SDA PIONEER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD
THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT: A SUMMARY

Posted: December 22, 2007

ECUMENISM.

The movement to bring the churches together in united action, and eventually in organic union; from the Greek oikoumene, “the inhabited world,” “the whole world,” and thus “universal.” Oikoumene occurs 15 times in the NT, as, for example, in Lk 2:1 of the extent of the Roman registration mentioned and in Mt 24:14 of the extent of the preaching of the gospel. Today, among Protestants, ecumenism refers to the movement toward a federation of autonomous denominations. During the nineteenth century 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), and the Federal Council of Churches (in America, 1900). The world Missionary Conference at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1910 is often referred to as the first important step in the ecumenical movement. 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. One such conference, the Faith and Order Movement, met at Lausanne, Switzerlard in 1927 and at Edinburgh in 1937. Another movement, known as Life and Work, has been sponsored since 1920 by Nathan Soderblom, 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 at Amsterdam in 1948. The World Council met again at Evanston, Illinois, in 1954. The only requirement for membership in the World Council was acceptance of “our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.”

At the New Delhi meeting of the council in 1962 were delegates from 197 member churches representing 300 million Christians in 90 countries. The Greek Orthodox Church was already a member of the council, and the Russian Orthodox Church, with 50 million members, was accepted for membership. 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 Russion Orthodox Church. Several Protestant denominations are not members of the World Council. 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.

Many Protestants doubt the 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 is gradually bringing churches together in formal union, as well as in less formal but united action through such organizations as the National and the World Council of Churches.

Formerly aloof from matters of ecumenical concern, 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 promotions of Christian Unity to promote closer relations with the non-Catholic churches. Through this Secretariat arrangement 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 dialog 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 spokesmen 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, eventual rapprochement between Protestantism’s ultimate surrender to the doctrine and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. 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 affect only procedural matters, not the essential substantive factors that constitute it the Catholic Church.

On the basis of Bible prophecy and the writings of Ellen G. White, SDA’s anticipate the eventual success 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 the world and to secure universal peace and security by enlisting the power of civil government in a universal religio-political crusade to eliminate all dissent, SDA’s 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, March 18, 1965), Nichol, explained why SDA’s 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 his concept of the nature of the church. SDA’s believe that all sincere Christians, of whatever communion, constitute the church invisible. 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 SDA 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.

Source: Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, Revised Edition, Commentary Reference Series,Volume 10, pages 410-412.