The challenge of proselytism and the calling to common witness

Ecumenical Review, The, April, 1996

Foreword

We would like to present the document The Challenge of Proselytism and the Calling to Common Witness, which has been prepared by the Joint Working Group between the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church, in response to concerns expressed by some of our churches in regard to the missionary outreach of other churches that would seem to bear some of the characteristics of proselytism.

It is within the concern for full Christian unity and common Christian witness that the question of proselytism is looked at in this document. There is the common conviction that central to the work of Christian unity is an urgent need for all Christians to be able to give a truly common witness to the whole Christian faith.

In this spirit, the document may help Christian communities to reflect on their own motivation for mission and also on their methods of evangelizing. Dialogue in a truly ecumenical spirit with those considered to be proselytizing is highlighted.

It is our hope, therefore, that this document will be shared at different levels of church life and reflected on by churches, so that it can contribute towards breaking down mistrust, suspicion, misunderstanding or ignorance of the other, where any of these may exist, as well as encourage persevering effort to seek new ways and means of closer collaboration in evangelization, according to the different circumstances of time, place and culture.

All such efforts will mean a deeper commitment to the goal of full communion among Christ's disciples, in the certitude that our fellowship is with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. This document is meant as a contribution to that goal.

I. Introduction

1. This document is the result of discussions in the Joint Working Group (JWG) and is presented with the conviction that it is timely, and with the hope that it may serve as an impulse for further reflection and action in the churches. The conversations in the JWG were marked both by the grateful recognition of the increase of common witness of Christians from different traditions, and serious concerns about tensions and conflicts created by proselytism in nearly all parts of the world. It is the new reality of common witness and a growth in koinonia which forms the backdrop for a critical consideration of proselytism which has been described as conscious efforts with the intention to win members of another church.(1)

2. Even though the JWG has addressed the questions of common witness and proselytism on two previous occasions, recent dramatic events have led it to study these issues once again. Over the past few years we have become more aware of the concern being expressed in new situations and contexts in which people tend to be vulnerable in one way or another, and where proselytizing activity is alleged to be taking place. Some situations invite urgent ecumenical attention, such as: -- within the climate of newly found religious freedom, e.g. in Central and Eastern Europe, where there is a threat felt by some churches that their members are under pressure from other churches to change their allegiance; -- instances in the "developing world" (often easily identified with nations in the southern hemisphere, though also found elsewhere), in which proselytizing efforts take advantage of people's misfortunes -- e.g. in situations of poverty in villages, or in the mass migration to the cities where new arrivals have a sense of being lost in anonymity or marginalized and are frequently outside the pastoral structures of their own church -- to induce them to change their church affiliation; -- where people of a particular ethnic group, traditionally members of one church, are said to be encouraged by unfair means to become members of other churches; -- the activity of some new missionary movements, groups or individuals, both within our churches and outside them, especially those originating in the newly industrialized nations, which enter countries often uninvited by any church and begin missionary activity among the local people in competition with the local churches; -- in various places the arrival of evangelizing groups making extensive use of the mass media and causing confusion and division among local churches; -- in many parts of the world, the churches are experiencing proselytizing activities of sects and new religious movements.

3. The purpose of this document is to encourage all Christians to pursue their calling to render a common witness to God's saving and reconciling purpose in today's world and to help them to avoid all competition in mission that contradicts their common calling. With this aim the document seeks to facilitate a pastoral response to the continuing challenge of proselytism which not only endangers existing ecumenical relations but is also an additional barrier to our growing together in reciprocal love and trust as brothers and sisters in Christ.

4. Today we thank God for the achievements of ecumenical theological dialogues during recent decades and for a new climate of understanding and friendship in which ecumenical relations are being developed. We are also grateful for all the recent encouraging signs of better mutual understanding and joint perspectives in the area of common witness and proselytism.1 These are recorded in bilateral and multilateral dialogues among churches and can be seen in significant initiatives of common witness at different levels of church life. These agreements and joint actions provide a basis and encouragement to intensify our efforts to bear together a credible witness to the gospel in the contemporary world.