Editorial

We celebrate with this issue of The Ecumenical Review forty years of our life as the World Council of Churches. This is an occasion to express our gratitude to those who, from the beginning of this century, planted the seed of modem ecumenism, those in the ecumenical patriarchate and those who in the missionary movement were discover. ing afresh the implications of the prayer of Jesus “that all may be one so that the world may believe” (John 17:21).

The articles included here make a critical analysis of the past, and provide perspectives for an evaluation of our work today. We must express our gratitude for the foundations that have been laid, and we must see how together we may build upon those foundations to confront the challenges of today. It has been the genius of the World Council to engage the three families of churches, Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic, in a permanent dialectic of dialogue and cooperation.

Doctrinal questions have been considered critically and thoroughly, clarifying differences and paving the way for a sympathetic understanding of one another’s positions. The search for shared convictions and a common expression of such convictions has continued. The network of solidarity among churches has been tested under difficult situations. Every member church knows today that in critical situations the love and support of other churches, expressed through the World Council, will always be available.

The vocation of service and the commitment to justice and peace in the world can also be traced back to the very foundation of the Council. The combat against racism, the highlighting of the plight of the poor as a theological and ethical question, the concern for human development and for peace and disarmament in the world - all these have been characteristic of the life and work of the WCC. We should also mention the emphasis on the participation of youth and women at all levels of the life of the church and the life of society. The two processes currently going on, for a gathering of youth and the decade of churches in solidarity with women, are among the most recent expressions of these particular concerns.

Undergirding all this is the search for a deeper spirituality which provides the ambiance for ecumenical life. Every assembly, every large gathering has made available a variety of spiritual resources to enrich the total life of the church.

It is upon this foundation that we must confront the challenges of today. It is obvious that we need to widen the ecumenical spectrum. We must bring the total life of the churches, in all its new and old manifestations, into the ecumenical conversa- tion. The expansion of the Pentecostal movement, the emergence of independent

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churches and the growth of the Anabaptist movement are important dimensions not fully represented in the life of the WCC. We are happy that representatives of all these three families are full members of the WCC, but they are and should be considered as the anticipation of more to come. The ecumenical movement and the WCC as one of its expressions are a service to the churches, to all churches, and we cannot accept a situation where some of them feel unable to participate with others in a common response to Jesus’ prayer for unity.

The WCC must deepen the ecumenical awareness of its member churches. We must work for the time when the intercessory prayers of every single parish regularly bring before God the ecumenical dimension of the church’s vocation. We should not be satisfied until every report to synods or assemblies incorporates as a matter of course a description of where the church stands in its ecumenical search. More, we need to invite the churches to set their priorities in the light of their ecumenical commitment.

It is urgent that we define more precisely the shape and nature of the unity we are seeking. There are a number of bilateral negotiations under way which yield a variety of perspectives and points of view. However, it is not yet clear when and how such conversations will lead to practical results. The negotiations will always need a point of global reference, a model that will set them in the wider frame of the unity of the whole people of God.

Three concepts that have figured in the ecumenical debate need to be brought in relation to one another to see if together they could provide a general frame of reference for our vision of the unity we seek: conciliar fellowship, the hierarchy of truths, and the relation between the local and the universal church.

But the WCC cannot limit its search for the unity of the church to the internal realm of our ecclesiastical bodies. The unity of the church must be seen in dynamic relation with the renewal of the whole of humankind. The horizon of our endeavours is the kingdom of God, and we cannot but confront the issues of our day and time. The tremendous and increasing economic gap between the poor and rich nations, and between sections of people within nations, challenges all of us to work towards a solution that will do justice to our understanding of the values of the kingdom. Genetic engineering and other technological manipulation of human life raise afresh the question of the meaning of life, the reality of the spirit, the possibilities of freedom, and the ethical values undergirding scientific research.

In our time traditional ideologies are losing their power to shape the lives of peoples and nations, and new systems are springing up, some as a pragmatic response to the specific needs of a society and others in response to some cosmic, semi-“religious” vision. This challenges the churches to think afresh their contribution to our common life and to our world. And the new encounter between religions challenges us to develop theological perspectives on other religions, and even to ask what discoveries about the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ can emerge as we witness to our own faith and respond to the views and questions of others.

The ongoing conciliar process on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation calls our attention to many of the problems that will confront humanity and challenge the mission of the church in the years to come: our responsibility for the planet earth; securing justice for coming generations; responding to waves of migrant populations moving from the periphery to the centres of wealth, creating new conflicts and demanding new dimensions of justice; the search for peace at the global level as the

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guiding principle of the policy of the super-powers, but also peace as a concrete challenge in all corners of the world where regional and local conflicts are taking their toll in suffering, destruction and death.

Yes, it will be a new period, a vital and exciting period in a world that more and more looks to the future with anxiety and uncertainty. Those who believe in Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth, and that the Comforter will be with us always, are called to face the future in hope, proclaming that God in Jesus Christ has once and for all established the solid foundation for liberation from sin and the structures of death, and inviting all Christians to the common evangelistic affirmation that God’s Will will prevail and that God’s kingdom will come.

Looking to the future, we offer a prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus, send your Holy Spirit, give us the vision and the courage necessary for the days to come.” Participation in the ecumenical movement is always a pilgrimage into tomorrow, guided by the Spirit and in the hope of the kingdom.

EMILIO CASTRO

Introducing the Anniversary Issue

The World Council of Churches was founded at Amsterdam in 1948 as the fusion of two realities: the search for a common expression of Christian faith and witness (including an appropriate structural unity of the churches), and common Christian service in the world. In today’s aggressively pluralistic world, where crucial words like “solidarity” and “participation” threaten to become cliches before we have time to take them seriously, it is easy to forget the vision and daring of those early pioneers who fashioned a Christian witness in the midst of a shattered post-war world.

In the search for the visible unity of the churches the WCC was, in the words of its first general secretary Willem Visser ’t Hooft,

an emergency solution - a stage on the road - a body living between the time of complete isolation of the churches from each other and the time - on earth or in heaven - when it will be visibly true that there is one shepherd and one flock.

To celebrate the anniversary of such an institution is no easy matter. We have sought a balance of historical review and analysis, criticism from outsiders, sober but good-humoured self-assessment, and visioning for the future, all with that diversity and inclusiveness which has become so important in the life of the WCC today.

This task we have approached in four sections. The first is a review of the WCC founding Assembly through the eyes of two who were there and shared in its vision, challenge and excitement. Through their gracious but incisive comments we recapture a sense of what “Amsterdam 1948” meant to those who were present, and what it forebore for the future. Have we achieved even half of what was then envisioned?

‘ W.A. Visser ’t Hooft, ed. The First Assembly of the World Council of Churches, London, SCM Press, 1949, p.29 (emphasis ours).

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