of unmerited grace. “

applying the church’s mission to an ecumenical context

·         A useful document in this regard is The Ecumenical Stance of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 218^th General Assembly in 2008.

o   “To commit to an ecumenical vision in this time and place involves a study of the changing ecumenical landscape. It is well known that a demographic shift in the global church from the north to the south has reshaped the dynamics of the ecumenical movement in a number of ways. Most importantly, the flow of influence is no longer from north to south or even west to east, but from every part of the world to every other part of the world. This has meant that ecumenical conversation partners are shaped geographically as well as denominationally.”

o   “… many Presbyterians are confused about the meaning of ecumenism and question how it relates to their own lived realities in congregations and whether it has relevance to a post-modern church and world. There has been an erosion of understanding of some traditional ecumenical activities and loyalty to them. Nonetheless, lively ecumenical activity is taking place in many forms throughout the denomination at the national, regional, and local levels. “

o   While we affirm our commitment to the unity of the Christian church, the ecumenical challenge for today moves beyond that initial vision to the healing and wholeness of the world. This broader goal of Christian ecumenism requires us to ask how we can be partners with others in building the human community that God intended from the very beginning. Where is there convergence between the Christian household and the larger household of God? 

o   The document notes nine “Contours of a New Ecumenical Reality” for the 21^st century, defined as “varied and diverse nuances for Presbyterians:

§   reconciliation in Jesus Christ;

§  a spirit of generosity toward others;

§  unity and diversity in the Holy Spirit;

§  justice in the economy, and for the earth;

§  the call of God to mission and evangelism;

§  solidarity with the marginalized;

§  common memory of a people on a journey;

§  hope for the future of the world;

§  a gift of God and a task for all human beings.”

o   The document highlights ten priorities that a commitment to “the larger household of God” presents:

§  Growing the Ecumenical Vision

§  Facing Obstacles to Christian Unity

§  Bridging the gaps Between the Local and the Global, Individual Congregations and the Denomination

§  Enlarging the Table of Ecumenical Relationships

§  Covenanting for Justice and the Economy and the Earth

§  Covenanting for Peacemaking in a War-Torn World

§  Nurturing Interreligious Engagements

§  Renewing a Commitment to Disciplines of Christian Spirituality

§  Celebrating Gifts We Receive and Share

§  Revitalising Practises of Ecumenical Formation

o   Creedal Statement: the document includes “An Affirmation of Our Ecumenical Commitment”

Prepared for a Seminar on 15 June 2011 as part of the Patronal Festivities of Trinity, Lynnwood, by the Rev’d Canon Mark R D Long, Diocese of Pretoria (The Anglican Church of Southern Africa).

clergy school - a perspective

Diocesan Clergy School, hosted and directed by UNISA, has been an inspiring experience. We have had some outstanding input from various high-calibre academics, including our own Anglican sub-Dean, Prof. Barney Pityana (also vice-Chancellor of UNISA). We have investigated the church’s role in rebuilding our society’s value base, while exploring the diversity of our call in dealing with the various moral challenges all South Africans face, seeking to find ways to reclaim our prophetic voice.

The importance of good ecumenical relationships is critical in allowing the church to speak with “one voice”, rather than with a fragmented denominationalism. Significant to this discussion is the issue of authority, and the Clergy School was asked to recognise four different types: traditional, rational, negotiated, symbolic; that we as Anglicans have a specific perspective on how these aspects influence our praxis, and our understanding of Scripture. The Bible is a consequence and not a cause of Faith, and as Anglicans we question what Scripture means, rather than simply what it says. These perspectives on authority and Scripture impact on our ecumenical relationships. There is a call on us to re-explore the message of Jesus, to regain a radical commitment to the Kingdom of God as put forward by Jesus, and as experienced in the early church, and to be relational – an emphasis on being rather than doing – and not legalistic in our interpretation both of Scripture and Tradition, while also recognising the social and economic relevance of Scripture.

We have been reminded that poverty should remain one of the church’s main preoccupations, that an “option for the poor” is preferential and not exclusive (i.e. not an “option against the rich”), and that transforming the plight of the poor includes the transformation of the wealthy. Sadly, excessive accumulation of monetary and material wealth is mostly at the expense of the poor, and actively ferments poverty. We were asked, “Is inequality ordained by God?” because our lifestyles as Christian people often suggest that it is! Interestingly, while the USA Constitution enshrines “Freedom” as an inalienable human right, our South African Constitution enshrines “Equality”. The lack of genuine equality in South Africa is an active cause of socio-economic domination by a South African elite - increasingly being referred to as the “new apartheid”! Top business structures in this country are still largely in the hands of white people, and despite a growing black middle class this remains an area of grave concern, especially for us as Church. The crisis we face, both as Christians and as South Africans, is that our Constitutional Democracy is deliberately misinterpreted for personal and financial gain. Twelve years into our new democratic society there is no consensus or collective commitment to definitive values, even though key values are enshrined in Constitutional dispensation that include human dignity, human rights and social justice. In South Africa the centre is falling apart as we struggle to maintain the consensus gained in 1994, and this is visible in the corruption, crime and other indicators of moral collapse. As Church, we need to exercise authority in bringing people back to the values of the Gospel and values as defined in the Constitution.

In considering the value-crisis in our society within the context of our Constitution and our Constitutional Democracy, the Clergy School was asked to consider three important questions:

What is it that undermines our Christian values in the communities in which we live?

How do we “hold the centre” as a faith community, individually and collectively?

How do we become effective moral agents?

In answering these questions it was noted that mission happens when the Church is in engagement with the World, and that in order to be effectively engaged we need to develop a moral outlook that is not simplifying or dismissive in attitude, but rather one that builds confidence, assertiveness and freedom. In addition, there is a need to recognise the syncretistic nature of African Christianity – something that is also true of the Western approach to the Christian Faith – if we are to build a new moral base in our society.

Underlying the above is the question, “How do we formulate a Christian society, and how do we influence South African society with this vision?” There are no simple answers, but a partial answer is that we need to own responsibility, backed by an informed personal position refined through public debate. We need to gain a high level of identification and agreement on the issues, and those that are of priority. We need to abandon an “all or nothing” approach in our Biblical interpretation in order to develop a public Theology, including openness to the integration of other societal disciplines (economics, politics …) with our Theological development. We need to acknowledge issues of pronounced patriarchy – men’s oppression of women – and the related pandemic of HIV/AIDS where poor black women in particular suffer: in this regard Biblical interpretation from a patriarchal perspective becomes an obstacle by habitually negating the validity of women’s experience. Once consensus is reached through dialogue, we need to find ways to translate our vision in such a way that it is palatable to a pluralistic society, which often embraces an “anything goes!” approach. We should not allow a concern that such translation will compromise our Christian foundation, for this is unlikely if we seek to uphold the values enshrined in our Constitution in the process.

We were challenged to embrace a pastoral response in interacting with our society, to be bridge-builders, building links between: constitutional rights and religious identity; the judging voices of Christians and those rendered voiceless by religion; fundamentalist/dogmatic voices and those demonised through these judgmental attitudes; fixed forms of traditional morality and fluid internalisation of the best of pluralistic views; the sacred and the profane; hurts of the past and the healing of the future. Essentially a challenge to allow the Church to be the Church, as hard and costly as this will be!

Going forward, we must not underestimate the influence of religion on society – the majority of South Africans claim to be Christian, and many others religious. The task is to move ahead as Church, to regain a progressive voice, and to develop tools that will help individuals to live out their faith. Do we have the courage, as Christians and as Anglicans, to regain our prophetic voice?

Acknowledgement must be given for the high level of academic input received, along with meaningful and stimulating engagement, that has informed the above reflection that contains the helpful insights of the following: Profs D Masoma, R Dolamo, M Masenya, C Landman; Drs J Aristide (President of Haiti), M Naidoo, P Lenka Bula; Canon Prof Martyn Percy and Rev’d Emma Percy. Our grateful thanks to each for their contribution to our week together, and to Bishop Dr J Seoka and Sub-Dean Prof B Pityana for their contribution and vision.

Canon Mark Long
1 April 2007