CALLED TO ONE LIVED HOPE:A REFLECTION ON SALVADOR

Abstract

There is irony when one compares theme of Conference on World Mission and Evangelism in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil -- to One Hope -- The Gospel in Diverse Cultures -- with experience of it. Participants met with glimpses of Reign of God as well as signs of chaos of our competing diversities. While attempting to discuss the gospel in diverse cultures, structure of conference reflected one cultural pattern with its traditional drive for document production. If one was not attuned to etiquette of participating in subsections, sections and plenaries, did not have a functional knowledge of how to fill out forms to request floor, lacked appropriate appreciation for timeliness for all section meetings, or did not know how to work small radio receivers to get a simultaneous translation in one of official World Council of Churches (WCC) languages, it was difficult to engage in meaningful dialogue. It is interesting to note that in contrast to plenaries, some of most positive personal experiences for participants were reported from Bible study groups. It wag there where we met on a more human, and mutually vulnerable, basis. The irony then is that culture of such a meeting itself hampers discussion on topic of diversity. Our and traditional attempts to be partners in Christ's one church are no longer adequate to task, and experience of conference revealed that reality. There were too few cultural doors for participants to enter in order to be engaged fully with theme. Naming this reality is not to assign blame, for lack in our for accommodating our diversities is a challenge for all of us, not just responsibility of a few. In church, we are called to do what is impossible but urgently necessary, and it was in our attempt to do impossible that we had a glimpse of Reign of God. For, inspite of it all, we were there. Inspite of it all, we made audacious claim that we are, indeed, Called to One Hope. Inspite of it all, we realized how courageous and faithful is that claim! We no longer possess any easy structure or covenant that will accommodate our diversities. If we introduce a new conference format to meet this need, it may not be possible to deliver product of documents and statements that have always been expected. Instead, challenge may be to invite structures of experiencing, which will allow a sharing of Spirit and our own stories of struggling to be faithful to our one hope in Christ. While we as member churches of WCC have little experience in facilitating dynamic and flexible spaces for emergence of God's Spirit in diversity, for wedging open new dimensions of mutual exchange, and for releasing energy and dynamism of true partnership, time now requires that we actively pursue such possibilities. If we are not document-oriented in traditional sense, challenge will be to communicate reality of a conference experience to academics and those in wider church who are also discerning cutting edges of mission. For a time, perhaps, we should communicate only through story, or some other form, substance of our search together. Our current practice of hammered-out words and phrases in documents may reflect necessary compromises for theological or missiological agreement at a conference, but it may not be adequate for preparing us for new models of relationship. How then do we share our own stories of struggle as we seek to be faithful and in responsible relationships in mission? One can only begin with one's own story and experience. I am part of a North American partnership in mission between Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and United Church of Christ. While we have cooperated in our mission endeavours for past thirty years and our two denominations entered into an official Ecumenical Partnership in 1989, our emphasis on constructing a new, common life together in our global ministries has been just that: a construction. …