Digging Out the Embedded Church - The Maranatha Community

With so much talk of unity and cooperation at Edinburgh, it was natural that there should be a
move to ensure that something lasting should come from the Conference. There was a
solemn half-hour of silence with shut doors, leading to sharing in saying the General
Confession to acknowledge the sin of disunity, followed by the united reciting of the
Apostles‟ Creed.
The Chairman of the Commission which had discussed the promotion of unity then moved a
resolution to form a Continuation Committee „international and representative in character‟
which would carry out, on the lines of the Conference itself, measures to continue moves
towards cooperation and unity in the setting up of an International Missionary Committee. It
was stressed that the creating of organic, ecclesiastical union was not a part of this
Continuation Committee‟s brief. The setting up of the Continuation Committee was carried
by a unanimous vote.
The question of what kind of visible unity was envisaged had to be raised. One speaker
wanted „a great united organisation‟, but others found unity to be not in organisation but in a
shared spiritual life.
Professor James Denney 131 felt unity was only possible among those who shared the same
attitude toward Christ. He wanted a unity based on common loyalty to Jesus Christ as Lord
and Saviour, not on agreement over doctrinal or ecclesiastical positions. There were
speakers, however, who urged that denominational differences were important. Each
denomination held some truth that was important to the whole church and must be preserved.
From all these deliberations and discussions the Catholic branch of the Church was excluded
as there were no official Roman Catholic delegates, but several speakers expressed the hope
that one day the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches would become involved in working
for unity.
Edinburgh 1910 led to the formation, directly or indirectly, of two ecumenical study groups;
indirectly, the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work in Stockholm in 1925 and,
directly, a World Conference on Faith and Order in Lausanne in 1927. The Stockholm
Conference dealt with practical issues relevant to the progress of the churches‟ life and
witness; the Lausanne Conference tried to face doctrinal questions.
Over 50 years later, Faith and Order produced a paper in which baptism was considered as a
basis for unity (known as the „Lima„ text as the Conference which produced it was held in
Peru). The view of this Paper is that „the necessity of faith for the reception of the salvation
embodied and set forth in baptism is acknowledged by all the churches.‟ 132
All denominations would agree that personal commitment is necessary for responsible
membership in the body of Christ. However, the strong and traditional hard-line Baptist view
131 Gairdner, W H T, Edinburgh 1910. An account in interpretation of the World Missionary
Conference, p 206. James Denney (1856-1917) was prominent in seeking to bring unity to his native
Scottish churches by being involved in the negotiations which led to the formation of the United Free
Church in 1900 and taking part in the measures which were to bring about union with the established
Church of Scotland after his death.
132 Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Faith and Order, Paper 111, WCC, 1982.
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