Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

CHAPTER 9 THE 20 TH CENTURY: CENTURY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT?
Ruth Rouse summarises the trends that, by the end of the 19 th Century, were leading towards
the remarkable change in relations between Christians which became known in the 20 th
Century as the ecumenical movement. 128 She writes of:
• „One of the most powerful and dynamic missionary movements the world has ever
seen,‟ which led to the cooperation of Christians of different denominations.
• The founding of the Evangelical Alliance as „a new thing in Christian history‟.
• The development of a sense of „togetherness‟ amongst Christians of many
denominations, crossing national barriers. „Christians conscious of this “togetherness”
became the volunteer reserve force of ecumenism,‟ and prepared the way for the
advance in ecumenical activity created at Edinburgh 1910.
• A demand for Churches to draw together as well as individual Christians to share
fellowship.
To the Edinburgh World Missionary Conference of 1910 were submitted eight areas of
interest to the promotion of missions worldwide, and the last of these was Co-operation and
the Promotion of Unity.
W H T Gairdner, a Church of England missionary in Cairo, writing on behalf of the
Committee of the World Missionary Conference, pointed out that the mission field which had
gone furthest in the matter of cooperation was China. 129 Delegates had heard a plea from
China for unity in an earlier session of the Conference, The Church in the Mission Field.
Now they heard specific facts about unity that had already been achieved in Western China in
nine areas of missionary work. Strict comity was observed for the missionary operations of
those areas. There was a common course of study, a union university formed by a federation
of four missions, cooperation in medical missions, a common printing press, Christian
magazine and hymn book, and a standing committee working towards the aim of one church
organisation for Western China.
A Chinese delegate, Cheng Chung-yi, working with the London Missionary Society, in the
seven minutes allotted to each speaker, gave a strong plea for unity as a compelling need
because of the greatness of the task and because the Chinese yearned for unity in both Church
and Nation. He said: „Speaking plainly, we hope to see in the near future a United Christian
Church without any denominational distinctions.‟ He maintained that denominationalism was
alien to the Chinese Christian mind. 130
128 Rouse, Ruth and Neill, Stephen C, A History of the Ecumenical Movement, 1517-1948, SPCK,
London, 1954, pp 309ff.
129 Gairdner, W H T, Edinburgh 1910. An account in interpretation of the World Missionary
Conference.
130 Gairdner, W H T, Edinburgh 1910. An account in interpretation of the World Missionary
Conference, pp 183-186.
Page 111