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Workshop on Ecumenical Movement
Rev. Duleep de Chickera
As an introductory note to Ecumenism, everyone was told to move from our own limited, self-centered small circle and expand to broader horizons. Then we will move from the known to the unknown/lesser known. This is the basic and elementary process in learning and working for Ecumenism. It was suggested that everyone should speak in a way that we "disagree without us becoming disagreeable". This helps to build up ecumenism from the grassroots level and look things from different angles.
The first workshop method was based on the concept "Ecumenism as carrying, confronting and transforming the Joys and Irritants of different human communities together". Everyone was asked to divide into small groups and discuss about the joys and irritants of being in a group.
Workshop question:
Discuss and write Joys and Irritants you want to share in the session.
Some of the shared feelings were:
JOYS
Solidarity
Intercultural Encounters
Freedom of choice
Current Events
Interaction
Supportive Groups
Meeting new People
Expect the unexpected
Exposure experience
Vision and challenge for Future
New Information and perspective
Unity in Diversity
Learning about
IRRITANTS
Language Barriers
Negative Cultural Sensitivity
Disagreement
Very Little Sharing of Ideas
Not Being Understood
Tight Schedule
Not Understanding
Prejudices of Culture
Emotional Setbacks
Time Mis-management
Talkative and Fast
Lack of Openness
Imposing Values and Ideas to Others
Food and Same Place
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It was concluded that Ecumenical Movement is a movement for humans like us. We are no different from these tensions and conflicts. Not all experiences are same for all. Irritants can be Joys and Joys can be Irritants. We need to consider both sides of the coin and take these issues with balance. With the constant practice of "openness", the ability to listen, and being self-critical which are the most challenging attitudes of Christian spirituality, we can then learn to affirm the true meaning of Ecumenism and to rejoice in the common experiences of different people. Hence, the Ecumenical Movement is not a movement in vacuum, nor consisting of well-meaning people coming together with an agenda but about people with differences connecting to each other.
Theological and Biblical basis of
Ecumenical Movement
Definition: The Greek term "oikoumene" (household) is rooted in biblical meaning of the inhabited world.
Whichever way it develops, Ecumenism is more about relationship than structure. It is creative, respectful and works of a creative force that sustains relationship amongst all living things.
Luke-2:1 Demonstrates the setting in which the Roman Emperor called for a census that God was using the time for the incarnation.
Matthew-24:14 The Gospel will be preached in the whole wide world. Here this concept is much wider.
John 17:21 One world belief. From this text, the concept of Ecumenism emerged.
The oneness and unity of Christians and the renewal of our faith.
There conceptual development of the Oneness of Christians:
1. The concept of the whole church in relation to division - unity in division
2. Whole Faith in relation to partial faith
3. The Wholeness of God - Trinity
Thus the Ecumenical Movement is a movement of the Church through the whole Faith of God to renew the whole creation. When this whole Faith and God comes together, we can move outside the visible church and go beyond the limitations. Hence this involves the participation of not only the people in the Church in seeking a wholeness of creation but also involves people outside the Church as there are also other people at work struggling to renew the whole creation. Although this is still a debatable issue, it can be opened for discussion.
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Rev. Duleep highlighted some quotations of the Ecumenical Movement:
· The Ecumenical Movement is an opportunity for the Churches to come together in a difficult but necessary step to: a) Take stock of the past, b) Interrupt the present and c) Move forward Together in God the Parent, Jesus and Holy Spirit.
· The Ecumenical Movement seeks to discover, proclaim, and participate in the true eternal and constant purpose for Humankind.
· " The Ecumenical Movement is an opportunity for the Churches to rethink their mandate and to find new ways of fulfilling their task in the Modern (Gods) world"- Visser't Hoft
· " The Ecumenical Movement is a recurring conversation between the Ecclesial community, Human community and Cosmic community"- Leornado Boff
· The Ecumenical Movement cannot be more than what the Churches are in spirituality, commitment and programmes.
· "The Ecumenical Movement is meant to show the Churches that certain of their main tasks could be accomplished better through collaboration.
· Rather than by separate action, and serve as a pace-setter and path finder, stimulating the churches into new ideas- Visser't Hoft
· The Ecumenical Movement has everything to do with friendship of trust and co-operation amongst individuals and churches. These make doctrinal differences and cultural barriers acceptable even challenging.
· The Ecumenical Movement is a journey in dialogue, we listen, talk, fight, decide, worship, share and return to the same cycle again and again.
· The Ecumenical Movement is in participation with God in the renewal of the whole creation. Since God has other agents and uses other forces, the Ecumenical Movement calls for the co-operation with God in and through the other agents and forces.
· The Ecumenical Movement is a dialogue of all for all. It seeks to make the whole creation a House for all by participating in the mission of God the creator of all.
Prophetic Tradition of Ecumenical thought:
The participants were made to discuss in groups for 20 minutes basing on the 8th century prophets.
1. Micah 2:8-9, 3:1-4, 6:11-12
2. Amos 2:6b-7a, 4:1ff, 6:4-6
3. Hosea 4:1-3, 12:7-8, 6:8-9, 13:1-3
4. Isaiah 3:13-18
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Workshop
question: Where does the
Inspiration for these words come from?
· Social context of the Israelites
· Knowledge of God's Covenant Code
· The prophets who were in touch with the people/ situation
· Israelites disbelief in God
· Judgement of God to the Israelites
· Oppressive Rulers
· Distinction between rich and poor
· Justice of God
· Corruption of the Priests
· Human Rights Violation
· Ecological destruction
Workshop
question: Then who is/are prophet/prophets?
A prophet is one who is sensitive to the moment where/when there is disharmony and who are preparing to be forthright in the communion with God and with people, confronting the everyday life situation. Thus the prophetic tradition renews. It continues through people in communion with God and the people.
Workshop
question: Become a prophet in your own respective sub-regions and work
on what is in the region that God is not pleased with, look for the issues
where these struggles are prevalent and to come out with an oracle.
Some oracles presented:
Rise up
oppressed people of
God hears the cries of the workers and peasants
God's eyes are on the discriminated, poor and suffered
While the privileged go on their greed
Orthodox oppressed their brothers and sisters,
The elite, military and political games who play,
Bring religious and ethnic conflicts
God will send the people to a new heaven and new earth
Free from greed, where citizens do not need to live
For all we shall worship one God in peace
For poverty shall not prevail any more
But keep heart oppressors!
God will not allow you to go on
Justice will prevail for the weak and meek.
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South East Asian 2:
Where can we find Justice and Peace?
In a place where wails and cries of the people
Enshrine the land.
Our hearts and minds are waiting for hope
Let these crushed bones rejoice
Oh God rescue your people in our land
And let your reign come!!!
There will come a time when
There will be no more fighting
There will be no more sufferings
There will be no more leaders
There will come a time when
There will be no more wars, but peace
There will be no more isms, but unity
There will be no more classes, but humanhood
There will come a time when
There will be no more oppression, but equality
There will be no more hatred, but love
There will be no more evil, but good
There will come a time when
The oppressed will be liberated,
The poor will prosper
The wicked will reign no more
There will come a time when
Women will not be discriminated
Children will smile with their eyes
We will die but we will live
Love will reign forever.
Justice will be for all.
Peace will reign forever.
This is our dream
There will come
a time for
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Modern Ecumenical Movements
The Ecumenical Movement is as old as Jesus' high priestly prayer (John 17:21) or the conflict between his disciples " who is the greatest?" or as even as old as Cain's question "am I my brother's keeper?"
There are 3 types of Ecumenism:
1. Traditional Ecumenism (coming together of Churches, groups)
2. Wider Ecumenism (Faith and ideology)
3. Eco-Ecumenism (Environment).
WSCF: World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) which was started
in 1895 in
"Encounters", "Movements", "Individuals" are all the attitudes that converged to establish the WCC in 1948,. It is mainly due to "Ecumenical Encounters" responsible to bring people together. The first assembly had representatives of all Christian confessions (147), except Roman Catholic.
Main trusts of the assembly were:
(1) Chief Legislative Assembly decides on Policy
(2) Reviews and plans for future
(3) Appoints central committee
(4) Since 1948 the composition of the body has been changing. Today participation from women, youth and laity is particularly emphasized.
WCC: World Council of Churches (WCC) is the most visible Ecumenical
expression of the 20th century Christianity. It is neither a
WCC is an association of individual churches rather than an association of national church associations, whereas, Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) is made up of representatives from the national council of churches only. If a denomination can accept the "basis" of WCC, it can become a member. In 1948, the basis was "Fellowship of denominations which confessed our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior". It changed in 1961 to "Fellowship as Churches which confesses The Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the
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Scripture and therefore seek to fulfil together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit." For the first time there is reference to Scripture and moves out to influence a life giving one that is the True nature of God. Here we find the Christological influence opening to the fullest of God. It is widening, dynamic and Theo-centric. WCC's composition is changing as there is an increasing number of participation from South countries as well as women, youth, and the laity.
In brief the 3 phases in the life of WCC are highlighted as follows:
1910 - 1948: Rediscovery of the whole church
1948 - 1968: Rediscovery of the whole church for the whole world
1968 - Today: Pluralism - period of Pluralism. Rediscovery of the whole world by the whole church.
Another challenge is the modernism and post modernism in the Ecumenical Movement. Modernism means "Truth" comes from "the center": that is people, organizations, and books. Post modernism challenges that "Truth" is everywhere, the mission is derived not from the centre alone but from different places. Hence we should not be intimidated by a strong powerful centre for there is truth to be learned from other cultures and places as well.
CCA comes under
the post modern Ecumenical concept. It is an organ and a forum of continuing
co-operation among the churches and national Christian bodies in
In the midst of
Religious and Cultural pluralism, CCA seeks to act, from deep spirituality and
theology as a facilitating agent for dialogue and action on issues of common
concern, for the breaking down of barriers that separate and cause division
between people of
Spiritual Incarnation
The Greek term Kenosis means emptying oneself. Here we learn that God empties its power and privilege of the divine, takes on vulnerability (human, servant, criminal) voluntarily. God identifies with the ones being left out and the marginalized who have nothing. Those who have nothing have all things and it is important to learn to know the spirituality of the poor and the marginalized. One the other hand, "ANAWIM" is a Hebrew term for the poorest of the poor that depicts the people in the Gospels of the New Testament.
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They have full humanity as living beings. We are challenged to be in solidarity with the poor, that is a shared presence with shared consequences, pitching tents together, and not running away from where Christ is present with the people. Both of these terms carry similar meaning.
Basing on the Texts, Rev. Duleep highlighted the Spiritual Incarnation of God and traced out the Asia Pacific Spiritual Incarnation
Phil. 2:5f Luke 2:7 John 1: 14
Workshop
Question: What must the Ecumenical Movement in Asia Pacific empty and
what must it take on to be in solidarity with the
Some of the shared feelings are:
· People should give up the ownership of churches to the youth
· Strong patriarchy is prevalent
· Discrimination by Church members especially to women
· No ordination of women
· Denominational exclusiveness encourages more fundamentalism
· Traditional differences -need to accept diversity
· Strong hierarchy
· Exclusive ecumenical values
· Church should target the suffering poor for a meaningful transformation against superficial reality
· Denominationalism
· Ancient civilization- sense of diverse culture
· Experience colonisation
· Pluralism - other living faiths: co-existing together of major/minor religions
· Poverty: AP has different levels of poverty in different areas
· Religiosity: It is an expression in our everyday life for people who are not interested in any other issues but religious ones
· Achieving community consensus: it is not about a community which is simply existing but living together, a consensus life without exclusiveness. Church needs to learn this lesson
· Violence, abuse and oppression: abuse of children, women and institutional violence etc. or even to the extent of violence and abuse of people who are always living under fear and of uncertainty
· Fundamentalism: emerged from the fear that people will adopt modern secular notions
· Range of political models
· Indigenous people / tribal
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Ecumenical tensions:
· Efficient business model vs. participatory model: For an organisation to function, we need to deal with finance, committee meetings, reports etc. whereas the need of the people in Asia Pacific is for participation. People in the periphery do not automatically acquire those organisational skills and so do not understand and cannot participate. How to deal with this tension so that we can have the balance to function effectively?
· Powers at centre vs. solidarity with the poor: How does an organization engage in decision-making but still organise programmes to be in solidarity with the poor?
· Community vs. cliques (small groups having own agenda): We need to be aware of the damages the Ecumenical Movement can cause. Often the Ecumenical Movement creates conflicts and division instead of unity.
· Survival vs. renewal: The question on the need to survive as a church, respond to the call or renew its mission is constantly challenged. This is the real tension most Churches experience. There must be some balance and continuation for both survival and renewal.
· Church vs. world: This is a big issue particularly in poor countries. People who are engaging in the life of community are questioning the need to organise projects, or build houses for the poor. The question is how can we balance our creative tensions and energy?
· Unique faith vs. other faiths/ideologies: This is connected with the question of Inter- Religious dialogue. Should we remain as we are or is it the task of Christians to reach out to others? What are the dynamics that would be encountered especially in a multi-faith context like Asia Pacific.
· Local vs. global: One of the good ecumenical encounters is to stop being extremely local. E.g. when you return to your country, you are going back with new eyes and you bring home an encounter learned from elsewhere.
· Unity vs. diversity: we can be different still we have common objectives. Our differences require us to look at things with different perspectives. It is significant that Christianity need not run away from differences.
· Evangelism vs. dialogue: Evangelism and dialogue always move people to different directions. Tensions will become creative energies if people are genuinely interested to work on something together.
Workshop
The participants were asked to make a Manifesto of the Asia-Pacific Spiritual Incarnation. Each group produced their own version which was later combined as the common manifesto for SELF-2001.
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Manifesto
We the youth representatives at SELF-2001 believe that spiritual incarnation is needed in the Ecumenical Movement of the Asia-Pacific.
We would like to affirm our stand in the Ecumenical Movement by encouraging the leadership of the CCA and WSCF to continue the movement of Jesus Christ. We envisage the ecumenical community facing and carrying the issues and interests of the poor, helpless, voiceless and oppressed, despite our differences.
In this work, we believe that the integrity of creation should be given priority. We believe Christ's vision for humanity can be realised by building closer relationships with our neighbours, both locally and globally, including other denominations, faiths, classes and ethnic groups. To achieve this aim there is a need to empower the younger generation to participate in the ecumenical movement. A renewal of the existing ecumenical institutions would provide transparency and vision for the people, from which a liberating and just ecumenical movement could evolve.
For our part, we aim to build a creative dialogue that works towards consensus, recognising the different issues and struggles of the people of the Asia-Pacific.