Ecumenical & Interfaith
Network - PCUSA

| 2008 policy statement | 2000 vision statement | 1993 statement on the unity of the church |

The Ecumenical Stance of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Approved by the 218th General Assembly (2008)

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In exploring the contours of this new ecumenical reality, there are ten priorities that such a commitment presents:

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1.   Growing the Ecumenical Vision

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) must renew its foundational ecumenical identity through recommitment to the search for the visible unity of Christ’s church in its many forms. Presbyterian identity is diminished when the church turns inward, away from an embrace of the whole church and the whole inhabited earth. Recovery of the church’s ecumenical vision must begin with confession and repentance—of our internal divisions, our expectation of a privileged position in ecumenical affairs, our imagined self-sufficiency, our presumption of cultural hegemony, and our neglect of ecumenical relationships.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to listen anew to what the Spirit is saying to all the churches, and to listen to what Christians from other churches are saying to us. The church’s sustained quest for concord in essential things—faith, sacraments, mission, and ministry—will lead it to new and renewed relationships within the one holy catholic and apostolic church.

2.   Facing Obstacles to Christian Unity

Distinct traditions, communions, and denominations live in various degrees of estrangement from one another. In addition to the significant historical, theological, and ecclesiastical barriers that continue to separate churches from one another, there is an awareness of the ways in which race, gender, name, culture, wealth, and power reinforce divisions in the church and the human community. All of these divisions do not eradicate the church’s unity, but they obscure it, impairing witness to the gospel and weakening common mission.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to recognize the full range of obstacles to Christian unity, and to commit itself to breaking down all dividing walls in both church and world.

3.   Bridging the Gaps Between the Local and the Global, Individual Congregations and the Denomination

The terms “ecumenical” and “ecumenism” are not restricted to councils of churches or to national and international relationships among denominations. Many congregations are engaged ecumenically in common worship, study, and dialogue, and in partnerships for witness, service, and mission. Theological and structural links between local and broader ecumenism are often weak, however. Contacts among local, regional, and global relationships are often neglected.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to new ecumenical awareness that deepens relationships among congregational, denominational, and conciliar ecumenism. Each must be enriched by the others, leading the whole church to deeper communion in Christ.

4.   Enlarging the Table of Ecumenical Relationships

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) cannot be ecumenical by itself. We are linked to many others as we work for the unity of the body of Christ. The church is called to maintain valued relationships with long-standing partners in ecumenical councils, full communion accords, and other ecclesial agreements. At the same time, we are called to move beyond the limitations of the past to find our place at the ecumenical table. The table belongs to God, and must not be restricted by imagined privileges. All are invited guests of our one Lord, the Lord provides the space for all who are willing to come, and the Lord continues to invite all who are not yet willing.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to discover deeper forms of ecumenical commitment to the integrity of the gospel, embracing new partners whose different theologies, traditions, and structures can enrich our theology, traditions, and structures. All of our ecumenical relationships are for healing divisions and seeking reconciliation in the church and the world.

5.   Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth

The unity of the church is not an end in itself, but an element in the reconciliation of the whole created order. The pursuit of God’s justice is a response to the gospel that embraces the whole world, and that seeks God’s abundant life for all people. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is committed to working with other churches, listening to the voices of brothers and sisters who call for human freedom, social justice, and the healing of the planet entrusted to human care. As Presbyterians hear and engage in the work of freedom and justice, we are transformed.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to sustained study and serious engagement with the Accra Confession of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, “Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth” as approved by the 217th General Assembly (2006) (Minutes, 2006, Part I, p. 575).

God’s intention for the world is shalom—peace and justice for all creation—yet the world is wounded by violence and broken by war. Forces of brutality and aggression are at work in all aspects of human life, even within the church. Christ came to break down dividing walls of hostility and establish God’s new way of reconciliation in the world. All who follow Christ are called to live as peacemakers in a world that lacks the deep reality of God’s concord and unity.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to renew its commitment to peacemaking within families and communities, in the church, and among societies and nations. As we live in unity with brothers and sisters around the world, working ecumenically to overcome violence, we both embody and proclaim fullness of the Lord’s peace.

Commitment to peacemaking and to justice in the economy, for the earth and in the social order, is more than a Christian concern. God is at work in the whole world, within and beyond the bounds of the church. God’s household is larger than the church, and all God’s people are integral to each other’s wholeness and the healing of the world.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to forge interreligious relationships with all who yearn and work for the healing of our wounded world, grounding interreligious engagements in our ecumenical commitments and practices.

8.   Renewing a Commitment to Disciplines of Christian Spirituality

Jesus prayed that all may be one, so that the world may believe that the Lord was sent by the God who loves the world (cf. John 17:1–26). The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to pray with Jesus, deepening our relationship to the One who gathers us. Through the ecumenical movement, American Presbyterians have been enriched by the worship practices of other Reformed Christians and other Christian traditions, capturing our imaginations and giving voice to our yearnings.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to renew its commitment to disciplines of Christian spiritual formation, especially worship, regular reading of Scripture, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. As we join with other Christians in praying with Jesus, we can better discern God’s will, join God’s mission, and nurture our life together.

The church’s engagements in ecumenical councils, its bilateral dialogues with other churches, its developing relationships with nontraditional partners, and its encounters with churches in the global community have brought gifts that enrich our understanding of Christian faith and life. We have also offered Reformed gifts such as commitment to scriptural authority and confessional integrity; the bond of grace and gratitude; the shared ministry of deacons, elders, and ministers; confessional declaration of the inclusion of women and men in all ministries of the church; and the indissoluble bond between faith and life, theology and ethics.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to receive gratefully the gifts God gives through others, and to share generously with others the gifts God has entrusted to us.

10. Revitalizing Practices of Ecumenical Formation

Ecumenical commitment and engagement was once central to Presbyterian identity. In the present time, when many Christians move easily from one denomination to another, confessional identity is ambiguous and the need for ecumenical dialogue is dimly recognized. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) must revitalize practices of ecumenical formation so that a new generation, with all its diversity, can embrace a vision of Christian unity.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is called to encourage commitment to the unity of Christ’s church through a range of educational, experiential, and missional opportunities. Study materials for children, youth, and adults; seminary engagement with ecumenical documents; national and international ecumenical encounters; and regular worship with congregations of ecumenical partners are some of the ecumenical formation possibilities that must become regular features of Presbyterian life.

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An Affirmation of Our Ecumenical Commitment

We affirm the goal of unity that Jesus described in his high priestly prayer:
     We seek to become fully one in Christ, so that the world may believe.

We believe in one God, known to us in three persons,
     eternally united in the bond of love.
     In love we proclaim our faith in the Triune God
     and acknowledge one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

We are called to unity, but not uniformity, as people of God
     who, though many, are members one of another
     and who, together, constitute the body of Christ on earth.

We come as disciples bearing marks of diverse cultures and traditions,
     bringing unique insights, experiences, strengths, and vulnerabilities.
     We are eager to learn from one another, to seek formation and transformation,
     knowing that each of us stands in need of correction and mutual upbuilding.

We confess that too often we have undertaken alone
     projects and ministries that could have been enriched by broader participation,
     and we recommit ourselves to the historic Lund principle
     that Christians should take united action whenever they find this possible.

Our vision of unity in Christ is universal,
     concerned for the whole of creation, as well as the rights and needs of humanity.
     We are called to join with others in bold, prophetic witness when confronting the abuse of power
     and threats to the planet,
     and in covenants for justice in the economy and the earth.

As Christians, we remain open to the working of God’s Spirit among people of other faiths, both in their individual and in their corporate religious lives and are prepared, as we are called by Jesus Christ, to dialogue and cooperate everywhere with people of good will on behalf of justice, peace, and the common good. We pursue the journey of faith with Christ wherever we find ourselves, in whatever company, all in each place.

The tasks of Christian witness, service, justice, and peacemaking
     are addressed by councils, alliances, and national churches,
     but also in local encounters, congregational interaction,
     and common prayer across traditional religious boundaries.

Guided on our way by the Holy Spirit,
     we rejoice in the hope of perfect unity in Christ, a unity not of our making,
     but a gift designed and revealed by the Maker of us all.

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Ecumenical Vision Statement

Approved by the 212th General Assembly (2000)

of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Together with Christians in every time and place, Presbyterians confess belief in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. The Nicene Creed’s marks of the church are not accomplishments of human performance or objects of human striving, as if the church depends on our efforts. The unity of the church is a gift of its Lord.

The source and the shape of the gift are proclaimed in Scripture: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).

By God’s grace, the holy, catholic, and apostolic church is one. And yet the one church is divided, fragmented into distinct traditions, communions, and denominations that live in various degrees of estrangement from one another. In turn, each part of the church embodies tensions in its own life that threaten to divide the one church yet again. These divisions do not eradicate the church’s unity, but they obscure it, impairing common witness and weakening common mission.

The one church is not theological abstraction; the divided church is not a sociological necessity. The unity of the church is both God’s real gift and God’s effective calling. Thus, the one church of Jesus Christ, established by God in the power of the Holy Spirit, is called to break down dividing walls of hostility that separate churches from one another and to build up the fullness of communion that binds churches together in common faith and witness.

As an expression of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has never been able to live in comfortable detachment from other churches. Instead, we search diverse patterns of the visible unity of Christ’s church, seeking concord in essential things: faith, sacraments, mission, and ministry. Such forms of communion are both signs of the church’s unity and means by which the church’s unity is achieved.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seeks patterns of visible unity in a variety of ways. We enter councils of churches such as the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the World Council of Churches, and the National Council of Churches, pursuing oneness in faith, order, and mission. We establish relationships of full communion with other churches such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ, embodying relationships of mutual responsibility and mutual accountability. We explore possibilities for living out common faith and witness in covenant communion within communities of churches such as Churches Uniting in Christ. We participate in mission globally with ecumenical church partners, and in mission nationally with regional councils, local associations, and neighboring congregations. We engage in bilateral and multilateral dialogues with other churches and traditions in order to remove barriers of misunderstanding and establish common affirmations. We work for the reunion of separate churches in the Presbyterian and Reformed family. We reach out to unfamiliar traditions and associations of churches.

In God’s grace the one church has been given gifts to “equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13). The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in gratitude for God’s grace and mercy, commits itself to faithful use of God’s gifts in search for the fuller expression of the visible unity to which we are called.

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Statement on the Unity of the Church

Adopted by the 209th General Assembly (1993)

of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

This is the vision we affirm:

The Church is one.

Christ prayed for his disciples and also for those "who will believe" in years to come, "that they may all be one." John 17:20, 21

Scripture teaches us that "... in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body ..." 1 Corinthians 12:13

"There is one body and one Spirit ... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God ..." Ephesians 4:4a, 5a, 6a

Our confessional heritage teaches that "... there is only one Church ... We, therefore, call this Church catholic because it is universal, scattered through all parts of the world, and extended unto all parts of the world, and extended unto all times, and is not limited to any times or places." Second Helvetic Confession, 5:126

 "Obedience to Jesus Christ alone identifies the one universal church ...."

The Confession of 1967, 9.03

The unity of the Church is God given.

"The unity of the Church is a gift of its Lord and finds expression in its faithfulness to the mission to which Christ calls it. The Church is a fellowship of believers which seeks the enlargement of the circle of faith to include all people and is never content to enjoy the benefits of Christian community for itself alone ...

"Visible oneness, by which a diversity of persons, gifts, and understanding is brought together, is an important sign of the unity of God’s people ...

"The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), affirm[ing] its historical continuity with the whole Church of Jesus Christ, is committed ...." Book of Order, G4.0203

The Church is worldwide.

"We are called to be part of a global and ecumenical community. Our world is wider and more diverse than that which our Reformed forbears knew. We live in a multilingual, multiracial, multicultural, and economically diverse world ...

"We are one part of the body of Christ: a community of mutual interdependence in which diversity contributes to wholeness." Life and Mission Statement, 197th General Assembly (1985)

"As one part of the body of Christ, we actively engage in mutual sharing with other parts in order to ‘bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

"... [A]s there is one head of all the faithful, so all ought to unite in one body, so that there may be one Church spread throughout the whole earth, and not a number of churches." John Calvin, "Catechism of the Church in Geneva," in Calvin: Theological Treatises, ed. By J.K.S. Reid, Library of Christian Classics, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1954), p. 103.

God’s love encompasses all.

"In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image, male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community." A Brief Statement of Faith, 10.3

"We proclaim

• that God wills all humanity to be one,
• that the Church is called to embody that unity in its own life
• that the Church’s unity is a sign and means of the unity of humankind." "The Nature of the Unity We Seek," 118th General Assembly, PCUS (1978)

"As our Christian affirmation meets the faith of others, we are not called to respond in judgment but in awareness of the limitless saving presence, power, and grace of God ...

"As Christians our faith demands that we seek to build loving relationships with persons of other faiths. Where possible we will work in solidarity with them in struggles for justice, freedom, peace, and human dignity." Turn to the Living God: A Call to Evangelism in Jesus Christ’s Way, 203rd General Assembly (1991)

"The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will seek new opportunities for conversation and understanding with non-Christian religious bodies in order that interests and concerns may be shared ...." Book of Order, G15.0104

We therefore are called to live out this vision with patience and love, in dependence upon the grace of God given through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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On this web site

• Ecumenical Consultation: resources from a process leading to a new vision statement
• Viewpoints: an interactive page to respond to themes for a new vision
• Ecumenical Relationships: news of relationships of interest to the PC(USA)

On the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) web site

• Committee on Ecumenical Relations: information on the permanent committee of the General Assembly that plans and coordinates the involvements of the PC(USA) in ecumenical work in consultation with the agencies and governing bodies of the church