Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches and Ecumenism: An Interview with Mel Robeck
Evangelical and Orthodox leaders gathered for the
2014 Lausanne-Orthodox Initiative Consultation,
September 15 – 19, 2014, at the monastery of St. Vlash, Albania.
Dr. Robeck is 8th from the left, wearing a white shirt and dark necktie.
PneumaReview.com: How does ecumenical dialogue relate to the faith, life, and work of the local church?
Mel Robeck: The way that I look at ecumenism—that it embraces those things that affect the “Household of God”—means that I see it as having an enormous impact upon the ongoing faith, life, and work of the Church. To the extent that my local congregation sees itself as part of that universal Church, or to word it another way, to the extent that the universal Church finds its expression in my local congregation, I am already involved in ecumenism. This relationship between the local and the universal aspects of the Church is sometimes referred to in terms of the Church’s “catholicity.” When I try to interact with others who make the same claims about their local congregations as I do with respect to its universal ecclesial nature, I engage in ecumenical dialogue.
We have the responsibility to challenge other Christians to greater levels of conformity to the Word of God, but we don’t have the right to disinherit them as our siblings, our brothers and sisters ‘in Christ.’ Our unwillingness to take up this responsibility leaves ‘them’ without the gifts that God has given to us for the Church and it leaves ‘us’ without the gifts that God has given through them for the Church.
When Christians in the United States and Christians in other parts of the world find themselves fighting against one another because their governments are aligned against one another, we are brought face to face with issues of real life. Ecumenical dialogue is a useful tool in helping us resolve our differences, or in educating us to the political realities that we might otherwise miss. In the end, it can help us to recognize whether it is the blood of American soldiers or Christian Palestinians, for example that is more important to us as members of the “Household of God.”
When one set of churches says that the way to be the most helpful to people around the world is to engage in some form of active social justice, and another set of churches says that what is most essential is that we preach the Gospel and engage in evangelism and mission, ecumenical dialogue can be a useful tool in helping us to prioritize how best to meet the specific needs of a specific people in a specific life setting with the resources we share. The point of all ecumenical dialogue is to build and/or maintain bridges of communication between all parties.
Category: Ministry, Winter 2003
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