Ecumenism and Mission a Missionary Challenge
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Date
2001-02
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
Jesus Christ at the hour of his passion directed this prayer to the father that his disciples
may all be one. It is a prayer for unity, a unity that the Lord has bestowed on his Church in
which he wishes to embrace all people. This unity stands at the very heart of Christ's mission
since the church is an instrument of the mission of Christ and since it was God's intention that
his people be one. "Ecumenism" which strives for unity belongs to the very essence of the
mission of the church.
God wills the church because he wills unity, and unity is an expression of his love. The
catholic church therefore, embraces with hope the commitment to ecumenism as a mission of
the Christian action enlightened by faith and guided by love. Here too we can apply the words of
Saint Paul to the Romans "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit,
thus our hope does not disappoint us (Rom 5:5) This is the hope of Christian Ecumenism as we
see its origin in the unity of the Trinity: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
I am challenged by this idea of unity because it is a central focus assigned to the Gospel
proclamation worldwide. As a believer in Christ, living with non-Catholics but who believe in
Christ's Gospel message, and above all a missionary, I have to abide with the stated purpose of
Jesus Christ's mission, to build his one Church, and together with all Christ's disciples to get involved in ecumenical commitment to gather Christians into unity. The church is permanently
open to mis‘ionary and ecumenical endeavour, kg the church is scnt to the world to announce
and witness, to make present and spread the mystery of communion vv Inch is essential to her.
and to gather al: people and al; things into Christ. so as to be for all an "inseparable sacrament
of unity -
This quotation reminds me of the fact that the struggle for the unity of all divided
humanity is the will of God. For this reason. as an agent of God's mission to humanity, I
there= tell obliged to work for the unity among all Christians. Taking part in this movement
which is called Ecumenism I have decided to xv rite this long essay on "Ecumenism and Nfission:
.4 \iissioinui C inillenge Specifically I am concerned w ith four things:
The new v ision of the church created by Vatican II C @midi that the mission of Christ is one
and theret6re the church which comes as the result of C !irises mission should also be one For
this reason then. I see that to have meaningful Ecumenism, there should be a mission of
integration between various churches for the sake of building the Kingdom of God within the
human community.
2: The present situation among the churches manifests distrust, prejudices and
misunderstandings ,and therefore lack of unity among Christians. The official documents issued
hitherto by John Paul II, for example, encyclical letter -Ut (Intern Sint" on Commitment
to Ecumenism, show a concern about this situation of division between the Catholic
Church and other Churches. So to work for the inter communion of churches. I think should be
the ministry of the church today and the meaningful answer to a question about the ministry of
the Church is an Ecumenical one. 3: Ecumenism is a commitment, a call for Christian unity, aims at bringing Christians together
just as Christ intended that we all be one: "I have given them the glory you gave me that they
may be one. I living in them. and you living in me, that their unity may be complete-. (John
17:22-23) This means that Christ's presence in us. creates a bond of fellowship that is open to
ecumenical endeavour. This gives me a conviction that a missionary is called to announce and
witness, to make present and spread the mystery of communion which is essential to the church
and to gather all people into Christ.
4: I wish that this paper acts as an instrument of conscientising christian churches in promoting
christian unity that is to come through prayers, sacrifice and sufferings from both the catholic
Church and other churches.
This paper has three chapters. The first chapter deals with brief history of the
Ecumenical Movement. In this chapter I have dealt 1% ith the definition of Ecumenism and
Mission, Relationship between Ecumenism and Mission and Development of Catholic Stance
towards Ecumenical Movement and Mission.
Chapter Two is devoted to a research exercise on Ecumenical Relationship between the
Catholic Church and the Anglican Church in Nairobi, the Nature of Separation between the
Two communions and if there are any efforts to come together. Methods employed in this
research exercise are surveys, interviews and conversation with the informants; Fr Christopher
Burke of Karen Catholic Church and Christians of Karen Anglican Church in Nairobi. There
was a need of interpreting the questionnaires and match them with references from official
published documents of the Catholic church and see how these documents might have
influenced the present situation of separation between Catholics and Anglicans.
Chapter three focuses on the missionary challenges in the field of Ecumenism and mission.
Finally, are given recommendation and a conclusion.
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Keywords
Ecclesial Fractures, Ecumenism, Catholic Church