From the Greek oikoumeneµ , “the inhabited world,” “the whole world,” and thus “universal.” Generally “ecumenism” is associated with the movement to bring the Christian churches together in united action and belief, and eventually in some form of organic union. However, as the end of the second millennium approached, the goal of most “ecumenists” was no longer organic unity, but “visible unity.” Oikoumeneµ occurs 15 times in the NT , as, for example, in Luke 2:1 of the extent of the Roman registration mentioned and in Matt. 24:14 of the extent of the preaching of the gospel. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Protestant ecumenical efforts began to focus on social service and foreign missions, through such organizations as the YMCA (founded in London in 1844), the Evangelical Alliance (formed in London in 1846), the Federal Council of Churches (in America, 1900), and Christian World Communions, such as the Lutheran World Federation, World Methodist Council, Baptist World Alliance, and what is called the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The world Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910 is often referred to as the first important step in the ecumenical movement. Two Seventh-day Adventist delegates participated, including W. A. Spicer, secretary of the General Conference. Significant also was the International Missionary Council that met at Jerusalem in 1928, and at Madras in 1938. Since that time, ecumenism has focused on the home front. The organized ecumenical movement developed in three major streams: International Missionary Council, Faith and Order, and Life and Work. The Faith and Order Movement met at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1927 and at Edinburgh in 1937. The other movement, known as Life and Work, had been sponsored since 1920 by Nathan Sšderblom, the Lutheran archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden. Life and Work conferences were held at Stockholm, Sweden, in 1925 and at Oxford, England, in 1937. Ecumenical cooperation for Christian youth was considered at Oslo in 1947, and this was followed by a series of World Christian Youth conferences and the World Council for Christian Education.
The capstone of ecumenical effort came with the creation of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at Amsterdam in 1948 when the Faith and Order and Life and Work movements merged. The World Council met again at Evanston, Illinois, in 1954. The only requirement for membership in the World Council in those early years was acceptance of “our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.”
At the New Delhi Assembly of the WCC in 1961, there were delegates from 197 member churches representing 300 million Christians in 90 countries. The Greek Orthodox Church already was a member of the council, and the Russian Orthodox Church, with 50 million members, was accepted for membership together with some other Orthodox churches. The International Missionary Council merged with the WCC at that time. The original simple prerequisite for membership was enlarged to read: “The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to Holy Scripture and therefore seek to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of one God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
This change was necessary in order to incorporate the Orthodox churches. Many Protestants doubt that organic unity is possible without theological unity, and fear that the attempt to present a united message to the world under such circumstances is contrary to the Protestant concept of the individual interpretation of Scripture. Ecumenism does not have the undivided support of the laity. However, the ecumenical movement has been gradually bringing some churches together in formal union (“union churches”), as well as in less formal but united action through such organizations as the National Council and the World Council of Churches. There are more than 100 national councils of churches, most of them associated with the WCC. The Roman Catholic Church is a member of more than one-third of these councils.
Several major Protestant denominations are not members of the World Council, including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the great majority of Pentecostal churches. The Catholic Church appointed observers to attend the New Delhi meeting, this being the first official ecumenical gesture of the kind on the part of the Vatican, although unofficial Roman Catholic observers have attended most of the major ecumenical gatherings since the Edinburgh meeting in 1937.
Formerly aloof from matters of ecumenical concern, or even quite openly hostile (several warnings were issued by the Vatican), the Roman Catholic Church began to take an active interest in the ecumenical movement in connection with Vatican Council II, under Pope John XXIII, who appointed a Secretariat for the promotion of Christian Unity to promote closer relations with the non-Catholic churches. Through this Secretariat, which now has been upgraded to the level of a Council, arrangements were made for Protestant observers to attend the council and for them to express their opinion on matters before the council. A decree promulgated by Session III of the council, entitled “On Christian Unity,” outlined the Catholic approach to the problem. Early in 1965 the World Council of Churches appointed a working group to enter into formal dialogue on matters of mutual interest and concern, with a similar group to be appointed by the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
However, high-ranking Catholic spokespersons have made it clear that Catholic concessions to facilitate unity cannot alter either the magisterium (the teaching authority of the church) or the papacy (its governing authority). Therefore, structural rapprochement between Protestantism and Catholicism will involve Protestantism’s ultimate acceptance of the doctrine and authority of the Roman Catholic Church, including the primacy of the pope. The many and far-reaching concessions the Catholic Church is able and willing to make in order to bring about the reunion of Christendom will not affect the essential substantive factors that constitute the Catholic Church.
The General Conference Committee has never voted an official statement regarding the Seventh-day Adventist relationship to the ecumenical movement as such. A book has been written dealing at length with the subject (B. B. Beach, Ecumenism-Boon or Bane? [Review and Herald, 1974]), and a number of articles have appeared over the years in SDA publications, including the Adventist Review. Thus, while there is not exactly an official position, there are clear indications regarding the Seventh-day Adventist viewpoint.
Generally it can be said that, while the Seventh-day Adventist Church does not completely condemn the ecumenical movement and its main organizational manifestation, the World Council of Churches, it has been critical of various aspects and activities. Few would wish to deny that ecumenism has had laudable aims and some positive influences. Its goal is visible Christian unity. No SDA can be opposed to the unity Christ Himself prayed for. The ecumenical movement has promoted kinder interchurch relations with more dialogue and less diatribe and helped remove unfounded prejudices.
Through its various organizations and activities, the ecumenical movement has provided more accurate and updated information on churches, spoken for religious liberty and human rights, combatted against the evils of racism, and drawn attention to socioeconomic implications of the gospel. In all this the intentions have been good and some of the fruit palatable. However, in the total picture the banes tend to outweigh the boons.
On the basis of Bible prophecy and the writings of Ellen G. White, SDA s anticipate the eventual success in some form or another of the ecumenical movement, both in eliminating the divisions of Protestantism and in reuniting Christendom by bridging the gulf that separates non-Catholic communions from Rome. The ecumenical movement will then become a concerted effort to unite not only Christians but also the entire world and to secure universal peace and security by enlisting the power of civil government in a universal religiopolitical crusade to eliminate all dissent. Seventh-day Adventists envision this crusade as the great apostasy to which John the revelator refers as “Babylon the great.” They understand also that God’s last message of mercy to the world prior to the return of Christ in power and glory will consist of a warning against this great apostate movement, and a call to all who choose to remain loyal to Him to leave the churches connected with it. (See Rev. 13:15–17 ; 14:6–11 ; 16:12–14 ; 17:1–6 ; 18:1–4 ; GC 444, 445, 573, 588, 589, 615.)
F. D. Nichol, editor of the Review and Herald , has summarized the SDA attitude toward the ecumenical movement thus: “We can heartily agree with World Council leaders that the endless divisions in Christendom are a tragedy. Accordingly, we must agree that it is laudable to seek to remove these divisions and thus produce unity. That far we can go with them in their reasoning.
“We doubt the wisdom of the method they are employing to secure unity. And we take issue with the evident assumption that underlies their thinking; namely, that if the various religious bodies will adjust their government and doctrines here and there, they can be fitted together harmoniously. We believe that true unity is possible only in terms of Bible truth, and that any unity short of that is a deception. . . . God’s true church in the world must be distinguished first and above all else by its devotion to the revealed will of God as found in the Holy Scriptures” ( Review and Herald 131:14, Sept. 23, 1954).
In an editorial entitled “Why We Cannot Join” ( ibid. 142:15, Mar. 18, 1965), Nichol explained why Seventh-day Adventists decline to participate in such organizations as the National Council of Churches: “At the heart of the ecumenical movement is the policy to soft-pedal what its communicants cannot agree on. How else could such a movement gain cohesion or make progress at all? At the very heart of the Advent movement is the conviction that we should emphasize our distinctive doctrines. . . . True, we hold certain prime Christian doctrines in common with all other Christian people, but let us never forget that it is not our theological points of agreement but our points of difference that justify our existence as a separate people. And it is only as we keep those points of difference clear that we protect against blurring out the edges of Adventism in a disordered world.”
A person’s attitude toward ecumenism will be determined by the individual’s concept of the nature of the church. Seventh-day Adventists believe that all sincere Christians, of whatever communion, constitute the people of God. But they believe also that the SDA Church has been given a special message for the world in this generation—the message of Christ’s imminent, personal, visible return to earth in power and glory to establish His universal, righteous, eternal reign, and of preparation for that event—and that eventually, sincere Christians everywhere will recognize the validity of this message and of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as God’s remnant church. SDA s welcome Christian fellowship with other denominations but believe that the message with which they have been entrusted is for the entire world, and that the proclamation of this message is not compatible with membership in the World Council of Churches. Furthermore, in view of their conviction that the message they have to give must go to all the world, they could not accept the assignment of a limited area for missionary work. They regret that their sense of world mission makes membership in the National Council and the World Council impracticable. However, SDA s seek to work in fellowship with other Christians in every way that does not involve a compromise of what they understand to be their mission as a people.
SDA s are concerned regarding not only the ecumenical understanding of unity, but the approach of many ecumenists, especially in the setting of the World Council of Churches, to belief, understanding of Scripture and mission, sociopolitical responsibility, and eschatology.
Should SDA s cooperate ecumenically? SDA s should cooperate insofar as the authentic gospel is proclaimed and crying human needs are being met. The Seventh-day Adventist Church wants no entangling memberships and refuses any compromising relationships that might tend to water down its distinct witness. However, SDA s wish to be “conscientious cooperators.” The ecumenical movement as an agency of cooperation has acceptable aspects; as an agency for organic unity of churches, it is much more suspect.
Back in 1926, long before ecumenism was in vogue, the General Conference Executive Committee adopted an important statement that is now a part of the General Conference Working Policy (075). This declaration has significant ecumenical implications. The concern of the statement was for the mission field and relationships with other “missionary societies.” However, the statement has now been broadened to deal with “religious organizations” in general. It affirms that Seventh-day Adventists “recognize those agencies that lift up Christ before men as a part of the divine plan for evangelization of the world, and . . . hold in high esteem Christian men and women in other communions who are engaged in winning souls to Christ.” In the church’s dealings with other churches, “Christian courtesy, frankness, and fairness” are to prevail. Some practical suggestions are made in order to avoid misunderstandings and occasion for friction. The statement makes it very clear, however, that the “Seventh-day Adventist people” have received the special “burden” to emphasize the Second Coming as an event “even at the door,” preparing “the way of the Lord as revealed in Holy Scripture.” This divine “commission” makes it, therefore, impossible for SDA s to restrict their witness “to any limited area” and impels them to call the gospel “to the attention of all peoples everywhere.”
Experience has taught that generally the best relationship to the various councils of churches (national, regional, world) is that of observer-consultant status. This helps the church to keep informed and to understand trends and developments. It helps to know Christian thinkers and leaders. SDA s are provided the opportunity to exert a presence and make the church’s viewpoint known. Membership is not advisable. Those ecumenical organizations are usually not “neutral.” They often have quite specific goals and policies, and play sociopolitical advocacy roles.
Today the World Council of Churches has as its goal not so much organizational union as “mutual recognition.” What this means is that the different churches and denominations are to recognize each other’s baptism, Communion service (Eucharist), and ordained ministry. During the last decade of the twentieth century a key ecumenical term is koinonia , that is, communion, fellowship, cooperation, and caring partnership.
It would appear that the organized ecumenical movement reached a pinnacle of enthusiasm and influence in the late sixties, in the immediate aftermath of Vatican II. Since then the WCC has gone into a period of ecumenical doldrums and even decline. Much ecumenical activity now takes place outside of the WCC on the local level in the form of unstructured interdenominational youth and lay Bible study and prayer groups, fellowships, and community service endeavors.