Ecumenical Formation in the Service of a Renewed Church - Africa - Statistical Data Included

Ecumenical Review, The, July, 2001 by John S. Pobee

The 20th century saw many steps towards ecumenical awakening: the world missionary conference in Edinburgh, Scotland; the development of the Life and Work and Faith and Order movements, and of course the emergence of the WCC; the encyclical of the ecumenical patriarchate; the Malines Conversations; the Second Vatican Council; and bilateral and multilateral discussions.

This raises two points. First, the awakening led to discussions between churches, often at leadership level. How can this reach the pews? For ecumenism should be the vocation of every congregation and every Christian: but who are, and should be, enabled to be the mediators of such formation?

Second, in the 20th century it has been the churches of the North which devised models of church and ecumenism according to their own contexts, models which do not always make sense to the South. Churches of the North, and especially the West, tend to absolutize the formation of theology, the concept of Christ, ministry, the statement of ecumenism, and ministerial formation. The rise of contextualization is the reminder that those Northern statements can no longer be taken as normative. The fact that there is a translation of the gospel and scriptures into various cultures means Christ is greater than any one interpretation can realize. Christ grows through the work of mission and translation. Can we then continue to think of the current model of una sancta as normative ecclesial ecumenism?

The ecumenical movement has rediscovered koinonia as a basic ecclesiology.(13) That Greek word basically means participation (cf. Acts 2:42-44) and conjures up ideas of community, communion, fellowship, solidarity, partnership, cooperation, joint ownership. In other words, ecumenism is not only an intellectual, theological challenge but also a call to commitment to those ideas. This again emphasizes that no member of the body of Christ is merely an onlooker; the church includes both clergy and laity, men and women, old and young, North and South. Theological and ministerial formation programmes should focus on koinonia and equip people to live lives of konini. How is this seen in Africa?

A radio broadcast on 11 September 1962 by Pope John XXIII was summed up as lumen Christi, lumen ecclesiae, lumen gentium, i.e. "the light of Christ is the light of the church and the church is the light of the nations". The vocation of the church is not to close in on itself; rather, it is inextricably related with humanity and the world. The world may try to find its own solutions to the problems which hold it in anguish: poverty, hunger, injustice and war. The church must be the church of all, particularly the poor, seeking not mere existence for humankind. It is in this regard that Pope John XXIII introduced a key word, convivenza, "life together", to describe the way in which Christians should work with all others: a real coordination and integration, a fraternity of love.

The particular African context

The 20th-century ecumenical vision developed at a time when the North Atlantic was the heartland of Christianity, so the structures conformed to North Atlantic usage -- Christendom, Enlightenment culture, etc. Now, the heartland has moved to the South, especially Africa, and that is where the ecumenism of the 21st century will be shaped.(14) This puts a serious burden on Africa. African churches must therefore live up to the privilege and responsibility of being the more vibrant part of the church. Africa has received much from the ecumenical church based in the North; what contribution can this new centre of world Christianity make in turn? Theological and ministerial formation must address this -- and the churches of the North must be humble enough to receive the results of this reshaping and revisioning of the ecumenical enterprise.