National Council of Churches in the Philippines

Sangguniang Pambansa ng Mga Simbahan sa Pilipinas

Emerging Ecumenical Trends and Challenges (Excerpts)

By Clement John

 

Ecumenism today faces the greatest challenge of its history.  It is under attack from forces that were always opposed to it on the grounds that unity at the expense of compromising the truth is betrayal of Christian faith.  Additionally, it is under threat from an increase in denominationalism and what Ahn Jae Woong in his presentation at the recently held Commission meeting of Faith and Order (22 July - August 6) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia referred to as a weakness of the Ecumenical Movement.  I quote, ”One of the weakness of the Ecumenical Movement is that it is moving away from the people or the people’s movement.”  I guess what Ahn means is that the Ecumenical Movement is becoming institutional.

A large majority of our people in the region are faced with immense problems of like and death.  They are engaged in a struggle for survival against heavy odds.   Horizontal and vertical conflicts have resulted in divisions and fragmentation that have further compounded the problems.  The way forward to fight these forces of evil and darkness and to challenged principalities and powers is by building alliances of the people and unifying forces at national, regional and international levels that can cut across barriers of race, religion, nationality and class in order to forge a common understanding on issues, struggles and strategies to counter then and to engage in dialogue of life and action.

The Unfinished Business

The task of the Ecumenical Movement as laid out in the 1950s however remains unfinished.  The Movement suffered a setback because of rapid changes that have taken place in church and society.  Also, the enthusiasm for the Ecumenical Movement that was present in the 60’s and 70’s now seem to be evaporating.

The CCA General Secretary in his presentation at the Faith and Order Commission meeting, mentioned above, also spoke of the need to “capture the frontier spirit in exploring God’s plans in the whole of God’s creation.”  It is interesting that Ahn should have said that because of the pioneers of EACC were prominent laymen and lay women, committed to the idea of frontier ministry.  It was largely due to the efforts of these laymen and lay women that CCA was able to mobilize the churches of the region to proclaim the word of God, that is, “a worshipping congregation in which human worth and mutual responsibility are acknowledged and realized and from which love goes out in work of service to the neighborhood.” (Christian Action in the Asian Struggle, 1973 CAA, M.M. Thomas, p. 3).  The Committee on the Witness of the Laity remained one of the most active of the EACC’s unit with increasing emphasis on the Apostolate for the laity.

Geo-Political Context

As stated earlier the ecumenical agenda remains an unfinished business and there is much work to be done, new challenges to be met in these changing times.  The post Cold War reordering of societies, the removal of political barriers to the development of capitalism and the rapid integration of societies in to the global economies has produced may revolutionary changes, undermining traditional patterns of life, eliminating livelihoods that do not fit under the dominant model of economic development, fragmenting the working class to produce sharply increased inequality.  In the countries of the South, the harsh reality of poverty and inequality has worsened as ruling elites have been unified and strengthened by their collaborative relationship with foreign capital.  A new level of integration is taking place which has rendered ineffective previous political strategy of struggling for social justice through influencing or changing of state policies and structures.  Real political powers now resides more and more with economic organizations for example, trans-national corporations, international financial institutions and alliances of the powerful nations that are not politically accountable within the nation state.

For many years, ecumenical social thought regarded the secular state as the ideal for social harmony in religiously plural society.  The resurgence of religion and related inter-religious tensions and conflicts have led some people to subscribe to other models such as those that suggest a deeper understanding of the rule of law, good governance and of new processes of democratic participation.

The global projection of military and political power from major western countries, particularly the US in consonance with economic imperialism has exacerbated iner-communal and inter-religious tensions internationally and within societies as they attempt to resist cultural incursions, economic exploitation and military domination.  Religious, ethnic and civil conflicts and violence are a constant challenge to inter-religious tolerance and harmony.  The renewed claims on the state by religious forces poses a major challenge I these days of religious discrimination, intolerance and violence.  The links between globalization, militarization, terrorism and national security needs to be carefully studied for its impact on civil society, particularly in relation to human rights.  The use of anti-terror legislation to curtail basic human freedoms and subvert the rule of the law.  The making and breaking of life being a concern of the Church.

Challenges Ahead — Dialogue as A Way Forward

1.  Inter-religious Cooperation — moving from dialogue to action

God’s kingdom is where all people can exercise their birthright to dignity and freedom, can live in peace and harmony with each other, and where love, compassion and justice undergird the life of the community.  There is no religion in this world that will not subscribe to these ideals.  A true and common humanity can therefore emerge from within the ongoing struggle of the people for liberation.  Liberation for all from tyranny, corruption, domination, exploitation and oppression.

2.  Dialogue — re-engaging partner churches in the West

There is an urgent need for dialogue between churches of the North and South.  With the dismantling of the cold war apparatus in the late 1980s there is a growing chasm between the churches of the North and the South in respect of understanding each other’s perspective particularly in relation to the social justice agenda of the South.  Also in the post Cold War period churches in Western Europe and North America tend to be more inward looking.  They concentrate more on domestic issues showing less and less interest in issues of the South as well as international issues.  They also view ecumenical institutional structures as being overpowering and self-perpetrating.  This line of thinking is new.  It is a radical change for the earlier days when northern partners were eager to nurture and strengthen churches and ecumenical organizations in the South and support them unequivocally in their agenda on social justice.

Some of the northern partners have begun to develop their own particular perspectives and framework for analysis of global issues and trends as against the earlier models when such tasks were undertaken with partners from the South.  There are several reasons for this.  One being churches in the North have abdicated their responsibility and commitment for common ecumenical endeavors with partners in the South and have handed this over to Northern development agencies who have thus acquired a major say in resource sharing and in the determination of the common ecumenical agenda.  Quite a few of these agencies also receive funding from their respective governments and as such, are bound by the government’s agenda for the South.  This agenda often does not coincide with the agenda of the churches in the South, particularly in relation to social justice issues.  As the framework for analysis and ethical discernment are different there are bound to be differences in approach in addressing these particular issues.  For instance, economic globalization is seen in the South ad being a link in a chain of series of projects to subjugate and colonize the people of weaker nations of the South by the powerful and dominant nations of the North.  On the other hand, northern agencies see globalization as being inevitable and therefore futile to oppose.  They tend to put more emphasis on the benefits of globalization, rather than on its shortcomings.  Consequently, the argue for an approach based on social compromises than on its resistances and alternatives, which is the agenda of the South.

There is a need to regularly engage the churches in the North in Europe and North America in an ongoing dialogue to ensure they remain more seriously committed to justice on global issues of economics and politics.  The Western churches should take the lead in developing and driving for social justice agenda rather than leaving it to their governments.  Agencies instead of being advocates for churches in the South take upon themselves to be the advocates for their governments in the South.  This has often resulted in misunderstandings, tensions, and conflicts which is not in the interest of the Ecumenical Movement.

Role of the South

As stated earlier, there was a time when church leaders of Asia were the ones that set the Agenda for the ecumenical movement.  The churches in the North supported these initiatives.  Today, it is the reverse.  The Church leadership in the South and more particularly in Asia should reclaim what has been lost or is in the process of being lost.  As General Secretaries of the national councils in the region together with other church leaders you should exercise the right to have the final say in setting the ecumenical agenda for Asia.  You must struggle to restore the theological basis of this partnership.  This partnership is not about resources and or accountability.  It is about our common Mission task.  Once this basic understanding is restored without reservations, dispute or differences over accountability, the issue of availability of resources will automatically be settled.  The resources, the people who have it and the people for whose benefits these are used all belong to God.  All our resources and efforts should be geared to serve His people.

Conclusion

We live in a world where international law is under threat, where one religious community is being demonized, where the powerful and the dominant nations are trying to resolve the issue of terrorism through military action without bothering to address the root causes, where enemy images are evoked to curtail the fundamental rights of the people, where preemptive war is cited as legitimate right of self-defense, where the nation state is under threat both from within and outside resulting in the erosion of power and authority of the State to protect the interests of its people, where economic globalization is taking  heavy toll destroying traditional life styles of the people and marginalizing the large majority from its benefits.  These are the challenges facing the global ecumenical movement in the 21st century.

These global concerns transcend churches, nations, religions, and cultures and hold people hostage to fear, insecurity, helplessness and last but not the least, to poverty.  It is in this divided and broken down humanity the challenge of the ecumenical movement in the XXI century lies in overcoming violence and divisions in order to create a new humanity.