Streetwalking with Jesus arrives

I had preordered a copy many weeks ago so was surprised and delighted when the delivery arrived at my doorstep of Deacon John Green's new book Streetwalking with Jesus. Green's Emmaus Ministries is a great example of kingdom unity on the streets of my hometown Chicago. I know a number of people connected to this Ministry and I am so glad that there is now a book that explains the ministry and holds up missional ecumenism as a model for Christians at work on the margins. I know that I will be challenged by the book to, as the subtitle says, "reach out in justice and mercy." If I were in Chicago I would go to the book party that Cardinal George, the archbishop of Chicago, is speaking at on Sunday.

From my perspective and the perspective of this blog, it is a blessed thing to see a book on Christian ministry receiving endorsements from the Archbishop of Denver and a professor at Moody Theological Seminary!!

Reflections from Rome

The reports on the missional ecumenism gathering in Rome are beginning to come in. John Armstrong, a key evangelical leaders whose work I have been highlighting on this blog, has begun a series of extended written reports on the gathering. If you live near Wheaton, IL, you can hear him Thursday, March 24, at 4:30 p.m., at the Wheaton College Student Ecumenical Society in the Beamer Center, in the Phelps Room (on the lower level). His talk is entitled “Conversation at the Vatican”. In his blog, Armstrong says that the meeting was a small gathering of Protestants and Catholics who are each involved in “missional ecumenism at the margins” or, ministering with Christians from other traditions to people without worldly power and influence. Just the kind of group the Holy Spirit would bless!! I can’t wait to hear more about it.

Pentecost and Ecumenism

John Armstrong is back from the Rome gathering and has a very thoughtful reflection on the gathering and on the significance of bridge-building and Pentecost for those committed to the reality of John 17 in the life of the Church.

Update on Rome meeting

John Green has an update on the missional ecumenism meeting in Rome. His description of the ecumenical history of the place of their meeting today is fascinating.
The wonderful group  InncerChange that is a part of the meeting has a great website.

J.I. Packer on "missional ecumenism"

John Armstrong’s book on missional ecumenism is called Your Church is too Small. Discussion about his book is one of the best places to start to understand the reaction to missional ecumenism. This website tracks what a number of different bloggers are saying about the book.

The one and only J.I. Packer’s foreword to the book can be read here. Packer sees Armstrong as one who

views the visible church as a single worldwide, Spirit-sustained community within which ongoing doctrinal and denominational divisions, though important, are secondary rather than primary. In this vision, the primary thing is the missional-ecumenical vocation and trajectory crystallized for us by our Lord Jesus Christ in his teaching and prayer and illustrated in a normative way by the Acts narrative and much of the reasoning of the apostolic letters.

John Armstrong reads Pope Benedict

John Armstrong is the strongest evangelical proponent of the term “missional ecumenism” that I have read. He is wise to see in Pope Benedict a kindred spirit. In three different posts on his blog Armstrong engages with Pope Benedict’s recent book Light of the World. Here are some of the highlights:

The Pope says that we can/should acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters and join in service as Christians.

If I read this correctly we are not near union between Protestants  and the Roman Catholic Church. Some Protestant communions may be closer to union than others; e.g. Anglican. But even here the prospect of union has been damaged in recent decades as I noted in yesterday’s post.

What we are nearer to, especially since Vatican II, is missional-ecumenism. We can embrace the dynamic ways in which we are joined by the Holy Spirit as fellow believers. By this means we can find new and creative ways to “join in service.” We can read the Holy Scriptures together and pray together. This is precisely what I mean by the term missional-ecumenism.

This thesis is rejected, often rather strongly, by some Catholics. The individual Catholic who refuses to believe that Vatican II, in the Fourth Session, actually taught anything new about relationships with other Christians reacts against missional-ecumenism. In some cases this reaction is based on indifference since they believe Rome is the true church and Protestants are outside the true church and that is the end of the matter. These Catholic brothers and sisters need to read the encyclicals of their recent popes, listen to the words and witness of the Vatican’s Congregation of Christian Unity, and then remove the blinkers that still keep them from clearly seeing what the Spirit has done in the last fifty years.

On the other side there are many, especially conservative ones, who refuse to believe that anyone can believe Catholic dogma and be a real Christian. (This is often stated in a strange way that says: “An individual person in the Catholic Church can be a real Christian but they must not believe Catholic dogma or they will be lost!”) This prejudice is rooted in a number of misunderstandings about the present; e.g. the condemnations of the Council of Trent are misunderstood/misapplied, Rome teaches that one is saved by doing good works thus they preach a false gospel, Catholics pray to the saints thus they deny Christ’s sufficiency, etc.

A new day has dawned for the whole catholic church. We can embrace it in love or reject it out of hand. I believe missional-ecumenism is consistent with the teaching of the whole counsel of Scripture and thus commends itself to Christians on every side. I even believe Pope Benedict XVI agrees.

Evangelicals and Catholics Together....in Gospel proclamation??

Among the many questions that arise from the idea of evangelicals and Catholics working together in common gospel proclamation, these are two of the biggest:

1) Can these two groups, authentically and in faithfulness to their traditions, work together in proclaiming a common gospel?

2) Are there concrete examples of this actually happening consistently and fruitfully?

The evangelical leader John Armstrong, who used to think the answer to question #1 was no, provides an affirmative answer to both questions now. He highlights the work of a Chicago ministry that I have connections to, Emmaus Ministries. No matter how you answer those two questions, Armstong's piece is worth your attention. Green was also the focus of a shortpiece by Christianity Today in 2000. Green's book explaining the history and purpose of Emmaus Ministries is out soon and available at Amazon.

From "ecumenism of the trenches" to "missional ecumenism"

A wonderful step towards true Christian unity over the last thirty years is what has been called the “ecumenism of the trenches” between evangelicals and Catholics. The trenches refers to the culture wars in America, particularly around abortion, and the ecumenism refers to the surprising way that former “enemies” like conservative evangelicals and traditionalist Catholics came to deeper respect and appreciation for each others heritages. Outstanding and enlightening work has flowed from these relationships. In much of the reporting about this welcomed trend, this conservative ecumenism has been contrasted with traditional ecumenical efforts between what are called “liberal Catholics” and “Mainline Protestants”. I found myself ten years ago actively reading work from both these “camps” and I always found these sharp distinctions between ecumenical efforts too simplistic. The liberal/conservative divide seemed like a caricature of the lived reality of America’s religious melting pot. I have been away from these discussions for a number of years and as I reenter it I am glad to see the growing use of the term “missional ecumenism”.

If you have any interest in this at all, a gathering this week in Rome of Protestant and Catholic workers among the poor should be of interest to you. Among the Catholics at the meeting are Deacon John Green of Emmaus Ministries in Chicago and leaders from the fascinating group Sant’Egidio. Among the Protestants attending are the evangelical leader John Armstrong, along with many of the contributors to the IVP book Living Mission: The Vision and Voices of New Friars. “Mainline” Christian leaders participating in the gathering include Dame Mary Tanner, European President of the World Council of Churches, and David and Margie Richardson, Director of the Anglican Centre, liaison from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Vatican.

I will be following reports on it closely.