ECUMENICAL AFFIRMATION ON MISSION AND EVANGELISM: A REVIEW*

Abstract

JEAN S. STROMBERG [**] Background The 1970s produced some significant documents on mission and evangelism, such as the Lausanne Covenant (1974) and Evangelii Nuntiandi (1975). [1] The Nairobi assembly (1975) debate on evangelism considerably heightened the need for the World Council of Churches (WCC) to articulate clearly the relationship of the traditional missionary outreach of the churches with involvement in justice issues. [2] What did the various actions for justice in which the churches engaged together through the Council have to do with the proclamation of the kingdom of God, with calling persons to a personal faith in Jesus Christ? The WCC central committee, meeting in 1976 following the Nairobi assembly, requested the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) to prepare a paper on the basic convictions and shared affirmations of the churches on the topic of mission and evangelism. My introduction to this discussion coincided with my first CWME commission meeting in Puerto Rico in 1978, as a staff member. At that meeting, commission members refused to respond to such a request. The feeling was strong among the commission members and some staff that no conceptual paper could adequately reflect the churches' experiences in mission and evangelism. Furthermore, one ought not to produce such a document for fear of codifying principles of mission that could serve as a litmus test for orthodoxy, especially in light of the Nairobi assembly discussion. How is it possible, some asked, to put into a document the richness and variety of the experience of God's mission in our world? The only possibility that the commission was willing to consider at that point was to collect and tell stories of the churches' experiences and to leave the interpretation of the richness and meaning of those experiences to others. However, the request of the central committee, the governing body of the WCC between assemblies, could not ultimately be ignored. In and around the preparation for the 1980 World Conference on Mission and Evangelism, to be held in Melbourne, Australia, the idea of the document kept reappearing. At the Melbourne conference itself, a small group of participants worked on a possible draft. That attempt failed. In the middle of a conference that saw itself as responsible for articulating important mission issues of the day, there was considerable misunderstanding about a small group writing a mission statement for approval by another body, the central committee. The suspicion that often accompanies any WCC conference report, that it is written by someone, usually staff, ahead of time, focused on this group. While that attempt was dropped, the Melbourne conference itself, as a worldwide gathering of mission reflection, stories, and experiences, was a significant influence on the document that finally resulted. Following the Melbourne conference, Emilio Castro, then director of CWME, wrote a first draft. After many months of intensive discussions within the staff, with commission members and with wide, inclusive networks of individuals [3] and groups, a document was ready for a first reading by the central committee in July 1981. After further consideration and work the document was approved in July 1982 and sent to the churches for their consideration, inspiration and implementation. [4] Reaction to the Ecumenical Affirmation on Mission and Evangelism The Ecumenical Affirmation (EA) has proved to be .a useful, if imperfect, instrument. The document has been useful in generating discussion and study among a wide spectrum of groups within the Christian family. Those with evangelical perspectives, with very few exceptions, both inside and outside the ecumenical movement, have responded with enthusiasm to the document. This has helped make possible some of the stimulating discussions that have taken place with evangelicals from the Vancouver assembly onwards. …