08.08.2015 Views

Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>The</strong> church at Corinth was full of <strong>Christian</strong>s who were very mixed doctrinally,and some with a low standard of morality were never<strong>the</strong>less called ‘saints’ byPaul because <strong>the</strong>y ‘called upon <strong>the</strong> name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1Corinthians 1.1). Sadly, Protestants also have nominal <strong>Christian</strong>s in <strong>the</strong>ircongregations.e) Ecumenical activities take up too much time, which we should bespending on our own churches.This is a genuine concern to many. I think that if ‘ecumenical activities’ areseen as something of a duty, a fad or a fashion, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>y probably will be awaste of time. But when <strong>the</strong>y arise naturally out of prayer with believers ofo<strong>the</strong>r denominations, <strong>the</strong>y will be profitable to all involved.It is not so much a question of adding to one’s own church’s workload as ofsharing our work with o<strong>the</strong>rs or of dropping something we could be doing onour own and replacing it by cooperation with o<strong>the</strong>r churches who are doing<strong>the</strong> same or similar things.A few years ago I attended a Methodist service where <strong>the</strong> preacher said heregarded <strong>the</strong> 20 th Century as ‘<strong>the</strong> Century of <strong>the</strong> Holy Spirit.’ This sparked offan interesting discussion with <strong>the</strong> friend who was travelling with me. He wasnot sure he could accept that description.I have come to accept <strong>the</strong> preacher’s verdict. In <strong>the</strong> 20 th Century <strong>the</strong> Holy Spiritmoved in <strong>the</strong> Church in at least three remarkable ways. Early in <strong>the</strong> century,<strong>the</strong> Pentecostal, and later <strong>the</strong> Charismatic movements, despite <strong>the</strong>iraberrations, began a new openness to <strong>the</strong> promptings of <strong>the</strong> Holy Spirit ofGod. <strong>The</strong> modern ecumenical movement arose out of <strong>the</strong> desire forcooperation of overseas Protestant missionary societies and opened up farwide areas of cooperation among <strong>Christian</strong>s. Mid-century <strong>the</strong> Church of Romeentered a period of review (aggiornamento) and renewal which led to verymany Catholics reaching out to fellow <strong>Christian</strong>s of o<strong>the</strong>r denominations. Oldantagonisms between <strong>Christian</strong>s began to be challenged, and a willingness for<strong>Christian</strong>s to work and witness toge<strong>the</strong>r resulted in a growth in practical andspiritual ecumenism.Page 212

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!