Introduction
My presentation on Christian Spirituality
in relation to Social Responsibility will be from the Student Christian
Movement's (SCM) perspective. I will focus on the World Student Christian
Federation's (WSCF) history because that itself has been a journey of searching
for the dynamic relationship between Christian Spirituality and Social
Responsibility.
If you look back to the history of the WSCF,
it is very clear that this organization has played a crucial role in providing
leaders to the ecumenical movement. How could it be possible? Because, I think,
SCMs have accepted and struggled seriously with the challenges that were given
by the churches, societies and universities. The SCMs wanted to fulfill their
responsibility as responsible Christians in their societies. I think that SCMs
have responded properly to the dynamic relationships between church, university
and society, or to the issues of Christian spirituality and social responsibility.
Reflection on the WSCF history
Six gentlemen including John R. Mott and
Karl Fries who were concerned about the future leaders of the ecumenical movement
formed the WSCF in 1895. They felt the need to organize an Ecumenical Student
Christian Movement. As a result, SCMs were formed in different parts of the
world.
John. R. Mott and his wife Leila traveled to Asia in order
to help organize SCMs in the region in December of the same year. They started
in Sri Lanka, then on to India, Australia, New Zealand and some other parts
such as China and Japan. John R. Mott was the first General Secretary of the
Federation until 1929.
W. A. Visser't Hooft succeeded him until 1938. It was at his time when
they persuaded the formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Because of World War II, the formation of the WCC was postponed. Finally, ecumenical leaders formed the WCC in 1948 in Amsterdam. John R. Mott chaired the
inaugural assembly of the WCC and Visser't Hooft became its first
General Secretary. The WSCF was then known as the training ground of leaders
for the ecumenical movement.
The ecumenical movement's main task
during the late 19th century and early 20th century was missionary work.
Different missionary organizations were formed, namely, the Baptist Missionary
Society (1792), the London Missionary Society (1795) that was later changed . to Council for World
Mission, the Anglican Evangelical Church Mission Society (1799), the British
and Foreign Bible Society (1804), and the Wesley Methodist Missionary Society
(1817-1818). Also many missionary societies were formed in the Netherlands,
Germany, France, and Nordic countries. All these mission societies sent their
missionaries to the different continents such as Asia, Africa and Latin
America. All these Missionary Societies had met several times to discuss mission
strategies:
• 1 854 in New York
• 1878 and 1888 in London
• 1900 in New York
• 1910 in Edinburgh - This was the World
Missionary Conference initiated by John R. Mott, Joseph Oldham and William
Temple.
All these gatherings were not just
Christian missionary gatherings. They were a reflection of the growing Ecumenical
Movement at that time and the WSCF had been at the center of all these. The
WSCF encouraged and inspired students in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
to engage actively in the work of spreading the gospel and affirming the unity
of the Church. It provided a forum for students to meet and work together,
share and live out their ecumenical vision and commitment. In short, the
students of those days tried to find out their Christian spirituality in their
missionary works with the motto of "Evangelization of the world in this
generation."
Some 100 years have passed and all these
early missionaries have gone. The missionary initiatives are now going slower.
Why is this so? Let me use the "thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis"
method of social analysis of Marxists and Hegelians to explain. Perhaps the
missionary initiatives in those days were the thesis led by the Westerners.
However, due to secularism, mission work faced a lot of challenges. This
Western Christianity then was not so influential because of secularization. In
the meantime, those who belonged to Third World Christian communities under
secularization were strongly involved in mission work. Therefore, I would call
this trend as the anti-thesis. Now is the time to search for new alternatives
for mission work. We may call these efforts of Christians involved in Western
mission boards as well as the Third World churches and agencies that work together
in partnership as a synthesis. This will lead to Christians becoming more
influential along with the NGOs or civic organizations work for justice and
peace in our midst. At the same time, the synthesis could in future include
expanding the Ecumenical Movement into partnership with other evangelicals and
Pentecostals.
As we observed from 1910 to 1948, the
WSCF mission thrust was ecumenical formation. Many events were happening
around this period. In 1921, the International Missionary Council (IMC) was formed. In 1925, a gathering was organized in
Stockholm focusing on Life and Work. Another gathering was organized in 1927
in Oxford, focusing on Faith and Order. All these events were influenced by the
leaders of the Federation one way or another.
The First World War had affected the
ecumenical formation initiatives. There were divisions that were so hard to
rectify. So the WSCF focused its work on church reconciliation through
ecumenical work camps. They came together to build houses to provide shelters
for the student refugees. This emphasis on church reconciliation went on until
World War II broke up.
After the two World Wars, when most of
the Third World countries achieved their independence, many of them formed
SCMs in Asia. Most of the task of the SCMs in Asia at that time was
nation-building. The WSCF in general put much focus on its mission led by M. M.
Thomas on the one hand, and on university work led by John Coleman on the other
hand. Its emphasis on the Life and Mission of the Church was introduced in the
Federation. Based on this effort, "the Christian Presence in the Academic
Community" grew very much in the 1960s. WSCF published a magazine called
"Student World" that was a venue for vital communication, debate and
exchange of opinions among the Christian intellectuals.
In short, in those days the spirituality
of SCM could be found through a wide *' range of ecumenical agenda - whether ^
related to church unity through Life and \ , Mission of the Church programme,
reconciliation efforts through Work Camp, nation-building, Christian presence
in the academic community, and whether in the churches, societies and universities.
In the late 60s, student power was the
dominant trend in Asia and the Western hemisphere. Student radicals made a
tremendous impact on domestic affairs in the different parts of Asia and the
rest of the world. Since the 1970s, the focus of the WSCF was on Leadership
Formation Programmes such as Asia Study Fellowship (ASF),
Asia Leadership Development Centre (ALDEC), Asian
Secretary Formation (ASFor), and the Human Resources
Development (HRD) which is now called Student Empowerment for Transformation
(SET). At the same time emphasis was given to solidarity with people's
aspiration and struggle for liberation, democratization, human rights, as well
as ecumenical partnership with churches, and gender issues. In fact, leadership
formation remained one of the Federation's priorities. Most SCMs in Asia had
been actively involved in people's movement towards democracy and human rights.
This period also showed the growing and worsening relationship of the SCMs and
the churches because most SCMs had challenged the institutional churches of
their conservative tendencies.
In Asia-Pacific, the WSCF was asked by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA)
to organize a consultation to help address the situation. In 1982, a meeting
with church leaders of the CCA was organized in Hong Kong at the Tao Fong Shan
Ecumenical Centre to discuss how to cooperate with each other with an
ecumenical spirit. A result of this effort was the formation of the CCA-WSCF
joint program committee that continues till today.
Another important development in the
Asia-Pacific region was to. empower women's
participation in the life of SCMs, churches and societies as a whole. Moreover,
inter-movement
exchange of students, young faculty members, SCM staff workers,
and potential young church leaders became an important component of the WSCF
Asia-Pacific Region. And even as the SCM struggled
to relate with institutional churches, they continue to find their Christian
spirituality through active involvement in people's movements. This was
particularly evident in the SCMS of Korea and the Philippines. As far as
publication is concerned, the Asia Book series is quite popular among the
students. Praxis, a quarterly magazine, equally serves as a means of
communication of the
Federation.
Present Generation of Students
Regarding the current generation of
students, it seems to me that most of the students tend to ignore the serious
and critical issues of society, the university and the Church. They simply concentrate
on their individual studies or career plans. Likewise, the educational systems
are forced to concentrate mainly on technical development in order to produce
more expertise.
In these difficult times for students,
let me clarify some tasks of the current SCMs:
1.
To
revive the academism in the universities. The SCM has to continuously provide
room for students to engage in academic debates toward the holistic approach
to the meaning of truth.
2.
To
promote ecumenism in the churches. It is a fact that the number of Christians
who belong to mainline Churches is declining while the population of
Evangelicals and Pentecostals is growing.
Also the influences of Islam and Buddhism are growing everywhere. We can
not simply ignore or avoid this tendency. We should respond to these challenges
in a positive way. Therefore, it is a challenge for us to live out the spirit
of ecumenism not only within the churches but also and even with other
religions. I think that it was very timely for the WCC
to suggest to have 'ecumenical forums' to which all
church bodies, including evangelicals and Catholics, can participate equally.
The SCM can play an important role again in promoting a genuine ecumenical
vision and mission.
3.
To
respond to present socio-economic context. According to Alvin Toffler, the
dominant force in the 21st century will be the multi-national companies (MNCs) and religions. And with globalization, our life will
be more focused on the economic dimension. However, religion will still play
an important factor, which means that we, as students and at the same time as
Christians, should clearly articulate our social responsibility in the era of
globalization. I believe that we can only discover the proper Christian
spirituality when we fulfill these tasks.
4.
To
build a power base. According to Saul Alinsky,
community organization is a local base for power. You need to have power in
order to change or improve your situation. Power comes from either people or
money. Without these elements, you could not make changes in the churches,
university and society. How should we then build this power base? This is the
task you have to struggle with. You have to have a vision, mission, proper
recruitment, training, then sending out for service to the communities. In order
to do this, we need to go back to our respective SCMs, evaluate and reflect,
plan certain tasks, and so begin to revitalize the SCM.
The New Challenges
Let me briefly suggest the following
challenges and global issues for your consideration. The modern mindset's
foundation was confidence in humanity rather than God. It was testified through
Renaissance and blossomed in the 18th century European Enlightenment. The
postmodern mindset rejects Enlightenment's self-confidence and optimism. It
issues a reaction against the modernity of both Renaissance and Enlightenment.
The future mindset's application is objective in universal character as Christians
still affirm that God has revealed Godself in Christ.
With this understanding, let us look at
some of the global issues:
• Pluralism - multi-racial and
multi-religious problems
• War and Peace - nuclear disarmament and
Christian peace building
• Human Rights - human rights violation and
human responsibility
• Environment: conservation debate and
awareness building
• Work and Unemployment: solution and the
role of the Church
• Industrial relations -- global-ization and abolition of discrimination
• Women and Men - gender justice and
equality
• Poverty and Wealth: the paradox of poverty
and inequality
• Information, Science and Technology.
Conclusion
Based on the brief sketch of the WSCF
history, we can see that the spirituality of the SCMs has always emphasized a
particular aspect at various periods of time. Hence, it sometimes consisted of
mission works in ecumenical formation and development or of active involvement
in people's movements. In truth and in fact, all these constitute the holistic
meaning of our Christian spirituality and social responsibility. They cannot
and should not be separated.