A NEW VISION OF WHAT THE CHURCH MIGHT BE

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25607, 23 September 1948, Page 4

A NEW VISION OF WHAT THE CHURCH MIGHT BE

AMSTERDAM ASSEMBLY

Tn this article a special correspondent of “The Times” reviewed the firat Assembly of the World Council of Churches, which met at Amsterdam late last month. (Reprinted by arrangement)

Archbishop William Temple sometimes complained that when his speeches were reported any paragraphs in which he criticised the economic ordering of society were given prominence while little attention was paid to the religious convictions from which that criticism sprang. A similar complaint might perhaps be made about the first Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Amsterdam. The differences between Dr. J. L. Hromadka, Professor of Theology at Prague, who has so far accepted the revolution in his country as to join the Central Action Committee, and Mr John Foster Dulles, likely to be Secretary of State in the next American Administration, have been given wide publicity. This was to be expected. There have been too few words from Christians behind the Iron Curtain for any spoken from that quarter to be lightly regarded. Opposing Views Dr. Hromadka’s belief in the decline of the West (listened to with appreciation by Christians from Asia and Africa) was a valuable criticism in an assembly where English seems to have become a new ecclesiastical language,

and whose meeting was only possible through generous American giving. Yet even here the z greatest fact was of separation overcome. “No kind of curtain (he said), be it gold or silk or iron, must separate us one from another; all national and class obsessions must be removed, all earthly interests, all treasures of culture and civilisation must disappear, until we see nothing save Jesus alone.” Not only in the discussions on “The Church and the International Disorder,” however, was there fension between delegates who appeared to hold diametrically opposed points of view. In Section I, on “The Universal Church in God’s Design,” under the chairmanship of Dr. Lilje, Bishop of Hanover, a fruitful ecumenical conversation went on between such leaders as Karl Barth—the most vital influence in Protestant theology in the last quarter - century Professor Georges Florovsky, of the Orthodox Academy in Paris, and Canon A. M. Rtimsey, of Durham. Obviously this section could not reach complete agreement. Both disagreements and agreements were recorded, as well as differences of emphasis. But this is not to deny a fundamental unity. As it was put by Professor C. T. Craig, of Yale, there is a contrast between a controversy among strangers and one within our own family. “In each case we are eager to support right and truth, but within a family there is an inescapable tie which can neither be ignored nor denied.’’ Holy Communion For ordinary delegates the experience of divisions yet to be overcome was most real in relationship to Holy Communion. The Council is not itself a Church, nor a “super-Church,” as has constantly been reiterated, so that it cannot itself arrange a Service of Holy Communion. A great service was held after the order of the Dutch Reformed Church in Amsterdam New Church on Sunday, August 29. About a thousand people received the Sacrament, coming up. in parties of a hundred to sit around the long table in the centre of the building. Not all who were there felt able to accept the invitation to communicate. There were Orthodox, and Old Catholics and Anglicans, who had been to early services elsewhere. Yet there had been a joint service of preparation for Holy Communion in the same church the night before. Had the assembly been only a gathering of ecumenical enthusiasts these differences might have been forgotten. But an assembly of Churches is different. It is important that the Churches themselves should meet and, respecting one another’s differences, speak to each other the truth in love. This has been happening at Amsterdam.

For 10 years the Council had been "in process of formation.” They had been busy formative years. Now at last it has been formally constituted, and. as Dr. Martin Niemoller put it, "the 23rd of August. 1948. will be long remembered in the Christian worlds

The foundation and constitution of the World Council of Churches was the attainment of a goal for which we have long striven, and innumerable Christian people all over .the world share our gratitude and joy that a visible sign of our fraternal unity has now been set up.” It was indeed a great moment. The Concertgebouw was filled. Nearly everyone was wearing earphones, so that he could hear the speeches in the language of his choice. The system is comparable to that used at the Nuremberg trials; but it was now used for a creative purpose. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided. All stood in silence. A prayer followed; and the assembly settled down at once to its business. Before this the view presented had been largely retrospective. This was inevitable. Much has happened since the World Missionary Conference at Edinburgh in 1910. which gave such an impetus to the ecumenical movement; but here was Dr. John R. Mott, who had been chairman then, rising to address the first service in the New Church. Age was followed by youth, for the next speech was from D. T. Niles, of Ceylon, chairman of the Council’s Youth Department. The service itself was deeply moving. Parts were taken by Dr. K. H. E. Gravemeyer, of the Dutch Reformed Church, Pasteur Marc Boegner, of France, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Archbishop of Upsala, who read one of the lessons in Swedish, a fitting language for the occasion, for it was that of Nathan Soderblom. whose widow was in the congregation below. The Archbishop of Thyateira said the blessing in Greek. Here were official representatives of 145 out of the 150 Churches which make up the Council. Never can there have been such an ecclesiastical procession as the many coloured one which wound around the New Church that afternoon. Dr. Barth’s Reminder Here was no occasion for complacency, as Dr. Karl Barth reminded everyone the next day, delivering his fiery speech in the presence of Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhardt. Much experience lay behind the words of the General Secretary. Dr. Visser t’Hooft, of Hplland, when he declared:

We have learned that the vitality of the Council depends wholly on the vitality of the Churches which compose it. It is not merely that we cannot undertake tasks unless the Churches support them. It is especially that our common witness in word and deed has no substance and no convincing power unless that witness is rendered locally and nationally in all the Churches. Ecumenical messages concerning the disorder of man cannot Impress the world unless we deal with the exhibition of spiritual and ecclesiastical disorder, which we give in our nations and cities. Our affirmations of unity ean only expect to meet with response if we awaken in each local congregation the joyous consciousness of its participation in and responsibility for the Church of Christ as a whole.

What has happened at Amsterdam? In due time the reports will be issued, recording decisions of major importance, the product of long sustained work. Most important is what will happen because of Amsterdam. The assembly disperses throughout the world. As its members go, delegates and alternates, youth delegates and visitors, 1400 in all, carry with them a new vision of what the Church might be. Those who have seen a vision of God are for ever under obligation to do His will. In the scattering multitude are some Americans who will carry on the work of Bishop Brent and John R. Mott; some Swedes who will carry on the work of Archbishop Soderblom; some Germans who will go with Niemoller and some Frenchmen with Boegner; some Englishmen who will pick up the unfinished tasks of William Temple and William Paton and William Elmslie. “Many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye-see and have not seen them.” The words came in the Gospel for the day before the World Council of Churches was constituted. There followed immediately the story of the gbod Samaritan. Christians go from Amsterdam with courage and hope into a world in need. As the report of the Department of Reconstruction, made very clear, it is in special need of good Samaritans.