The ecumenical movement reaches another significant milestone this month with the convening of the third assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi, India.
Some 625 official delegates will be on hand for the November 18-December 6 sessions, plus as many or more observers, advisers, fraternal delegates, and special guests.
“Jesus Christ, the Light of the World” is the theme of the assembly. Sub-themes are “Witness,” “Service” and “Unity.”
Key issues to be faced by delegates include the proposed integration of the WCC with the International Missionary Council and the application for WCC membership submitted by leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Soviet Union.
Much attention also is likely to be given a proposed change in the WCC’s basis of membership. Since its inception in 1948 the WCC has had as its basis of membership the following statement:
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches who accept Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.
Last year the WCC’s policy-making Central Committee proposed the adoption at New Delhi of an amended basis of membership as follows:
The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of Churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour, according to the Scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfill their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Evangelicals have hailed the proposal as a trend toward a more explicit commitment to the cardinal doctrines of the historic Christian faith. [For an appraisal of the theological orientation of the American delegates to New Delhi, see page 10—ED.] But others have voiced anxieties that such revision could indicate a move toward creed making and even the eventual emergence of a long-feared super church.
In a report prepared for the New Delhi assembly, the Central Committee declares:
“The Joint Committee of the World Council of Churches and the International Missionary Council has given special attention to the possibility of getting into closer touch with bodies representing the ‘Evangelical’ position.”
There is also evidence of spadework in relations with the Roman Catholic hierarchy. For the first time, the Vatican has authorized observers (five) to attend a WCC meeting.
East-West tensions seem bound to manifest themselves in the proceedings despite the fact that the assembly is being held in “neutral” India.
Keynote speaker is a Lutheran bishop from East Germany, Dr. Gottfried Noth.
Political overtones will be heard most prominently in the discussion of the Russian Orthodox membership application. One problem is that the WCC already includes as a member the Russian Orthodox Church of America, which maintains that its brethren in the Soviet Union are manipulated by Red leaders.
Already enough votes are in prospect to assure the Soviet church’s admission. But the four-member U.S. Russian Orthodox delegation, still undecided on the issue, does not know what direction a dissent, if any, should take.
Its delegates include Archbishop John of San Francisco, the Rev. Professor John Meyendorff of St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York, and two laymen—Ivan M. Czap and R. P. Kunett.
The clergy tend to have fewer reservations about the admission of the Soviet church hierarchy. They are motivated in part by the theological notion that while other church bodies than their own have much truth, the entire truth is to be found only in the ancient undivided church. Inasmuch as one of the main routes to the ancient tradition lies with the present Orthodox church in Russia, there is a feeling that this church should be included in ecumenical dialogue.
Although a feeling for tradition doubtless characterizes all of Russian Orthodoxy, the laity are more flexible about theological-ecclesiastical emphases, and are more apprehensive about Russian Orthodox admission. They given such reasons as these:
—The American church has in it many who have escaped from Communist Russia. Those who have escaped are very suspicious of delegates from Russia. They feel that Red agents are promoted rapidly in the Russian Orthodox church and that the hierarchy is pretty well hedged in by Communist objectives.
—The Constitution of the U. S. S. R. limits the church to its cultic expressions (the ritual). What assurance does the Russian Orthodox church have that Khrushchev would permit its leaders to go outside these constitutional limitations by permitting them to travel to ecumenical conferences outside the Soviet sphere? If there is secret assurance, could not this be a propaganda move designed to enhance the Khrushchev image, a move which he could easily rescind later on grounds that it contradicts the constitution?
The U. S. Russian Orthodox delegates plan to talk with the Soviets in New Delhi before making their decision known.
The Moscow Patriarchate, meanwhile, announced that 16 “observers” from the Russian Orthodox Church will be sent to the New Delhi assembly.
If the church’s membership application is approved, the delegation wall be seated as full voting delegates.
Leading the delegation will be the assertive young Archbishop Nicodim, who is identified as head of the church’s “foreign relations department.”
Status Quo In Burma
A newly-adopted constitutional amendment establishes the rights of religious minority groups in Burma. The amendment was passed by Burma’s Parliament this fall, not long after another constitutional change had established Buddhism as the state religion.
The legal status of religious groups in Burma has a special concern for Baptists, who have always been the dominant Christian group there.
Mrs. Louise Paw, acting general secretary of the Burma Baptist Convention, has been quoted as saying that the double amendment arrangement “has left us non-Buddhists very much on the status quo.”
She explained, however, that “the psychological effect of Buddhism being the state religion is hard to guage now. According to the letter of the law we have the protection and the right to freely practice our faiths.”
Instigating Hostility?
Four U. S. Methodist missionaries arrested by secret police in Angola were brought to Portugal last month to stand trial on charges of aiding terrorists.
The Portuguese Foreign Office said it had “definite proof” of the missionaries’ connections with Angolan terrorists, “their presence at political meetings, and their instigation of actions hostile to the state.”
Those held are the Rev. Wendell Lee Golden of Rockford, Illinois; the Rev. Edwin LeMaster of Lexington, Kentucky; Marion Way, Jr., of Charleston, South Carolina; and Fred Brancel of Endeavor, Wisconsin.
The U. S. State Department has reportedly impressed upon Portugal “the importance of the earliest disposition of these cases.”
Golden was district superintendent and Way was a social worker in Luanda; LeMaster was principal of Methodist schools and Brancel taught agriculture and village improvement at Quessua.
The Board of Missions of The Methodist Church in the United States charged that the arrest of the four was a continuation of government action against Protestant work in Angola. The board said the Portuguese have been bearing down on Protestants because they are one of the few groups left inside the country that have criticized Portugal’s policies in the colony.
Portuguese secret police in Angola arrested another U. S. Methodist missionary in July. He was the Rev. Raymond E. Scott of Palco, Kansas, who was held incommunicado for 28 days and then deported to Switzerland.
Congo To Jerusalem
Joseph Diangienda, head of an influential Congolese sect with a reported membership of some 2,700,000, went to Jerusalem last month as guest of the Israeli government.
Accompanying Diangienda on the pilgrimage were a number of his clerical and secular aides who also belong to “The Church of Christ on Earth Through the Prophet Simon Kimbangu.”
Diangienda is a son of Simon Kimbangu, who “saw the light” in 1921 and began preaching what was described as “an African version of Protestantism.”
Simon Kimbangu was sentenced to death by Belgian authorities for alleged rebellion, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the late King Albert of Belgium. He died in prison 10 years ago.
Despite persecutions, the sect has flourished and some of its greatest gains followed the proclamation of Congolese independence.
Another son of Simon Kimbangu is minister of labor in the cabinet of Premier Cyrille Adoula.
First Western Church?
A Danish archaeologist says that ruins believed to be those of the first Christian church built in the Western hemisphere have been found in south Greenland.
Dr. Jorgen Meldgaard of the Copenhagen National Museum declared that ruins at the town of Julianehaag cover the probable burial ground of explorer Leif Ericson.
Workmen excavating for a school found the ruins. Meldgaard, an expert in arctic archaeology, added that the ruins constituted relics of a church built by Ericson’s mother, Tjodhilde, in 1001 or 1002 A.D.
Tjodhilde was a Christian. Her husband, Norwegian-born Eric the Red, who discovered Greenland in 981, was a heathen.
Seminary Setbacks
Enrollment of Protestant theology students in East German universities continued its decline last year, according to a 1960 yearbook of statistics released by the Soviet zone republic.
Of a total of 69,129 students enrolled at East German universities in 1960, only 585 were studying at Evangelical faculties, the yearbook disclosed. Evangelical seminarians numbered 675 in 1959 and 751 in 1958.
East German church officials on various occasions have noted the acute lack of clergy in the Soviet zone where about one-third of all pastorates have no incumbent.
Apart from general lack of interest in the ministerial calling among young people, churchmen attribute the decrease in seminary students to Communist pressure aimed at discouraging youths from studying for religious vocations.
To cope with the situation, East German churches have begun to admit laymen without theological training to the pastoral office. After a short period of instruction at preachers’ seminaries and a probationary period the young men are assigned to the same duties as “academic” pastors. At the same time, the churches are increasingly recruiting laymen to take over a large share of deaconical and welfare work in the parishes.
A New Approach
Anglican Bishop Edward M. G. Jones reported in London last month that he had received several responses to an appeal he made that families help the rehabilitation of prostitutes by inviting them into their homes to share decent, normal family life.
Jones said he was convinced that many girls are driven to prostitution because of loneliness and lack of a good home life. The prelate is chairman of the Anglican Council for Social Work which has been studying prostitution in London’s East End.
Jones said if respectable families would open their homes to the wayward girls they would have a chance to better themselves. He said some invitations will be issued to the prostitutes through social workers.
Bible For Wales
A number of churches in Wales are co-operating in the preparation of a new Bible in the language of the Welsh people, the first since 1620.
Among denominations represented are the Anglican, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian. Roman Catholics have also been invited to cooperate.
It is expected that the new Welsh translation will be on lines similar to that of The New English Bible.
Re Intercommunion
One of the thorny problems besetting Anglican-Presbyterian relations in Britain is that of intercommunion. Addressing the Cranmer Society of Cambridge University last month, an Australian educator suggested that much of the difficulty could be traced back to the Oxford Movement.
The Rev. Donald Robinson, vice principal of Moore Theological College, Sydney, recalled that the Tractarians had taught that there was something theologically significant about the Church of England as a church, had exalted the role of the bishop and made what Robinson regarded as an absurd claim for the so-called historic episcopate.
Robinson outlined three considerations:
—The necessity for restoring a godly communion discipline, making clear the spiritual qualifications for participation, even as Scripture itself does.
—The desirability of “sponsors for strangers,” just as the Jerusalem church accepted Paul on the recommendation of Barnabas.
—The importance, in questioning people, of ignoring denominations but seeking the reality of the individual’s profession and spiritual status.
Canadian Sequel
Evangelist Tom Rees was back in Canada this fall for what amounted to a sequel to his coast-to-coast campaign of last spring.
This time Rees concentrated on two cities in New Brunswick: St. John (Oct. 8–22) and Moncton (Oct. 29-Nov. 12).
The enthusiasm of the Canadians was still abundant, although the intrepid Rees was not obliged to a repeat of the hardships and trials which had marked his earlier outreach to remote areas.
The start of his “Mission to Canada” had been made in Newfoundland, where more than 1,000 persons turned out for a rally in Corner Brook, a town on the island’s western shore. But from there the going became difficult. Aircraft were grounded because of bad weather, so Rees hired a car to travel 300 miles from Grand Falls to Bay Roberts over ice-covered roads in temperature approaching zero. The car was not equipped with snow treads, which made progress that much more hazardous. Once, to avoid a collision, the driver landed the car in a ditch. On several hills, the occupants had to get out and push. There was not a telephone in miles, so the congregation in Bay Roberts simply waited. It was nearly 10 p.m. when Rees and his party arrived, but there were 600 people waiting. They refused to disperse without the service, and afterward, despite the lateness of the hour, complained that it was too short.
People: Words And Events
Deaths: Dr. Edmund Davison Soper, 85, president of Ohio Wesleyan University from 1928 to 1938 and former dean of the Duke University school of religion; in Evanston, Illinois … Dr. Emil E. Fischer, 79, retired president of the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania; in Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania … Dr. Wynn C. Fairfield, 75, former missionary to China under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and later director of Church World Service; in Claremont, California.
Appointments: As moderator-designate of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Dr. Andrew Neville Davidson, minister of Glasgow Cathedral … as president of Ouachita Baptist College in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Dr. Ralph A. Phelps … as executive secretary pro tempore of Associated Church Press, fames M. Flanagan.
Retirement: As pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hollywood, California, Dr. Harold L. Proprpe, effective January 1, 1962.
Elections: As bishop of the Free Methodist Church of North America, the Rev. Edward C. John … as president of the Bible Protestant Church, the Rev. Lewis H. Simpkins.
