RESOURCING THE CHURCH FOR ECUMENICAL MINISTRy A ...

Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Best, a pastor of the Christian
Church (Disciples of Christ), recently retired as Director of the
Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of
Churches.
I believe
Reflections on the Disciples Visioning Conference:
that the Second Joe A. and Nancy V.
Stalcup Visioning Conference, sponsored by the
Council on Christian Unity and held June 14-17,
2010 at Mercy Center in St. Louis, will prove to be
one of the most significant events of the decade for
the Disciples of Christ.
Under the theme “A Century of Witness, A Journey
of Wholeness,” the conference reviewed Disciples
current ecumenical engagements, challenges and
prospects. It then asked such questions as: What
distinctive witness do we, as Disciples, bring to the
ecumenical movement? What challenges does our
ecumenical engagement pose for our
understanding of Church, and for our selfunderstanding?
And, not least: Can we discern “an
ecumenical vision for our future” as Disciples of
Christ? Can we identify “foundational principles”
to guide our ecumenical engagement in the years to
come? How can congregations live out these values
in practical ways in their own day-to-day life?
Being Disciples, these issues were tackled in light of
the Lord’s Supper as our focus and inspiration:
what does our gathering regularly—and more
frequently than most other Protestants—at the Table
tell us about our own identity? How does being fed
regularly at the Table compel us to work in the
world, in order that none need to be hungry? In
addition to the Lord’s Supper, Baptism emerged as
another key Disciples theme, indeed one which
should receive more attention in the future.
A host of pressing challenges were also on the
agenda: ongoing efforts to deal with racism in the
The Journey Ahead
Thomas F. Best
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life of the church; recognizing the gifts of African-
American Disciples in the life of the church;
recognizing the gifts of Disciples churches from
“new” Asian (for example, Korean and
Vietnamese), African, and Haitian constituencies;
how to live as Disciples in an interfaith context; how
to relate our commitment to the unity of the church
and our prophetic witness to the world; and how to
witness to the unity of the Church and humankind
in an era which celebrates individualism and radical
diversity.
At one remarkable moment, and not long
ago, the heads of at least five major national
and international ecumenical bodies were
from the Disciples of Christ.
A Century of Witness
The conference theme celebrated, first, a century of
witness. Christian unity has indeed been our polar
star, and the visioning conference did well to
celebrate our ecumenical achievements of the past
and present. We sometimes forget this, but it is
important for us to know that few other Christian
communions have had such a history of ecumenical
commitment and engagement. The leadership
offered by Peter Ainslie, George Beasley, Paul Crow
and now Robert Welsh has been exemplary. At one
remarkable moment, and not long ago, the heads of
at least five major national and international
ecumenical bodies were from the Disciples of
Christ (the Secretaries of Christian World
Communions, the Faith and Order Commission of
the World Council of Churches, the National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA,