Significance of World Council at Amsterdam

Significance of World Council at Amsterdam

A look at religious world trends.

By EDWARD B. RUDGE, President, British Union Conference

On Monday, August 23, in the spacious Concertgebouw at Amsterdam, in the pres­ence of representatives of 15o churches, the World Council of Churches came officially into being. This marks a historic moment in the modern history of the Christian church. The 450 assembled delegates came from forty-eight countries. In addition to the regular delegates there were present alternates, consultants, ob­servers, and official visitors totaling almost 1,000. The founding resolution, which I quote, was formerly moved by Dr. Marc Boegner of Paris:

"That the first Assembly of the World Council of Churches be declared to be and is hereby consti­tuted, in accordance with the constitution drafted at Utrecht in 1938 and approved by the churches; that the Assembly consist of those persons who have been appointed as the official delegates of the churches ad­hering to the Council; and that the formation of the World Council of Churches be declared to be and hereby is completed."

The next act of the assembly was the adop­tion of the constitution which had been pre­pared some ten years ago at a special meeting at Utrecht, Holland. And so came into being this "new instrument" of service of the Ecu­menical Movement, the result of ten years of effort by outstanding leaders of the constituent churches, both in Europe and in America.

I. MEMBERSHIP.—The basis of this organ­ization is expressed in these words : "The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which accepts our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour." The second section of the constitution states, "All churches shall be eligible for membership in the World Council which express their agreement with the basis upon which the Council is founded."

By agreement with this foundational princi­ple, 150 churches have accepted membership. By far the larger number come from the United States and the British Empire, and include numerous representatives from the "younger churches" of the mission fields. Broadly, the representation of churches within the world council may be grouped as follows:

The Anglican Church, or Church of England

The Eastern Orthodox Church

The Lutheran Church

The Reformed Churches

Although the name "World Council of Churches" has been adopted, there are notable absentees from the membership of this council that lead many to question the accuracy of the title. The Church of Rome refused to partici­pate or to send observers. The Russian Ortho­dox and associated Eastern Orthodox churches also declined to participate in the council. This means that many millions of members of the Christian Church through their leaders are not participating in this World Council of Churches.

It must be acknowledged that the leadership of the World Council of Churches has accom­plished a great task in bringing together so many bodies holding divergent views on many vital issues. It now remains to be seen whether the idealism of the council can be made to measure up to the stern realities of practice.

II. AGENDA ITEMS.—The agenda of the world council, particularly in its preparatory stages of work, covered these four main items of business:

Section I. The Universal Church in God's Design.

Section 2. The Church's Witness to God's Design.

Section 3. The Church and the Disorder of Society.

Section fairs.

The result of previous study, by selected groups of churchmen considering these various themes, was presented in the form of written papers to the assembly. Later the assembly was divided into a number of study sections to which were allotted these respective themes.

In the closing days of the council it was ex­pected that the decisions reached by these vari­ous sectional groups would ultimately become the basis of the message of the World Council of Churches to the Christian churches gener­ally, and to the world.

III. POINTS OF AGREEMENT AND DISAGREE­MENT.—A summary of the outstanding points of agreement and disagreement in the relation­ship of the churches forming this world council were outlined with clearness by Prof. Clarence T. Craig, of the United States. These are listed herewith.

A. Seven Points of Agreement

"I. We all believe that the church is God's ere", ation, not man's. God's design for the world includes the gathering of a people for Himself. This began in Israel, and came to fulfillment in a new Israel.

"2.   We all believe that the redemption of this peo­ple centers in God's act in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, was raised from the dead, and became the Lord of the church.

"3.   We all believe that the church is marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit, by the preaching of the gospel, which is the Word of God's love for needy and sinful humanity, and by the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper.

"4.   We all believe that the church has been set apart in holiness as a worshiping community, to live in love according to the example and power of the crucified and risen Lord.

"5.   We all believe that the church is related to two worlds : she is composed of forgiven sinners, but at the same time her members are heirs of the kingdom of God.

"6.  We all believe that the church is served by a ministry which is equipped by God with various gifts of the Spirit for the building up of the body of Christ.

"7. We all believe that the church is one in very nature. Since God is one, there cannot be more than one people of God. This people is composed of all those whom He has redeemed in Christ."

B. Five Points of Disagreement

"1.   We are not at one in our understanding of the decree of continuity between the people of God under the old covenant and under the new. All agree that there is continuity, but is the church a new creation in Christ, or do the institutions of the Old Testament prefigure in an authoritative way the nature of the true people of God ? In what sense was Christ the end of the law ? Did that bring a radical break in God's dealings with His people ? Our differences at this point are less emphasized in the papers before yoi.i than will probably appear in sectional discussions.

"2.   We are not at one on the degree to which the church is the mystical body of Christ. For some, this leads to a stress upon the church as the extension of the incarnation. In other contributors that phrase is markedly absent. They do not believe that a fruitful analogy or figure should be pressed in a way that seems to them to be denied by the empirical church.

"3.   We are not at one in our understanding of the authority of tradition alongside of Scripture as nor­mative for the church. For some, tradition is essential because the development which the church has experi­enced under the guidance of the Holy Spirit is deter­minative for the nature and the form of the church. For others, what does not stand in canonical Scrip­ture has no permanent authority in and for the church. Unless we bear in mind our differing as­sumptions at this point, our contentions will be mean­ingless to others.

"4. We are not one in our understanding of the location of authority within and among the congrega­tions of believers. Some among us believe that every congregation is autonomous under Christ and subject to no ecclesiastical direction from beyond the congre­gation. Others are just as certain that there is need for authoritative government over the individual con­gregations if their common purpose is to be realized under human conditions. You have noted the differ­ence between the advocates of independency and the defenders of ecclesiastical authority.

"5. Lastly, we are not at one in our understanding of the nature of continuity in the church. Corollaries of this difference affect our understanding of the min­istry and the sacraments. Some are firmly convinced that the only way in which true continuity is main­tained is through what I would call a direct horizontal relationship with the twelve whom Christ appointed. Where the continuity is broken, something essential is lacking in the marks of the church. On the contrary, it is held just as passionately that the only way in which true continuity can be maintained is through a vertical relationship with the living Lord of the church. Wherever that is found, there is His church. No horizontal succession can assure this relationship, nor is any succession of human agents of any im­portance beside the direct and vital association with Him who promised to be wherever two or three are gathered in His name. At the moment this appears to be the most irreconcilable difference, for on both sides sincere individuals feel that the other position does not preserve real continuity."

IV. UNITY NOT UNION.—During the assem­bly meetings frequent references were made by the speakers to unity as distinct from union.

Although it is evident that some participants are deeply concerned with organized union, and advocate its attainment, others are much more concerned with the attainment of unity on the part of the churches in seeking to find a successful means whereby the world's urgent needs may be met. The place this new organi­zation occupies has been described as "a new instrument of continuous relationship between the churches."

It is recognized that the World Council now must face the tests and strains of differing ec­clesiastical loyalties, as well as differing view­points as to the council's future functions. Just how far it will be able to give voice to the life of the world's churches remains to be seen. Many vital problems are yet to be faced, dis­cussed, and solved. Not of least importance is the practical one of the celebration of the Lord's supper. The basis of membership in the World Council is acceptance of "our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour." Individual Christians express the sincerity of their profession in reverent and regular partaking to­gether of the emblems of the Lord's broken body. At the Amsterdam meeting these hun­dreds of delegates, forming the body of this "new instrument of continuous relationships" and representing four great Christian groups, have strangely been unable to unite about the table of the Lord! Four separate communion services were arranged for the Anglican, the Eastern Orthodox, the Lutheran, and the Re­formed churches, respectively. What a striking evidence is this of the acuteness of the divi­sions in a group 'gathered from many places and churches to seek after unity! This arrange­ment was condemned by Dr. Karl Barth as a serious blunder at such a time.

V. THE PROBLEM OF UNITY.—One of the outstanding desires expressed during the cur­rency of this world assembly was that of find­ing some means whereby the whole Christian church could give expression to its viewpoint on questions affecting the life of the church and the social condition of our world. Again and again speakers openly referred to the fail­ure of the Christian church to solve many of the issues of the day as "the shame of the church." The suggestions for the meeting of the problem were many and varied, ranging all the way from spoken condemnation of Com­munism to suggestions that Communism might be looked upon as an effort to apply Christian principles.

One could not but be impressed, while lis­tening to the many speakers, that this search for unity involved very grave risks of the cre­ation of further problems, because of the many­sided attitudes evident among representatives of different countries and churches.

VI.—FINDING THE BRIDGE.—The leadership of the World Council of Churches is aggressive, cultured, experienced, and determined to achieve the objectives of the organization so recently formed. Among these leaders are men of wide experience from the leading nations of the world, and skilled in church craft and its related issues. The strength of the determina­tion of this body of men to find a solution to the problems concerning the church and the world, was made very clear. Undoubtedly, as time goes on, and the conditions in the world grow worse, much more definiteness will inevitably come into the plans and purposes of this powerful new instrument.

One outstanding weakness is evident to the leadership of the World Council of Churches, and that is that they represent only a section of the Christian world. How shall a bridge be found over which the churches of the world can come together to dispose of their disagree­ments and find real unity ? This, often now an issue in the minds of many, will later become a pressing problem for which a solution must be found.

Here in England many members of the An­glican Church consider that their community provides this much-needed bridge. It is be­lieved that certain Orthodox churches and the Reformed churches may, and probably will ere long, find the way to union at least in its earlier stages, through the Anglican community. It is a confirmed conviction with the Anglicans that they represent the true body of Christ. On the other hand there is the Church of Rome positively declaring that it is the one and only true church. Likewise, the great Russian Or­thodox Church has recently declared itself once again to be the one and only true church. With three different bodies claiming to be the true church, the onlooker is left with the problem of deciding which is the one and only church!

VII. THE OPEN DOOR.—Possibly something that greatly attracted my attention in the city of Amsterdam may be prophetic of the ultimate outcome of the crossing' of the bridge in search of union. In a very busy thoroughfare in the heart of the city of Amsterdam is a double-fronted shop, inscribed on its window in Dutch are the words, "The Open Door." In one win­dow is a draped picture of Cardinal Newman. About him are grouped copies of a book on his life; also placed at points of vantage in the window display are these three quotations from

1. "Look around you, my brethren, at the forms of religion now in the world, and you will find that one, and one only, has the note of divine union."

2. "I consider the Roman Catholic communion to be the church of the apostles."

3. "The supremacy of conscience is the essence of natural religion ; the supremacy of Apostle and Pope is the essence of revealed religion."

The other window is even more strikingly arrayed. Toward the rear is an open Bible, and at its side stands a lighted candle. At its base is a quotation of the much-debated text, "Thou art the rock." In the foreground of the window is a closed Bible by the side of which stands an unlighted candle. In front of the closed Bible at a lower level is a picture of a wall. In the center of the wall is a wide-open door. Through the opening is seen a radiant cross from which pours rays lighting up the dark­ness of the outside wall. Reflected in the light radiating from the cross are the words, "The Open Door." On the lower Ott of the picture is an invitation to those interested to step in­side and discuss religious themes.

What a striking piece of clever propaganda is this ! I suppose the great majority of the fourteen hundred and more people officially in attendance at the council would at some stage during their stay pass by this "open door." How suggestive is this striking window display of what for so many years Rome has stressed as the way for the churches of the world to find rest and unity. Will what one Catholic writer has described as, "Protestant nostalgia for union," lead to the open door?

When one bears in mind the teachings of the prophetic Word and recalls at this point that three great churches claim to be the one true church, he is tempted to think that possibly the three will finally come together when two of the three enter through "the open door."

These recent developments in the life of the Christian world should challenge the interest of every Seventh-day Adventist and lead to a fresh and vigorous study of the prophecies dealing with these great issues, and the pre­senting to the world of the true facts of Scrip­tural revelation that are to prepare men for the coming of the day when Jesus Christ Him­self shall come to claim His bride, the true church, to be gathered from every nation, kin­dred, tongue, and people.


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By EDWARD B. RUDGE, President, British Union Conference

November 1948

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