Shifts Within the Church

Throughout the century there has been great interest in ecumenical or union movements. Part of this effort seemingly has come about because some people honestly felt that the church was too fragmented and that it ought to present a more united front to the world. And part of it seemed to result from the loss of doctrinal distinctives that tended to keep groups separate. The ecumenical spirit especially expressed itself in the United States in the work of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, organized in 1908. This body reorganized in 1950 as the National Council of Churches of Christ in America and became a much more comprehensive organization. The Council’s member churches (33 communions) now have an aggregate membership of almost 49 million. Some right-wing conservatives organized the American Council of Churches in 1941 as their answer to the generally liberal-minded National Council, but subsequently this group fragmented and became less effective; today it has almost 2 million members. More in the mainstream of American evangelicalism is the National Association of Evangelicals, organized in 1942 as a means of bringing together conservative Protestant churches. This body now has a constituency of more than 15 million drawn from more than 77 denominations. THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES Then in 1948, after many years of preparation, the World Council of Churches was formed at Amsterdam, with 147 denominations from forty-four countries participating. With the passage of time the Eastern Orthodox church (but not the Roman Catholic church) has joined the world body, but evangelicals generally have not become involved. Today more than 300 denominations from more than 100 countries hold membership. Both the National Council and the World Council have been criticized for being too theologically liberal and too politicized in favor of leftist causes. The National Council especially has been scored even in the secular press for its leftist leanings and its financial support for revolutionary or at least Marxist-oriented movements. Its employment of revolutionary slogans and rhetoric and its tendency to portray the United States in a bad light while it glosses over the faults of revolutionary movements and glorifies their achievements, have given the Council bad press and increasingly have put it on the defensive. Many have concluded that the church has become too political. Those who have been worried about theological liberalism and political activity of the World Council of Churches took some consolation in the direction of the Sixth Assembly of the Council in Vancouver in 1983. After the Fifth Assembly at Uppsala in 1968 supported liberation theologies, sent money to liberation movements, and criticized failures of the West, many evangelicals believed the Council had drifted irretrievably to the left. At Vancouver, however, there was greatly increased attention to a vigorous Trinitarian theology and evangelistic proclamations, and there was a backdrop of prayer with round-the-clock prayer for the sessions throughout the assembly. A majority of evangelicals present drafted an open letter commending the evangelical concerns at the assembly and calling for evangelical involvement with the World Council of Churches. But a minority opinion saw the evangelical indications at the assembly to be only half the story. They reacted against the continuing theological vagueness, support for liberation theologies, and unbalanced criticism of the West, and urged evangelicals to avoid involvement with the World Council of Churches. At the Seventh Assembly of the World Council in Canberra, Australia, in 1991, the debate between liberals and conservatives continued. A particularly divisive situation occurred when a woman theologian from the Korean Presbyterian church linked the Christian faith with traditional Korean spirituality and invoked the spirits of martyrs. The Orthodox church particularly took exception to her speech and to the liberalism of the Council’s theology and indicated they were considering withdrawal from the Council. As a matter of fact, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America did suspend membership in the National Council of Churches for nine months. The Council welcomed into membership the Chinese Christian Council after Chinese absence from the Council for several decades Other movements have made an effort to become more relevant to the culture. The Church Growth Movement This "seeker" or sinner-friendly church growth movement theology suggests that the Church needs to be conformed to the image of the world. But the Apostle Paul writes that we (and the world) are to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 12:2). Christ is a rock of offense to the world and we are trying to make Him appealing. Decorate and disguise Christ and then you can reach "unchurched Harry and Mary" and draw people into the Kingdom. Entertain people into repentance.  The ideas of the previous ages come to infect the Church by removing our dedication to the truth and power of the Word of God and causing it to manipulate the human will by catering to it in its every desire. This disregard for the Truth of the Scriptures is a result of cultural influence and personal pride, equating that bigger is better and power is more important than truth.