Cooperative
Ecumenism:
Being
Different
without Being
Distant
Guidelines
for
working
together while
maintaining
our
theological
integrity
.
by Mark
S. Kinzer
Can Christians belonging to different traditions – Protestant,
Catholic, and Orthodox – work together
while keeping their distinctive commitments
intact? A growing number of Christians are
asking this question as they find themselves
laboring side by side in evangelistic efforts
and renewal movements, Bible studies and prayer
groups, pastoral training and political causes
such as Right to Life.
The question can be asked two ways. On the one
hand, given our differing beliefs, can we
overcome frictions and tensions in order to
cooperate with each other effectively? On the
other hand, can we achieve harmony in any way
other than by suppressing and forgetting about
our differences?
I am convinced it is possible. Indeed, many
groups of Christians are learning to do it. From
their experience, I believe we can distill
principles for ecumenical cooperation that lead
neither to blow-ups and bad feelings nor to a
loss of our theological convictions.
Three
Types of Ecumenism
First it is helpful to recognize
that not all ecumenical efforts have the same
aim. There are various kinds of ecumenism, and
many problems can be avoided if we keep them
distinct.
The kind of ecumenism we are concerned with here
can be called "cooperative" or "grass-roots"
ecumenism. It is different from "dialogue"
ecumenism and "structural" ecumenism.
In dialogue ecumenism, theologians from various
churches discuss points of disagreement and
explore convergent ways of expressing what the
churches hold. The participants in the dialogue
seek for clarity of topics that have been
shrouded in obscurity through cultural
prejudice, polemical attitudes, and ignorance.
Both sides make an effort to understand what the
other side has been trying to say, and to talk
through points of controversy in a spirit of
charity.
Ecumenical dialogues have borne real fruit. For
example, the document on justification produced
in 1983 by a Roman Catholic-Lutheran dialogue in
the United States is a very valuable
contribution to Catholic-Protestant
understanding. [Now updated by The
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of
Justification (JDDJ), agreed to by the
Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for
Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU) and the
Lutheran World Federation in 1999]
Structural ecumenism involves official leaders
of Christian bodies working to join their
churches in a structural union. Several
Christian bodies around the world represent the
results of such efforts. The United Church in
Canada, in Australia, and in South India, the
United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian
Church in the United States, the American
Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church in
America (two Lutheran bodies which are
themselves moving toward merger), are each an
example of a church produced by joining together
smaller bodies of Christians.
By contrast with dialogue and structural
ecumenism, cooperative ecumenism does not
necessarily involve official leaders and
representatives of the churches. It is mainly
the work of ordinary Christians, which is why it
can also be called “grass-roots” ecumenism. The
goal is to accomplish certain tasks or to share
aspects of Christian life.
In cooperative ecumenism the focus is not on
resolving theological disagreements, let alone
trying to achieve structural unity. Rather the
participants take what they already have in
common as the basis for doing something
together.
Of course, participants may personally be quite
interested in the theological issues and
earnestly desire to see their churches brought
together. But they recognize that direct
progress toward these goals must come on the
official level. Efforts to overcome theological
and structural divisions on the grass-roots
level can only be frustrating and can even
damage cooperative enterprises. Christians who
engage in cooperative ecumenism do foster the
long-term goal of Christian unity, but they do
so by carrying out activities that build
understanding and love between different
Christians, not by tackling theological and
structural issues head on.
Christians engage in cooperative ecumenism for
many reasons. We find that we have similar
concerns and viewpoints. We face common
challenges and experience common needs. However,
the most significant motivation for ecumenical
cooperation is the reality of our relationship
to Jesus Christ. We are brothers and sisters,
baptized into Jesus Christ and by virtue of that
fact are joined to one another, whether we like
it or not.
Numerous expressions of cooperative ecumenism
have sprung up in response to these factors.
Among them are:
Publications. Many Christian book
publishers publish the works of both Protestants
and Catholics. There are ecumenical periodicals
– Living
Bulwark, for example.
Evangelism and apologetics. Protestant
evangelistic organizations, particularly those
reaching out to young people, have always been
ecumenical among Protestant evangelicals, but in
the last few years some of them have begun to
work across Protestant-Catholic lines as well.
Some, for example, are beginning to work in
Catholic countries in Europe in ways that help
bring the gospel to nominal Roman Catholics
without urging them to leave the Roman Catholic
Church. The Cursillo Movement, although it began
as a Catholic evangelistic movement, is often
able to work in an ecumenical way. In the field
of apologetics, Southwestern Baptist Seminary,
some leaders of Campus Crusade, and Catholics in
the International Academy of Philosophy have
worked together in recent years to present
reasoned arguments against contemporary atheism.
Practical instruction about Christian living.
James Dobson is an example of a Christian leader
who is able to give practical teaching on family
living and other aspects of daily life that is
helpful to Christians from many different church
backgrounds.
Schools.
Prayer groups and Bible studies,
spiritual renewal groups and movements.
Social and political action movements
concerning issues such as abortion, pornography,
and religious liberties.
Relief
of the needy.
Movements for fidelity to the basic truths of
the gospel and the renewal of the Christian
people, such as the Allies for Faith and
Renewal conferences sponsored by the Center for
Pastoral Renewal.
The Ties That Bind
How do we engage in these
kinds of ecumenical endeavors without
jeopardizing either our cooperation or our
different theological positions? I would suggest
twelve principles.
The first I would call the principle of the
family tie. This principle involves loving
one another as brothers and sisters in Jesus
Christ.
In recent years Christians from a wide variety
of backgrounds have been coming to recognize
that they have brothers and sisters in Christ in
churches different from their own. They may
still find much that they cannot accept in one
another's churches, but they acknowledge each
other as brothers and sisters in Christ,
This is a very promising development because, in
fact, we do have a relationship in Christ; we
have a family tie. And the relationship carries
with it obligations. This is clearly the
scriptural teaching; for example, look at the
First Letter of John: if we recognize each other
as brethren, we are acknowledging a bond that we
must express practically, concretely, in love.
In an ecumenical group, this bond determines the
way we work out the various difficulties and
obstacles that we encounter. There is a parallel
here with the way that members of a natural
family ought to treat each other. In my family,
I have some serious differences with my
brothers. One of them is not a Christian at all,
and his world view is very much that of a
secular humanist. But he is my brother, and that
determines the way we handle our differences and
difficulties. Despite problems we treat each
other with respect, and help each other as we
are able, and do not speak about each other
critically in front of other people.
No
Other Foundation
The second principle I
call the principle of the one foundation.
In cooperative ecumenism, we base our common
life and work on the great truths shared by all
Christians. Our cornerstone is Christ himself,
as the apostle Paul says: "No other foundation
can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is
Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).
We are not gathering together simply because we
all have good intentions; we are not merely
humanitarians. And certainly we do not base our
unity on a common set of interests – we are
all interested in education, we enjoy
conferences. We are coming together because we
love Jesus Christ. We want to dedicate ourselves
to him, to his service, to his cause in the
world. We are united in our faith in the
incarnation of the Son of God, in his atoning
death and victorious resurrection. We are united
in our knowledge of God who is Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit – one God, three Persons – and
in our conviction that the Bible is the word of
God and is authoritative for our lives. Even
though we hold different views of baptism, we
acknowledge our common baptism into Christ.
This is a strong foundation. To stand on it
together does not mean engaging in "lowest
common denominator” ecumenism. In mathematics,
fractions are combined by reducing them to a
lowest common denominator. To come together as
Christians on the basis of a "lowest common
denominator” would mean reducing our Christian
beliefs to whatever minimal formula we could all
agree on and forgetting about everything that
did not fit into the formula. But the principle
of the one foundation does not mean that we
regard everything we disagree on as unimportant.
It means that we appreciate the greater
importance of the faith that we already share.
It means emphasizing our existing unity rather
than our differences, even though we maintain
them.
Theologians sometimes speak of a hierarchy of
truths. They mean that truths are related to one
another in a certain ranking or order; certain
truths of the Christian faith are more
foundational than others. While holding to the
full doctrinal position of their different
traditions, Christians can nevertheless come
together on the basis of the most fundamental
elements in the hierarchy of Christian truths.
When we are involved in a common ecumenical
effort, we need to keep reminding each other of
this foundation we share.
Don't
Rush Ahead
There are differences between us,
and those differences need to be recognized
rather than ignored. That leads into the third
point, which is what I call the offside
penalty. The reference is to soccer. Being
"offside" involves running ahead of the ball,
getting ahead of your own men.
Some folks involved in cooperative ecumenism run
ahead of their church. Commonly, for instance,
Christians get offside regarding
inter-communion. A group of Catholics involved
with a group of Protestants will say to
themselves, "Experiencing such a profound union
in the Holy Spirit, how can we deny our unity by
not sharing in the Lord's body and blood?" Then
they "go ahead" of the Roman Catholic position
and share communion.
I am not saying anything about whether I think
the Roman Catholic teaching on the issue is
right or wrong. The point is that, whatever one
thinks of the teaching, it is the Roman Catholic
position to refrain from inter-communion.
Catholics or Protestants who ignore it may be
trying to foster Christian unity by the sharing
of communion. But Catholics who do so subject
themselves to serious criticism from within
their own church and in the long run create more
suspicion and bad feeling than real unity.
On the other side, I believe Protestants make a
similar mistake when they join in certain
Catholic practices, such as Marian devotions, as
a way of expressing their solidarity with a
group of Catholics. In some Protestant churches,
members who took part in Marian prayers would be
viewed as abandoning biblical teaching, possibly
giving cause for their dismissal from the
church. Again, the tensions provoked within
their own church might actually impede progress
toward ultimate unity.
I Will
Support You
Fourth principle: the
imperfect marriage. The principle concerns
our supporting fellow Christians in their church
commitments even though we see their churches as
imperfect. The comparison is to a brother or
sister or close friend who marries someone we do
not think is a good partner. Once the couple
have formalized their commitment, we do not seek
to break up the marriage. Rather we take the
marriage as a given and do what we can to
support the two in living out their commitment
as well as they can.
I do not believe that church commitments are of
the same order as the marriage commitment. But
the "imperfect marriage” analogy serves to show
that there are situations in which we do support
a person in a concrete relationship to someone
or something, even though we think that someone
or something has some serious flaws.
But how, it might be asked, can we honestly be
committed to supporting our fellow Christians in
their church commitments? Doesn't that mean we
are encouraging them to adhere to teaching or
practices that we believe are defective or
mistaken?
No, not directly. Our fellow Christians have
decided to make commitments not just to
particular positions we disagree with, but to
entire churches and Christian traditions. Those
churches and traditions contain not only some
elements which we may view as deficient or
incorrect, but also many which we can agree are
right and good. The key question for us to ask
ourselves is not whether we agree with
everything the other person's church teaches
(obviously we do not) but whether, despite its
deficiencies, we can recognize it as a real
Christian communion in which God is at work. If
so, we can say, "I wouldn't have chosen that
"partner for you, but since you've chosen it for
yourself, I will support you in being faithful
in that relationship."
From my past experience when I was a pastoral
leader in The Sword of the Spirit, which is an
ecumenical community, I found myself on several
occasions caring for a Roman Catholic who was
having difficulties with Roman Catholicism, or
for a Presbyterian who was having problems with
Presbyterianism. I have referred them to the
people who are responsible for their
relationship with their church – their
priest or minister.
Because I am committed to supporting brothers
and sisters in our community in their church
commitments, situations like this have spurred
me to study other churches. The more I have
studied, the more I have appreciated. I am
neither a Roman Catholic nor a Calvinist, but I
have come to be able to make a decent case for
Roman Catholicism or Calvinism. Indeed, I have
sometimes held forth on the virtues and strong
points of those traditions to brothers and
sisters who were part of those churches.
If they reach the decision not to continue in a
commitment to their church, that changes the
situation, and then I will talk with them from a
different angle. But as long as they are
committed to another church, I seek to support
them in that. (Of course I am referring only to
churches that are clearly Christian bodies, not
non-Christian groups such as the Jehovah's
Witnesses.)
Headache
or Blessing?
Speaking of appreciating the
strengths of other traditions leads to the
principle of the blessing of in-laws. This
builds on another family analogy. When a person
marries, he or she is marrying into another
family-gaining in-laws. This is challenging. The
in-laws present many potential problems, but
there are also benefits. Inlaws can make a real
contribution through wisdom shared, help
extended, care for children, and sometimes
financial provision.
Whether in-laws turn out to be a headache or a
blessing depends to a great extent on the
attitude that the couple takes.
Similarly, without losing sight of disagreements
between our traditions, we can benefit from the
treasures of other Christian traditions. It
largely depends on whether we are looking for
and expecting a good relationship.
I personally have benefited enormously in this
way in our ecumenical community. As soon as I
was willing to drop the walls of prejudice that
I had set up to institutional Christianity, I
began to appreciate spiritual treasures there
which now I would not want to do without. I
think of what reading about Francis of Assisi
has meant to me – and going to Assisi and
praying there. Even reading about Ignatius
Loyola-the founder of the Jesuits and not a man
who sympathized with Protestant views-has
inspired me, and so has reading about the North
American Jesuit martyrs, The Desert Fathers of
the Eastern Orthodox tradition have come to mean
a great deal to me.
I know many brothers and sisters who are
Catholic and Orthodox who have come to
appreciate men and women like John Wesley and
Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael and Gladys
Aylward, to whom they have been introduced by
Protestants in our community.
Admittedly, the anti-Catholic or anti-Protestant
attitudes of many of those who have written
about such people are an obstacle to other
Christians' appreciation. In the times when many
of these great people lived, relations with
separated Christians were often marred by
prejudices and unfair judgments, and even very
admirable Christian men and women often shared
these views. But there are treasures to be
found, if we can overcome these problems. The
acquaintance with other Christians that we gain
through cooperative ecumenism can be an
opportunity for discovering more of the vast
spiritual inheritance we have as Christians.
Secret
Agendas
The sixth principle is the
principle of the nonaggression pact. In a
cooperative ecumenical venture, we must agree
not to actively seek to convert other Christians
to our own church. Seeking converts is
experienced as aggression against the other
person's commitment and naturally provokes
defensiveness and the suspicion that everyone
has a Secret agenda.
To say that we are not going to seek actively to
bring other Christian brothers and sisters into
our church does not mean that individuals never
make changes according to changing convictions.
Nor does it mean that we do not speak to one
another about all the dimensions of our faith
and the disagreements that we have with other
traditions. It does mean that we are not
engaging in practical ecumenical activities from
the point of view of Seeking to bring the other
person around to our way of seeing the truth.
Principles seven, eight, and nine are closely
related. They concern the importance of not
behaving in our cooperative ecumenical groups or
organizations as though everyone belongs to the
same church tradition.
Cultural
Sensitivity
I call number seven the
principle of culture shock. As Christians
become involved with one another in cooperative
ecumenical activities, they encounter each
other's distinctive cultural expressions. Some
of these expressions stem from theological
positions; they all reflect different cultural
and historical experiences.
Catholics notice that what they call the “Our
Father" Protestants call the "Lord's Prayer” and
pray with an addendum about "Kingdom, power, and
glory." Protestants see Catholics crossing
themselves and genuflecting. Protestants also
notice that Catholics and Orthodox use pictures
of Jesus, Mary, and notable Christians of the
past-which Protestants generally do not do;
Orthodox notice that Catholics in addition use
statues, which Orthodox generally do not do.
Everyone finds each other's music and devotional
practices unfamiliar.
We may find some of these differences
interesting. We may find others disturbing, even
offensive. The social environments we create in
our ecumenical groups and organizations need to
minimize this second reaction. This does not
mean that, as a courtesy to each other, we
refrain from using controversial religious
expressions in ways that imply that everyone in
the common ecumenical setting accepts them.
Neither does this mean that we abandon these
particular expressions, but only that we
restrain ourselves from seeming to impose them
on others. Each of us has many other times and
situations outside the ecumenical setting in
which to make use of the full range of
manifestations of our own Christian tradition.
In our own community we make a distinction
between "common situations” and "church
situations.” Common situations are those where
the whole body is together or where there are
groupings of brothers and sisters from different
church backgrounds. Church situations are those
in which our church groupings – Reformed,
Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and nondenominational
– meet, and occasions when a family or group is
together in which everyone is from one church
background. In the common situations we avoid
cultural expressions that involve points of
difference or which are likely to seem very
foreign to some members.
Most Christians tend to be oblivious of ways in
which other Christians find some of their
cultural expressions disturbing or offensive.
Especially if we ourselves are theologically
inclined, we may mainly think about divisions in
terms of theological differences. But most
ordinary Christian people experience the
divisions on the cultural level. What songs are
being played? What are the words? Is that a
cross or a crucifix? What kind of robes is the
person wearing?
It was hard for many of the Catholic brothers
and sisters in my community to understand that I
had a negative reaction to crucifixes. It was
based on both my Protestant and my Jewish
background. I could appreciate the way that a
crucifix could inspire them in worship, and I
did not object to Catholics using crucifixes in
their homes, for example. But it was important
for the Catholics to see the inappropriateness
of using crucifixes in common community
situations.
Inclusive
Language
Eight, the principle of the
exclusive part. This concerns how we
speak. It is all too easy to speak about things
in ways that implicitly exclude some of the
Christians who are present. Those Christians are
then in the uncomfortable situation of a person
invited to a party where an "in-crowd" dominates
the conversation. We unwittingly create this
effect when we use terminology such as
“non-Catholics” or “non-Baptists.” The obvious
implication is that our group is Catholic or
Baptist – surely not the message we want to send
if we are trying to work ecumenically.
To use terms familiar only to people in our own
tradition without explaining them is also
exclusivist. The terms may not be controversial,
simply unfamiliar.
I still remember the first time I heard about a
"novena." I had no idea what a novena was, and
the Catholics who were talking did not stop and
explain (it turns out to mean making a
petitionary prayer for nine days, a practice
that recalls the nine days which the apostles
spent together in prayer between Christ's
ascension and Pentecost).
Protestants sometimes use terms connected with
church order – synod, presbytery, classis,
calling a pastor – which make
Catholics scratch their heads and wonder what is
being talked about.
All of us grow up with certain terms in our
respective traditions, and they become second
nature to us. In cooperative ecumenism we have
to make a conscious effort to learn what parts
of our tradition need to be explained to other
Christians.
By
What Authority?
The ninth principle is the
principle of the abuse of authorities. In
an ecumenical setting, if we are presenting
teaching, giving an explanation, or making a
proposal, we should be careful to use as
authorities only what everyone recognizes as
authoritative. Otherwise we are giving the
situation the flavor of a particular tradition,
and those who do not recognize the authorities
appealed to will feel excluded or manipulated.
We certainly do have scripture as a common
authority, although we are not all in agreement
on the canon of the Old Testament. Some of us
recognize additional authorities, to various
degrees. For instance, some traditions consider
the creeds of the ancient church to be
authoritative, but others would view them as
less than authoritative, although to be taken
very seriously. Some would put church councils
and the early Fathers of the church in the
authoritative category, while others would not.
In addition, in some traditions there are
certain great teachers of the past who are
especially influential. In one setting, to cite
Thomas Aquinas clinches an argument. In another
setting, it is John Calvin.
In all such cases, in an ecumenical group we
should never take it for granted that the
authorities we are used to citing are acceptable
to everyone.
An example of the problem is the use of the
deutero-canonical, or apocryphal, books of the
Old Testament. Some Christians regard those
books as scripture. Others treat them as books
deserving great respect but not on the level of
scripture. Anyone referring to these books in an
ecumenical setting needs to be careful not
simply to cite them as scripture. I wrote a book
called The Angry Christian in which I quoted
some sayings from the book of Sirach, or
Ecclesiasticus. In the preface I explained that
it is a book which not all Christians regard as
scripture but which all can at least recognize
as a source of wisdom about godly living. I
think that such an approach is the kind we need
to take in an ecumenical setting.
Honest
Differences
My next recommendation, number ten,
is the principle of the honest mistake.
This principle applies to how we view our
theological disagreements.
Even in cooperative ecumenism, where we are not
concentrating on the issues that separate us,
there is a place for talking about our doctrinal
disagreements. If we take each other's sincerity
and commitment to Christ seriously, we can see
the positions which other Christians take as
mistakes that a Christian could honestly make
rather than as deliberate attempts to distort
the truth. This perspective allows us to discuss
issues without calling our relationship as
brothers and sisters into question.
Some years ago, before I had much contact with
Roman Catholics, I thought that the Catholic
Mass was idolatrous. As I have gotten to know
Catholics who are fine Christians and who
believe the Catholic teaching, and as I have
studied the Roman Catholic position, I have come
to see that it is clearly not idolatry. I still
do not agree with it, but I have come to respect
it.
When we speak about our differences, we ought to
be seeking to understand them more clearly,
rather than seeking to persuade each other of
our own positions. This is related to the
principle of the nonaggression pact that I
mentioned earlier. That kind of informative, non
threatening conversation changed my view of
Roman Catholicism. When I really began to listen
to what Catholics believed, I was able to
recognize my prejudices and preconceptions for
what they were. I began to see their position as
reasonable, even when I was not persuaded of the
truth of it.
Know
Thy Tradition
The eleventh principle is the principle of the
educational imperative. I put this near the end
because the ten previous principles ought to
make clear our need to learn about one another,
and we cannot do that properly unless we know
something about our own tradition. We need not
only to learn about each other through reading,
studying, asking questions, and engaging in
relationships with other Christians; we also
need to educate ourselves about our own
tradition. Sometimes we get into difficulties in
our ecumenical relationships by defending
positions that are not necessarily the positions
of our own church. I know that I have been in
that situation, and others have too.
Finally:
Forbearance
A final principle is the
deportment of non-defense. It simply means
not being touchy when our brothers and sisters
in Christ violate all the other principles. We
are going to be in situations where people from
other church backgrounds do not handle things
the way I am suggesting.
And, obviously, even if we are trying to follow
these principles, we ourselves are going to make
lots of mistakes. But if we start off with a
genuine commitment to work together, to work
past the difficulties and the differences, to
make allowance for the mistakes that our
brothers and sisters make (and desire that they
make allowance for our mistakes), not being
defensive and overly sensitive, and forbearing
in love, then we will be able to cooperate with
one another successfully in the service of the
Lord.
Mark S. Kinzer is a Messianic
Jew, theologian, and Rabbi of Congregation Zera
Avraham in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and President
Emeritus of Messianic Jewish Theological
Institute. He has been involved in ecumenical
work since the 1970s. Beginning in 1971 he lived
for 20 years in an ecumenical Christian
community, called The Word of God, in Ann Arbor,
Michigan, USA for some 20 years. The community
included Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox,
Pentecostals, and Messianic Jews. He has been a
member of the Messianic Jewish – Roman Catholic
Dialogue Group since its inception in 2000. He
has written many articles and books, including Living
With a Clear Conscience: A Christian Strategy
for Overcoming Guilt and Self-Condemnation
(1982), and Searching Her Own Mystery:
Nostra Aetate, the Jewish People, and the
Identity of the Church (2015), with a
forward by Christoph Cardinal Schonborn.
