THE FOLLOWING CONSIDERATIONS are an attempt to assess the situation of modern Protestantism with particular attention to the interrelated questions of ecumenism and spirituality. And it is consciously from within Protestantism that ecumenism and spirituality are here regarded. This Protestant perspective is limited neither to Europe nor to America. The differences of the two hemispheres, great as they may still be, seem to be disappearing more and more in favor of a common approach to things religious. One should therefore attempt to speak of Western Protestantism as a whole in contrast to the younger churches. This is not only legitimate but even demanded, since the situation on what used to be called the mission fields is still more distinguished from Western Protestantism than is the latter in itself. Any assessment of Protestantism is necessarily directed to the Church as its point of orientation. This may prove to be more of a problem than a help; for after all, is it not the Church itself that is so very much questioned today? Nevertheless, if we want to arrive at meaningful results, the orientation to the Church is inevitable. But what area of the life of the Church should we choose to hook our ecumenical outlook to? If Baron von HugePs categories can still be applied, then there is a threefold choice. In the first place, one could look at ecumenism from the point of view of church structures, particularly in their more legal and administrative aspects. It seems that the ecumenical movement, the way Protestants usually think of it, prefers to deal in this realm. One could be inclined to include in the institutional Church the aspect of its corporate worship. But although worship needs for the most part, precisely due to its corporate nature, institutional sanction, it does not so much represent the administrative aspect of church life as another aspect which we will have to mention soon.