Has the movement for unity among Christians gone into a coma?
The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began Friday, a century after the first such celebration. In many countries, Christians deeply devoted to unity among their separate groups will gather in one anothers’ churches to pray and reflect on passages from Scripture. Since 1968, prayers and readings for the week have been jointly planned by the Vatican and the World Council of Churches.
But for most Christians, the week, centennial or not, carries no more resonance than, say, National Secretaries Week (now officially Administrative Professionals Week).
Has the ecumenical movement lost steam? Or has it, perhaps, fallen victim to its own success? One way or the other, does it make any difference?
Too many Christians are seeing that ‘ecumencism’ and ‘unity’ mean
“You will give up your beliefs (even if they are core values) to go along with the status quo” and are rejecting it.
There are good reasons to feel cool toward teh World Council of Churches (and the National Council of Churches). Let me name a few:
The WWC is notorious for exploiting and co-opting Orthodox leaders (with some help from the Vatican).
The WWC blames the USA for world terrorism and funds many leftist organizations and causes.
The WWC accomodates Jihadists, but not evangelicals or conservative indigenous churches.
The WWC doesn’t really care about teh unity of Christians, only about elevating the profile of the WWC.
How can you have unity when it involves the doctrine of the Eucharist and Baptism especially when true Lutherans are concerned and not the ELCA?
No. 3 What do you mean? Also, doyou mean the ELCA is not true Lutheran?
The ELCA Lutherans do not understand the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions in the same way as the Missouri Synod. The ELCA uses the historical critical method in understanding the Bible the Confessions. The ELCA as does TEC bends doctrine to meet the agenda of the leadership. I was a life-long member of the ELCA until recently. You can not take communion with anyone who does not believe in the real presence of Christ in, with and under the bread and wine.
No. 5 – Un fortunately, many in the Lutheran churches, Anglican, and even the RC, believe, against the eucharistic doctrines of their communions, that Christ’s Presence is only symbolic. You are probably taking Communion with somebody like that every time you go. Besides, the Calvinist doctrine of Presence is a lot more “real” than what I would guess you think. And the Lutheran doctrine relies on, to me, the theory of “ubiquity”, which in connection with the Presence I find difficult to understand, and is certainly different from the Catholic doctrine, or the Anglican. But I think that, in the ELCA, an adoption of a more Catholic belief has taken hold, thus permitting the practice of Reservation of the Sacrament. Also, why does the Lutheran doctrine admit of no element of Sacrifice. Thx.