Post by Διαμονδ on Jun 18, 2018 22:47:57 GMT
As the Second Millennium draws to a close, the Christian mission in world history faces a moment of daunting opportunity and responsibility. If in the merciful and mysterious ways of God the Second Coming is delayed, we enter upon a Third Millennium that could be, in the words of John Paul II, “a springtime of world missions.” (Redemptoris Missio)
As Christ is one, so the Christian mission is one. That one mission can be and should be advanced in diverse ways. Legitimate diversity, however, should not be confused with existing divisions between Christians that obscure the one Christ and hinder the one mission. There is a necessary connection between the visible unity of Christians and the mission of the one Christ. We together pray for the fulfillment of the prayer of Our Lord: “May they all be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so also may they be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17) We together, Evangelicals and Catholics, confess our sins against the unity that Christ intends for all his disciples.
The one Christ and one mission includes many other Christians, notably the Eastern Orthodox and those Protestants not commonly identified as Evangelical. All Christians are encompassed in the prayer, “May they all be one.” Our present statement attends to the specific problems and opportunities in the relationship between Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants.
As we near the Third Millennium, there are approximately 1.7 billion Christians in the world. About a billion of these are Catholics and more than 300 million are Evangelical Protestants. The century now drawing to a close has been the greatest century of missionary expansion in Christian history. We pray and we believe that this expansion has prepared the way for yet greater missionary endeavor in the first century of the Third Millennium.
The two communities in world Christianity that are most evangelistically assertive and most rapidly growing are Evangelicals and Catholics. In many parts of the world, the relationship between these communities is marked more by conflict than by cooperation, more by animosity than by love, more by suspicion than by trust, more by propaganda and ignorance than by respect for the truth. This is alarmingly the case in Latin America, increasingly the case in Eastern Europe, and too often the case in our own country.
Without ignoring conflicts between and within other Christian communities, we address ourselves to the relationship between Evangelicals and Catholics, who constitute the growing edge of missionary expansion at present and, most likely, in the century ahead. In doing so, we hope that what we have discovered and resolved may be of help in other situations of conflict, such as that among Orthodox, Evangelicals, and Catholics in Eastern Europe. While we are gratefully aware of ongoing efforts to address tensions among these communities, the shameful reality is that, in many places around the world, the scandal of conflict between Christians obscures the scandal of the cross, thus crippling the one mission of the one Christ.
As in times past, so also today and in the future, the Christian mission, which is directed to the entire human community, must be advanced against formidable opposition. In some cultures, that mission encounters resurgent spiritualities and religions that are explicitly hostile to the claims of the Christ. Islam, which in many instances denies the freedom to witness to the Gospel, must be of increasing concern to those who care about religious freedom and the Christian mission. Mutually respectful conversation between Muslims and Christians should be encouraged in the hope that more of the world will, in the oft-repeated words of John Paul II, “open the door to Christ.” At the same time, in our so-called developed societies, a widespread secularization increasingly descends into a moral, intellectual, and spiritual nihilism that denies not only the One who is the Truth but the very idea of truth itself.
We enter the twenty-first century without illusions. With Paul and the Christians of the first century, we know that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6) As Evangelicals and Catholics, we dare not by needless and loveless conflict between ourselves give aid and comfort to the enemies of the cause of Christ.
The love of Christ compels us and we are therefore resolved to avoid such conflict between our communities and, where such conflict exists, to do what we can to reduce and eliminate it. Beyond that, we are called and we are therefore resolved to explore patterns of working and witnessing together in order to advance the one mission of Christ. Our common resolve is not based merely on a desire for harmony. We reject any appearance of harmony that is purchased at the price of truth. Our common resolve is made imperative by obedience to the truth of God revealed in the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, and by trust in the promise of the Holy Spirit’s guidance until Our Lord returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.
The mission that we embrace together is the necessary consequence of the faith that we affirm together.
PARTICIPANTS:
Mr. Charles Colson
Prison Fellowship
Fr. Juan Diaz-Vilar, S.J.
Catholic Hispanic Ministries
Fr. Avery Dulles, S.J.
Fordham University
Bishop Francis George, OMI
Diocese of Yakima (Washington)
Dr. Kent Hill
Eastern Nazarene
College Dr. Richard Land
Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Larry Lewis
Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Jesse Miranda
Assemblies of God
Msgr. William Murphy
Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus
Institute on Religion and Public Life
Mr. Brian O’Connell
World Evangelical Fellowship
Mr. Herbert Schlossberg
Fieldstead Foundation
Archbishop Francis Stafford
Archdiocese of Denver
Mr. George Weigel
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Dr. John White
Geneva College and the National Association of Evangelicals
ENDORSED BY:
Dr. William Abraham
Perkins School of Theology
Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier
Union Theological Seminary (Virginia)
Mr. William Bentley Ball
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Dr. Bill Bright
Campus Crusade for Christ
Professor Robert Destro
Catholic University of America
Fr. Augustine DiNoia, O.P.
Dominican House of Studies
Fr. Joseph P. Fitzpatrick, S.J.
Fordham University
Mr. Keith Fournier
American Center for Law and Justice
Bishop William Frey
Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry
Professor Mary Ann Glendon
Harvard Law School
Dr. Os Guinness
Trinity Forum
Dr. Nathan Hatch
University of Notre Dame
Dr. James Hitchcock
St. Louis University
Professor Peter Kreeft
Boston College
Fr. Matthew Lamb
Boston College
Mr. Ralph Martin
Renewal Ministries
Dr. Richard Mouw
Fuller Theological Seminary
Dr. Mark Noll
Wheaton College
Mr. Michael Novak
American Enterprise Institute
John Cardinal O’Connor
Archdiocese of New York
Dr. Thomas Oden
Drew University
Dr. James J. I. Packer
Regent College (British Columbia)
The Rev. Pat Robertson
Regent University
Dr. John Rodgers
Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry
Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla, S.J .
Archiocese of San Francisco
www.firstthings.com/article/1994/05/evangelicals-catholics-together-the-christian-mission-in-the-third-millennium
As Christ is one, so the Christian mission is one. That one mission can be and should be advanced in diverse ways. Legitimate diversity, however, should not be confused with existing divisions between Christians that obscure the one Christ and hinder the one mission. There is a necessary connection between the visible unity of Christians and the mission of the one Christ. We together pray for the fulfillment of the prayer of Our Lord: “May they all be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so also may they be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17) We together, Evangelicals and Catholics, confess our sins against the unity that Christ intends for all his disciples.
The one Christ and one mission includes many other Christians, notably the Eastern Orthodox and those Protestants not commonly identified as Evangelical. All Christians are encompassed in the prayer, “May they all be one.” Our present statement attends to the specific problems and opportunities in the relationship between Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants.
As we near the Third Millennium, there are approximately 1.7 billion Christians in the world. About a billion of these are Catholics and more than 300 million are Evangelical Protestants. The century now drawing to a close has been the greatest century of missionary expansion in Christian history. We pray and we believe that this expansion has prepared the way for yet greater missionary endeavor in the first century of the Third Millennium.
The two communities in world Christianity that are most evangelistically assertive and most rapidly growing are Evangelicals and Catholics. In many parts of the world, the relationship between these communities is marked more by conflict than by cooperation, more by animosity than by love, more by suspicion than by trust, more by propaganda and ignorance than by respect for the truth. This is alarmingly the case in Latin America, increasingly the case in Eastern Europe, and too often the case in our own country.
Without ignoring conflicts between and within other Christian communities, we address ourselves to the relationship between Evangelicals and Catholics, who constitute the growing edge of missionary expansion at present and, most likely, in the century ahead. In doing so, we hope that what we have discovered and resolved may be of help in other situations of conflict, such as that among Orthodox, Evangelicals, and Catholics in Eastern Europe. While we are gratefully aware of ongoing efforts to address tensions among these communities, the shameful reality is that, in many places around the world, the scandal of conflict between Christians obscures the scandal of the cross, thus crippling the one mission of the one Christ.
As in times past, so also today and in the future, the Christian mission, which is directed to the entire human community, must be advanced against formidable opposition. In some cultures, that mission encounters resurgent spiritualities and religions that are explicitly hostile to the claims of the Christ. Islam, which in many instances denies the freedom to witness to the Gospel, must be of increasing concern to those who care about religious freedom and the Christian mission. Mutually respectful conversation between Muslims and Christians should be encouraged in the hope that more of the world will, in the oft-repeated words of John Paul II, “open the door to Christ.” At the same time, in our so-called developed societies, a widespread secularization increasingly descends into a moral, intellectual, and spiritual nihilism that denies not only the One who is the Truth but the very idea of truth itself.
We enter the twenty-first century without illusions. With Paul and the Christians of the first century, we know that “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6) As Evangelicals and Catholics, we dare not by needless and loveless conflict between ourselves give aid and comfort to the enemies of the cause of Christ.
The love of Christ compels us and we are therefore resolved to avoid such conflict between our communities and, where such conflict exists, to do what we can to reduce and eliminate it. Beyond that, we are called and we are therefore resolved to explore patterns of working and witnessing together in order to advance the one mission of Christ. Our common resolve is not based merely on a desire for harmony. We reject any appearance of harmony that is purchased at the price of truth. Our common resolve is made imperative by obedience to the truth of God revealed in the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, and by trust in the promise of the Holy Spirit’s guidance until Our Lord returns in glory to judge the living and the dead.
The mission that we embrace together is the necessary consequence of the faith that we affirm together.
PARTICIPANTS:
Mr. Charles Colson
Prison Fellowship
Fr. Juan Diaz-Vilar, S.J.
Catholic Hispanic Ministries
Fr. Avery Dulles, S.J.
Fordham University
Bishop Francis George, OMI
Diocese of Yakima (Washington)
Dr. Kent Hill
Eastern Nazarene
College Dr. Richard Land
Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Larry Lewis
Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Jesse Miranda
Assemblies of God
Msgr. William Murphy
Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus
Institute on Religion and Public Life
Mr. Brian O’Connell
World Evangelical Fellowship
Mr. Herbert Schlossberg
Fieldstead Foundation
Archbishop Francis Stafford
Archdiocese of Denver
Mr. George Weigel
Ethics and Public Policy Center
Dr. John White
Geneva College and the National Association of Evangelicals
ENDORSED BY:
Dr. William Abraham
Perkins School of Theology
Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier
Union Theological Seminary (Virginia)
Mr. William Bentley Ball
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Dr. Bill Bright
Campus Crusade for Christ
Professor Robert Destro
Catholic University of America
Fr. Augustine DiNoia, O.P.
Dominican House of Studies
Fr. Joseph P. Fitzpatrick, S.J.
Fordham University
Mr. Keith Fournier
American Center for Law and Justice
Bishop William Frey
Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry
Professor Mary Ann Glendon
Harvard Law School
Dr. Os Guinness
Trinity Forum
Dr. Nathan Hatch
University of Notre Dame
Dr. James Hitchcock
St. Louis University
Professor Peter Kreeft
Boston College
Fr. Matthew Lamb
Boston College
Mr. Ralph Martin
Renewal Ministries
Dr. Richard Mouw
Fuller Theological Seminary
Dr. Mark Noll
Wheaton College
Mr. Michael Novak
American Enterprise Institute
John Cardinal O’Connor
Archdiocese of New York
Dr. Thomas Oden
Drew University
Dr. James J. I. Packer
Regent College (British Columbia)
The Rev. Pat Robertson
Regent University
Dr. John Rodgers
Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry
Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla, S.J .
Archiocese of San Francisco
www.firstthings.com/article/1994/05/evangelicals-catholics-together-the-christian-mission-in-the-third-millennium