Ecumenical mission: NCC president Gordon Sommers - National Council of Churches

Christian Century, Feb 2, 1994 by Margaret D. Wilde

EVANGELISM and visible unity are inseparable concerns, says Gordon Sommers, who recently became president of the National Council of Churches. Sommers traces his concern for unity to the early 1960s, when he was a newly ordained Moravian missionary in British Guiana (now Guyana) and a founding member of the Guyana Council of Churches. "I struggled with whether we should focus on church unity or on mission, and I became convinced that they are inseparable. If we are to be the body--the presence--of Christ in the world, this body cannot be broken and fragmented."

A riverboat conversation with a Hindu woman in Guyana sparked his lifetime interest in interfaith dialogue. "She told me `There is one God,'" Sommers recalls, "My work as a missionary in a multireligious setting gave me a new perspective on the U, S., where we are increasingly diverse in terms of religious faith. Our situation compels us to enter into conversation with other faiths. But doing so does not in any way compromise my belief in Jesus Christ as the hope of the world. We must bear witness to Christ in all circumstances, though the result of that witness is entirely for God to assess and determine. The Holy Spirit works in ways that our human constructs and institutions cannot begin to define and restrict."

Sommers, who heads the Northern Province of the Moravian Church in America, is the first NCC president ever elected from a small denomination. He finds it more significant that for the first time in many years a head of communion was chosen to lead the NCC.

Sommers begins his two-year tenure at a time when the NCC is recognizing its limitations but is also expanding its ecumenical scope. "The ecumenical movement takes place among those who name Jesus Christ as Lord," he says. "We are united by that creedal statement. The NCC doesn't have the staff or money it once had, but it rcra.fins the best organized vehicle for pursuing unity and ecumenism."

Sommers is especially concerned about ecumenism in local and regional church councils, formed by congregations. "The basic expression of the community of faith is the local congregation," he says. "Our conciliar activity must enable congregations to be the primary manifestation of ecumenieal activity,"

His ecumenieal work in Pennsylvania led to a personal friendship with Archbishop William Kealer, now president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, who addressed the NCC Governing Board at Sommers's installation in November. Sommers calls Archbishop Kealer's presence a sign and symbol of unity at the national level, and traces it to "our history together in Pennsylvania interchurch cooperation." Ecumenical action by congregations is often only a dream, he continues. "But we have to keep that vision, or it won't happen. For example, the most recent General Board adopted a policy statement on violence in the media. But that policy is going to be effective only when it gets down to the people and begins influencing their individual choices about what to watch on television. Encouraging such ecumenical action is an important service and ministry the National Council provides."

Sommers's longstanding concern about violence was expressed in his first official action after the November meeting of the NCC board: he accompanied Masaichi and Mieko Hattori, whose son Yoshi was fatally shot in Louisiana when he went to the wrong house for a Halloween party, as they and Yoshis American host family delivered petitions to Washington asking for legislation to control handgun violence. The NCC has adopted a position in favor of controlling handguns, assault weapons and lookalike toy guns, says. Sommers. As a pastor, he has listened carefully to parishioners who favor "complete freedom to own, purchase and use guns." In Canada, where he grew up, "it wasn't an issue. We had sporting guns out on the farm, In Pennsylvania, too, people use guns for deer hunting, and theres a strong feeling about the freedom to use guns. But I will also speak out about the harmful side of that freedom."

Asked to name other priority issues facing the NCC, he replied: "Some segments of society and the church think justice for gays and lesbians should have a high priority, The Holy Spirit has not led us to a sense of clarity and unity on that subject. I can only ask [those on both sides of the issue] not to make their positions so hard and fast that they break the unity. Let us continue to talk. Some gay and lesbian persons say, `If you don't take a stronger position, you have already made a decision against us.' And that is very hard to face. I can only claim them as brothers and sisters and say, `Lets keep the lines of communication open.' Maybe ten years down the road, the way will be clearer."