Ecumenical & Interfaith Network - PCUSA

Themes for a new vision of ecumenism emerge from the consultation

The document prepared at the conclusion of the consultation included these themes:

• Reclaim historic ecumenical commitment to do all things together, except those things that because of conscience need to be done separately (a concept known as the Lund Principle)
• Engage in dialogue between core ecumenical commitments and emerging forms of church life
• Engage in dialogue and cooperation with people of other faiths
• Emphasize a commitment to justice in the economy and the earth
• Celebrate ecumenism on the local level

The consultation discussions highlighted:

• the need to be proactive rather than reactive
• the realities of a changing religious landscape in America
• the phenomenon of close ecumenical relationships growing out of close personal relationships

Read a Presbyterian News Service report on the ecumenical consultation.

Read from papers presented at the consultation:

"Is Christian Unity a Catalyst for Human Community?: Interfaith Relations and the Ecumenical Movement" by Jay Rock (read at the consultation)

"Issues of Post-Denominational Identities and Emerging Ecclesiologies" by Eileen

Lindner (read at the consultation)

"Living in Two Worlds: Existing / Emergent Leadership" a blog entry by Leon Bloder on the emergent church, one of the emerging ecclesiologies identified by Eileen Lindner

(See also other entries on the presbymergent.org web site)

"Current Realities in Local and Regional Ecumenism" by Rebecca Tollefson (distributed but not read at the consultation)

Ten Challenges for Ecumenism Today by Clifton Kirkpatrick (orally presented)

Read about the "Lund Principle" of ecumenical commitment to do things together.

"The Church: God's Gift to the World," page 25, bottom of left column

See a Viewpoint section of this web site that looks at the "emergent church" and ecumenism.

Give attention to views of articulated by Presbyterians in the period before the consultation:

• Read a lecture delivered to Disciples of Christ brothers and sisters by Michael Livingstone, then president of the National Council of Churches.
• Read a sermon preached by Sarah Segal McCaslin, a GACER member, at the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York.

Stated clerk lists ten challenges for ecumenism today

Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick early in the consultation offered a list of ten challenges for 21st century ecumenism in the PC(USA) :

• abide by the Lund Principle (i.e., the affirmation that Christian churches should do all things together except for those things that, because of conscience, they are compelled to act separately)
• reconfigure the ecumenical movement for a post-modern church and world
• work for reconciliation with people of other faiths
• broaden ecumenical conversations to include those who have shied away from traditional ecumenical groupings
• engage in ecumenical formation for a new generation
• claim the ecumenical ethic of justice in the economy and the earth
• seek renewal through spiritual ecumenism
• use the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (2009) as a time of ecumenical healing
• take next steps in Presbyterian/Reformed union and communion (including in the U.S.)
• meet the ecumenical challenge within the PC(USA) posed by our divisions

On this web site

• Ecumenical Vision Statements: previously adopted by the PC(USA) General Assembly

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

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