3. Renewing the Ecumenical Vision
3-1. Unity of Oikoumene
Visible Unity has always been the vision of the ecumenical movement. The World Council of Churches stated this vision clearly in its Constitution and the history of the ‘Faith and Order’ movement bears testimony to this vision. Constant efforts have been made for the WCC to realize this vision through living together, staying together, working together, growing together, responding together to our common calling of the Triune God, and celebrating our koinonia in faith, life and witness, and spiritual fellowship. Many outstanding advances have been made; but much more should be done to reach the goal of visible unity. One of my strong hopes for the ecumenical movement is the celebration of a Eucharistic fellowship. Unless we celebrate our common Lord’s Table together, the visible unity in terms of our common confession of the apostolic faith, our common baptism, and our common witness may still be incomplete. Therefore our efforts should continue and be intensified.
Attention also has to be drawn to a different level of Unity. Traditionally, the goal of unity has been focused on “Unity of the Church” and “Unity of Humankind.” In the work of Mission and Unity, Faith and Order, Life and Work, and the General Assembly, one can recognize that ecumenical work has focused on these two foci of unity. Convinced that the ecumenical movement for these two dimensions of unity should continue, we now need to widen the horizon of unity towards the whole Oikoumene. Koinonia in diversity should not remain at the level of Unity of the Church and Unity of Humankind. It should be expanded to all creation in God’s Oikoumene. Justice, Peace and Reconciliation should be realized not only in human history but also in the whole creation. In fact, Unity of Oikoumene is rooted in the Koinonia of the Triune God. In the words of the Apostle Paul (Romans 8:19‐23), the Truine God is involved in the work of liberating both humankind and the whole creation.
Here Patristic theology, particularly brought to the ecumenical movement by the Orthodox churches, is of eminent significance. Theologians like Gregory Nazanzius have linked the Trinitarian sociality of God with the sociality of the cosmos and of the human being. The reality of this sociality is celebrated first of all in the Eucharistic communion - not just as a ritual but with all our commitments to Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation which, in recent times, has been called “liturgy after the liturgy”. Sharing around the Eucharistic table - followed by sharing in the human community in order to create an all-embracing sharing community - is a visible sign and foretaste of the Kingdom of God. Representing this new reality in creation is the key mission of the Church as she participates in God’s mission for life in fullness. Another Patristic theologian, Irenaeus of Lyon, expressed this in one sentence, often quoted by the late Archbishop Oscar Romero: “Gloria Dei, homo vivens” - The glory of God is that humans may live.
Therefore, fellowship and unity among all the members of God’s Oikos, including cosmic Unity and Koinonia, should be the aim of the ecumenical movement in the 21st century. In this sense the Ecumenical Movement is an Initiator of Life‐Giving Civilization.
3-2. Ecumenical Movement as a Spiritual Movement for Celebration of Life
Worship is the breath of the Church and the epiphany of the Church. Worship is the Church’s witness to what God has done and is doing for the whole creation. It is a manifestation of the Assembly of God’s creation. Worship is the very form and action of the visibility of the Church. The Church, therefore, speaks for the Church by worship.
Unless worship is celebrated properly the Church cannot justify its existence. That is why Calvin said that the Church can be true only when the Word is truly preached and the sacraments rightly administered. We say that mission is the raison d’être of the Church. Maybe worship is an equally essential raison d’être of the Church. In this respect, worship should be one of the most significant focal points of the ecumenical movement.
Throughout the process of the ecumenical movement since its foundation, the work of the ecumenical movement has largely been carried out through the forms of dialogue, consultation and conference. As a matter of fact it was necessary for identifying the commonality and diversity among different traditions and reaching out to a consensus. This process should be continued whenever it is necessary. However, the ecumenical movement should now go beyond the current state of discussion and agreements, and go ahead not only for witnessing to what has been conferred but also to the new horizon into which the Spirit leads for the unity of the whole creation. We need to celebrate and manifest in a form of spiritual movement what God speaks to the world through the ecumenical movement. In this respect, the ecumenical movement should reshape itself as a spiritual movement. Worship should be the primary focus of spiritual life, and the liturgical celebration of life should be framed for spiritual formation, facilitating an ethical response to God’s call for justice, peace and life in fullness. Thus liturgical life is the heart of the celebration of life.
3-3. Mission as an Invitation to Life in Fullness
Mission is regarded as the raison d’etre of the Church. Throughout Christian history, the Gospel has been shared through mission work. God’s grace and peace have been revealed in the suffering and struggles of peoples around the world. Through mission the peace and justice of God have been proclaimed and liberation has taken place. Now the Church is being seriously challenged by the global crisis of life today in the context of economic globalization, ecological disaster, omnicidal wars, confrontations among civilizations and deep hopelessness in people’s minds and hearts.
As we move further into the 21st century, communities of faith will be more seriously challenged to rebuild the foundations of their spirituality and ethics in national and global society through specific mission tasks.
Mission is God’s eschatological invitation to life in fullness. It is an open invitation of God to everyone, all inhabitants on earth, to enjoy this life. This mission agenda is one of the major purposes of Christ’s coming to this world (John 10:10). A highly descriptive vision of God’s mission was proclaimed by the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 65:17‐25 reveals God’s vision for the New Heaven and New Earth, where life for all is guaranteed, economic justice is firmly secured and peace is completely established. Therefore, life, justice and peace are the primary mission tasks if our mission work coincides with God’s mission.
Under this assumption, Christian mission in the 21st century should challenge the principalities of empire, mammon as promoted by neo‐liberal economic globalization, biological manipulation, misuse of religious communities for political domination, one gender’s domination over the other, one civilization’s domination over the others, hegemonic suppression of partnership, idolization of unsustainable developmentalism, and many more dilemmas today.
In the 21st century, a bold shift must take place from conversion missiology to invitation missiology, from individual missiology to community missiology, from anthropocentric missiology to Oikos missiology, from domination missiology to servant missiology, from exclusion missiology to inclusion missiology and from quantitative missiology to qualitative mission. The crucially important mission task in this century is the liberating of the whole creation from groaning and decay. Thus there needs to be an intensification of the ecumenical commitment to Justice, Peace and the Life of All.
Justice was a primary focus of the 20th‐century ecumenical mission. There is an erosion of the justice movement in the world today. The ecumenical movement needs renewal of its justice discourse on the basis of the spirituality of diakonia and ecological integrity at the heart of ecumenical mission. The WCC Call for “Alternative Globalization Addressing People and the Earth: AGAPE” is an important initiative in this direction; and the WARC’s “Accra Confession” on Justice in the Economy and the Earth is another example.
At this time when global geo‐politics are dominated by radically new types of wars and military regimentation, we need special, new prophecy and healing to witness to the peace of Jesus. The concerns of the Decade to Overcome Violence should be reset in terms of the new geopolitical context and the socio‐economic, religious and cultural context of violence. The peace of Jesus ― the alpha and omega of peace witness of the ecumenical movement ― is the true peace for all living beings.
3-4. Oikocracy of Life as Ecumenical Witness
In God’s creative reign all living beings are active participants as co‐subjects. The subject-hood and rights of all, including human, religious, social, cultural and economic, in the local, national, global and cosmic communities of life are a God-given reality and this has to be integrally protected and promoted. On this expanding horizon of democracy, the ecumenical movement has played a pioneering role over the last two centuries. Now is the time for the ecumenical movement to join in a new Oikocracy of life.
Modern democracy was nurtured through the history of the Christian community, which based its life on belief in the sovereign Reign of God. Democracy has permeated into the communities of nations throughout the world, and is now embraced in all dimensions of life. Now God’s Creative Reign has laid the foundation of an Oikos in which all living beings have become sovereign subjects under God the Creator. On this new ecumenical horizon lies a new politico-economic paradigm in a cosmic framework, where God’s Oikoumeme of justice, peace and conviviality will flourish and the scope of their participation is becoming wider and deeper.
3-5. New Directions of Ecumenical Formation
Ecumenical formation means spiritually based, ethically mature, mission‐oriented learning and training in the community of life as well as the community of faith. The two dimensions cannot be separated. It is a creative and dynamic process of education that recognizes living beings as spiritual subjects for self‐ and mutual‐ learning in the community of life.
Ecumenical learning involves the ability to discern signs of the times for prophetic witness. It involves cultivating wisdom for life in fullness. It nurtures the professional capacity to serve living beings (life diakonia), their communities (social diakonia) and their spiritual and cultural lives (spiritual diakonia). It also involves the training of leaders for these services on the local, regional and global levels. Consolidating the spiritual ground through common affirmation of faith and through deeper spiritual discipline, the diakonia becomes an integral part of the koinomia in the universe as well as in the Church.
3-6. Ecumenical Communication as a Koinonia of Life
The process of communication has been radically globalized by the global market regime, global geo‐political hegemony and global technological revolution. This revolution in communication and information has profoundly affected the communities of life in the spiritual, religious‐cultural, socio‐economic and political dimensions.
Ecumenical communication as “sharing” of life for community among all living beings is a central mission of the ecumenical movement. God’s Revelation is the primary communication among all living beings for their communion of life. Thus, witness to God’s Reign, to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to the work of the Spirit is the core of communication in our ecumenical movement. Ecumenical communication is the communication of justice, peace and the feast of life. This mission of ecumenical communication is creative cultural and spiritual action to create life‐giving civilization.
