Pentecostalism and Ecumenism: Past, Present, and Future (Part 4 of 5) by Amos Yong
And this task has not been lost on the ecumenical movement today. Certainly, the world at the beginning of the twenty-first century is quite different from when the IMF was founded. Yet missions remains the raison d’être of the WCC, this being clearly reasserted in the WCC’s Ecumenical Affirmation on Missions and Evangelism published in 1982. These Affirmations emphasize the importance conversion, the application of the gospel to every realm of life, the centrality of the churches to God’s mission, mission as the way of Christ, the mandate of taking the good news to the poor, the mandate regarding global witness (to all six continents), and the challenge to witness among people of other faith and religious traditions.
Yet it goes without saying that the missionary focus of the ecumenical movement has changed over the course of a century. Clearly, the evangelistic edge has been blurred and, in some cases, been replaced among some denominations almost completely by socio-economic and political projects. Yet it is also the case that many of these projects, especially those that target the transformation of socio-economic and political structures, will never be accomplished by individual churches or single denominations working alone. Instead, the resources and cumulative power of the entire Church of Jesus Christ will need to be mobilized toward action if these kinds of changes are to be realized.
Now, although these kinds of organized activities are not central to Pentecostal missions, they are certainly not completely absent either. Certainly, no Pentecostal would deny that they are important features of missions and that they should remain part of the Church’s task. And, if Pentecostals do not take up these tasks, they can and should thank God for their missions minded ecumenical brothers and sisters who are doing so. What I am saying is that missions is as pivotal to modern ecumenism as it is to modern Pentecostalism. And, insofar as missions is an indispensable feature of Pentecostalism, in that regard, it is appropriate to speak of a “Pentecostal ecumenism.”
Category: Fall 2001, Ministry, Pneuma Review
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