With a single voice

In response to the challenges of the contemporary world, the missionary idea, already of decisive importance for the modern ecumenical movement, demands closer and more intensive collaboration between the Christian Churches, transcending confessional differences. This is the thesis of WALTER KLAIBER (theologian, bishop of the Methodist Evangelical Church (from 1989 to2005) and, until recently, chairman of the ACK – working community of the Christian Churches in Germany) as expounded in an article published in the July number of Herder Korrispondenz. COMMON MISSION. “There’s a crucial need for Christians to speak with one voice in response to the challenges of our time”. Everyone shares this opinion, but Klaiber has the impression that the goal of mission is not clear. “The simplest goal is that those who have strayed from Christianity should return to the church, preferably our church”. This is why the mission of the Christian churches is often characterized by “confessional egoism”. In the social field collaboration between the various Christian churches in general works well, “but what’s the situation when it comes to preaching the Gospel? Is it easier to join together in distributing hot soup than it is to share together the bread of life?”. “In spite of all the differences between the confessions what unites us is the fact of having the Credo in common”. According to Klaiber, celebrating together “a day of the creation” not only to praise our Creator together, but also to denounce the destruction of the creation caused by human irresponsibility and seek ways of protecting the creation, “would be a possible consequence of our common Credo in God the Creator”. PEACEMAKERS. If we as Christian churches believe in Jesus Christ our Saviour, this means, in Klaiber’s view, that we have the duty to proclaim to our fellowmen that “God in Jesus of Nazareth also came for them and for their salvation”, “that God in Christ addresses himself to the whole of mankind”, that the value and dignity of our life are not our work but a gratuitous gift of God, and that therefore it is our duty to commit ourselves to a more just form of human cohabitation. So, believing in the Holy Spirit means having the duty to proclaim to our neighbour that “God through the Spirit gives us life, reconciliation and peace”. The New Testament describes the Church as a place where the Holy Spirit is present. “Therefore in the Credo we bear witness to the gift of the church, one, holy, catholic and apostolic“. “It follows – argues Klaiber – that if we believe together – albeit in our different interpretations – in the church, one, holy, catholic and apostolic, we have the duty to admit not only reciprocally, but also and especially within our church, that we cannot exclusively claim this truth for ourselves and have the duty to be humbly willing to open ourselves to the pacifying and unifying work of the Holy Spirit. Only if the churches themselves are open to the miracle of reconciliation can they become messengers of reconciliation and peacemakers”. NECESSARY CLARITY. Hitherto the ecumenical mission has not been, in statistical terms, a successful enterprise. On the contrary, missionary efficiency and growth are encountered precisely in those communities that seek self-affirmation and that adopt a position against the other churches and especially against ecumenism. From a psychological point of view that is understandable: whoever decides to join a church wishes to be sure of possessing the only truth. But “success is not one of God’s attributes”, explains the theologian, referring to what seems to have been said by Martin Buber”, and “rejecting a common witness does not help to propagate the gospel, but only concurs to falsify it by one’s own entrepreneurial ideology”. However we must not forget that a common witness requires clarity: the various interpretations of the Gospel must not lead to a confusing pluralism. Common witness and action must not destroy the identity of individuals: “in the house of Our Father” “the various architectural styles” of the various groups that live together under the same roof “must remain evident”. But, explains the theologian, promoting and preserving one’s own traditions must not occur to the detriment of others. “A common witness is possible because in this way we begin to realize what Jesus asked of God in his prayer: that they may all be one thing only so that the world may believe. A common witness is necessary because only thus does our message remain credible: namely, that what’s important for us in our mission is not the recruitment of members, the survival of the tradition of our church or the safeguard of our influence in society, but the message of the love of God in creation, in liberation and in reconciliation, and that men and women should find in this message space and support for their life”.