Will Uppsala Trigger a Radical Shift for Protestantism?

Socio-economic considerations dominate plans for 1968 WCC Assembly

The first full-fledged conference of the World Council of Churches since Vatican II will be held in Uppsala, Sweden, July 4–20, 1968. Planners are hoping that this Fourth Assembly of the WCC will break on world Protestantism with the same explosive impact that Vatican II has had on Roman Catholicism. Eight hundred certified delegates from the 223 member churches and five hundred consultants and observers from the five continents will convene under the theme “All Things New.” If council leaders have their way, Protestantism may be in for a shift in direction more radical than any since the Reformation.

Informed evangelicals are greatly concerned over recent pronouncements and policies issuing from the top echelons of the ecumenical movement. In their efforts to make “all things new,” ecumenical leaders have promoted new theology, new methodology, and new objectives for the Christian Church—all in all a radically new emphasis that could move the institutional church away from its primary, Christ-commanded task of preaching the biblical Gospel that men of all nations and races might become disciples of Jesus Christ. If recent WCC conferences and announced plans for the Fourth Assembly accurately anticipate emphases at Uppsala, we can look for an intensified attempt to remake the institutional church so that it finally emerges in the image of our contemporary world. It will lose its identity as a Christ-centered spiritual fellowship and become instead a man-centered religio-politico-economic institution. Despite the trappings of religiosity, it will relinquish all spiritual power. In the guise of advancing the Kingdom of God, it will hasten a one-world kingdom of man. Bearing a message of universal salvation, it will delude men into neglecting their need for a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. In its concern for the immediate improvement of man’s economic status, it will lose sight of its eternal message.

The 1966 Geneva Conference on Church and Society clearly shows the WCC’s overriding preoccupation with economic affairs. Its final conclusion stated:

We recommend:

1. that the World Council of Churches take immediate and effective steps toward (a) providing an ecumenical forum for continuing conversation on international economic issues; (b) expressing the concern of the churches for international economic justice; (c) helping churches in the affluent societies to quicken the conscience of their nations to increase their efforts for international aid up to a target of at least 2 per cent of the gross national product and to improve the existing trade systems and capital investments so they are more conducive to economic growth and justice in developing nations; (d) helping churches in the developing countries to encourage the growth of the viable economic structures required for rapid economic growth; and (e) making common cause with other international bodies in developing more just international economic structures and relationships.

2. that the World Council of Churches develop a systematic detailed analysis of the various attempts to live the life of the Church in the public arena.

A follow-up conference will be held this October in Detroit to further the doctrines of social revolution asserted at Geneva.

In the aftermath of the evangelical-sponsored World Congress on Evangelism in Berlin, last month’s United States conference for the WCC at Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, included on its agenda, along with the topic of international economic justice, a consideration of Christian conversion. The presentations were dismal, and delegate response was apathetic. With the exception of a biblically sound Lutheran viewpoint on conversion presented by a representative from a non-WCC church, speakers presented a collage of ambiguities that utterly failed to assert with clarity and precision the biblical teaching of the individual’s need to be born again through personal faith in Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord. Instead, the conference’s dominant view on conversion tended toward the description given by the WCC’s Division of World Mission and Evangelism: “Conversion … is a turning around in order to participate by faith in a new reality which is the future of the whole creation. It is not, in the first place, either saving one’s own soul or joining a society.” Secondarily, the Uppsala study booklet paraphrases, it is both these things, but “fundamentally conversion means commitment in penitence and faith to what God Himself is doing in human history.” In plain language, this means that the WCC considers conversion not personal commitment to Christ but involvement in socio-political events conceived as God’s present acts in history. Evangelism in this context becomes politics.

Speaking on the issues before Uppsala, the Rev. Philip Potter, a WCC associate secretary, recently said that the Fourth Assembly would consider the need for restructure of the World Council, for new procedures in economic, social, and political affairs, for new forms of worship in a secular age, and for a new way of living for Christians today. The Uppsala study booklet specifies six conference sections tentatively entitled: I. The Churches’ Unity in a Shrinking World; II. The Church Mission; III. The Church’s Role in Social and Economic Development; IV. The Churches’ Role in International Affairs; V. The Worship of God in a Secular Age; and VI. Toward a New Style of Living. These sections will discuss not only socio-economic matters but also the advisability of closer ties with Rome, changing forms in the Church, new liturgical practices, and the relevance of the new situational morality. We may expect leaders to push the positions of the new theology on these matters.

The Uppsala conference may be the scene of the first satellite-beamed telecast capable of being viewed simultaneously everywhere on earth. Its humanistically oriented pronouncements will undoubtedly have great appeal for millions of people. Evangelicals must applaud cooperative efforts among churches and must act to help suffering humanity. But these concerns must not blind them to the biblically ambiguous, irrational, or untenable theology that underlies many WCC policies. They must also not overlook the WCC’s false understanding of the primary mission of the Church or its highly questionably sociopolitical objectives. Evangelicals inside and outside the council must evaluate the WCC program with discernment and caution. Those inside should courageously affirm the eternal verities of the Gospel and oppose efforts to dilute or distort them. Those outside should forego any thought of joining WCC ranks until the council unequivocally commits itself to biblical theology and objectives.

The Uppsala conference may well be a means of moving the Protestant churches away from their true responsibilities to Christ and the world and toward greater apostasy and inevitable judgment. But, by the grace of God and the faithful testimony of evangelicals in its midst, it could result in the renewal of the Church for its mission of world evangelism. We must prayerfully wait and see.

Laymen and clergy are linking hands across denominational lines

The evangelical front now emerging in Canada is more noticeable than any since the Second World War, or maybe since the turn of the century. This evangelical renaissance is evidenced chiefly among the established denominations. Laymen rather than clergy are taking the more active role, and because of this lay leadership the resurgence has become transdenominational. A unity of fellowship and mission is being cultivated among Christian believers; this is unlike the current trend of ecumenism, which seems mainly to superimpose a common organizational structure upon disparate denominations.

Traditionally in Canada the term “evangelical” connoted Salvation Army, Baptist, Pentecostal, or some other evangelistic group. This is no longer true, even though some avant-garde evangelicals among the independents view with suspicion those in the mainstream denominations who lay claim to the title.

While the evangelical churches continue a strong witness, the impact of the Gospel on the total population of Canada will be hindered unless the major denominations earnestly come to grips with Christ’s commission. Some significant signs now point to this as a possibility.

The Anglican Church, noted chiefly for an emphasis on the liturgical and sacramental nature of the Church, is giving leadership. The Canadian Anglican Evangelical Fellowship, founded in 1961, has more than 300 members—clergy and some laity. An aim of the CAEF, which accepts the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion as a general exposition of the Reformed faith, is “to bear witness with courage and charity to the great biblical and Reformation principles, so that the evangelical voice is heard and commended, and an increasing evangelical contribution is made throughout the Anglican Church of Canada.” A young Anglican priest resigned from his parish in January to do full-time crusade evangelism. The Rev. Marney Patterson is on official leave of absence from the Diocese of Toronto, having received the blessing of Bishop George B. Snell. His work is also commended by the Board of Evangelism of the General Synod of the Anglican Church in Canada.

Complementing this evangelical movement in the Anglican Church is Wycliffe College in Toronto, which has maintained a theologically conservative position. The AATS accrediting agency reported that of all theological schools in Canada, Wycliffe showed the largest student increase for 1966–67.

To strengthen its ties with the Anglican Church in preparation for merger, the United Church of Canada has been giving worship services a greater emphasis on the liturgical and the sacramental, while at the same time being influenced by a liberal-oriented theology. But a reaction has already set in. Concerned ministers and laymen within the United Church have banded together to form United Church Renewal Fellowship groups, which are anti-liberal in theology and anti-high church in worship. Two fellowships involving more than a hundred people have been organized in the Toronto area, and planners visualize chapters from Vancouver to Newfoundland. Aims of the UCRF are: (1) to encourage evangelicals within the church to form a united front, (2) to produce conservative publications, (3) to enlist for the ministry men who have evangelical concerns, and (4) to place evangelicals in strategic church positions.

The morale of the UCRF is sustained by signs of disenchantment with the radical liberal theology in the church. A year ago, for the first time in the history of the United Church, a theological college took public issue with a moderator. Principal Earl Lautenschlager of Emmanuel College supported his students when, in an open letter, they charged the Rt. Rev. Ernest M. Howse with nothing short of heresy in his denial of the deity and the physical resurrection of Christ. Dr. Lautenschlager proclaimed his own personal credo, which included belief in the biblical miracles, the reality of the devil, and the virgin birth, bodily resurrection, and tangible second coming of Christ.

Another sign of comfort for evangelicals in the United Church was the defense by Dr. Ralph C. Chalmers, systematic theology professor at Pine Hill Divinity Hall, of evangelist Billy Graham against Chaplain Ben Smillie’s scathing attack in the United Church Observer. Chalmers was the general chairman for Graham’s crusade in Halifax in 1963. Even though the Board of Evangelism and Social Service of the United Church is virtually opposed to the Graham and Leighton Ford type of evangelistic crusades, the presbyteries and ministerial associations often vote full support, and United Church ministers play leading roles. Statistics show that many enquirers who come forward in the crusades belong to the United Church of Canada.

Graham begins a week-long crusade in Winnipeg May 28 and will conduct an evangelistic rally at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto September 3. His associate, Leighton Ford, will lead a crusade for Canada’s Niagara Peninsula September 10–24.

On the eve of his installation as moderator of the United Church, the Rt. Rev. Wilfred C. Lockhart affirmed to the press his personal belief in the virgin birth and physical resurrection of Christ. It was significant for evangelicals that in his first year as moderator, he invited Mr. Wilbur Sutherland, general secretary of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, to give the Religion and Life lectures at United College in Winnipeg, where he is principal. In the same college stands Professor Kenneth Hamilton, who has emerged as an ardent critic of Tillich and the God-is-dead theologians. Although he classes himself as an evangelical-liberal, he admits that he is becoming “more conservative.”

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, somewhat a replica of the National Association of Evangelicals, was formed two years ago to unite evangelicals of every denomination for a dynamic thrust. Although membership in the EFC moved at a snail’s pace for the first two years, since the beginning of 1967 the total climbed from 150 to over 600. The excellent response to the recent EFC-sponsored tour throughout Canada by Editor Carl F. H. Henry of CHRISTIANITY TODAY is some indication for the need of a rallying point for evangelicals. In Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, and Montreal he was greeted by large audiences of laymen, clergy, and students. Christian Lay Outreach has emerged in Vancouver as a committee of evangelical laymen giving visibility to the Gospel during Canada’s centennial year, and on the occasion of Dr. Henry’s visit it gathered 500 church workers for instructive theological dialogue in the ballroom of the Vancouver Hotel.

As a result of the Berlin World Congress on Evangelism, the Canadian delegation set wheels in motion that will lead to the first Canadian Congress on Evangelism at Ottawa in 1969. Such a gathering is expected to result in a brigade of stalwart evangelicals who will speak loudly and clearly the biblical imperatives of the Great Commission. The influence that the Billy Graham and Leighton Ford crusades have had in this new day of evangelism in Canada cannot be easily measured. There is no doubt that they have helped to hasten this new day, particularly in the area of cooperative evangelism. Four crusade teams are now operating across the nation—Ken Campbell, Meryle Dolan, Barry Moore, and Marney Patterson. This gives Canada more organized evangelism than it has ever had before.

The fact that evangelicals are no longer ignored by the news media suggests that they are thought to have something worthwhile to contribute. Daily newspapers and television stations are giving more coverage to religion, and a generous portion of this coverage goes to the evangelical cause. Many evangelicals feel that a new day has dawned for spiritual opportunity in Canada, and that in order to make the most of it, they must cease majoring on minor issues. They also feel that they must be willing to cross denominational lines and join forces to proclaim the good news of redemption, in obedience to the Great Commission.

The Threat Of Pleasure

Television newsman Sander Vanocur posed an incisive question during an hour-long NBC documentary this month on North America’s preoccupation with pleasure: How can we allow “freedom” of self-gratification, yet retain the cohesion necessary for an orderly society?

To dramatize the question, the telecast put together discreetly filmed scenes of topless waitresses, motorcycle gangs, LSD addicts, and London swingers. An effort was made to tie up the whole package with an all-too-brief discussion by William F. Buckley, Jr., Harvey Cox, Hugh Hefner, and Vanocur. They had time to do little more than agree that pleasure is running wild.

But are these way-out fads, deplorable as they may be, really the most immediate threat to the Church? Many pastors are much more worried about the proliferation of everyday indulgences that are infinitely closer to most of us: simple and, in themselves, harmless diversions—like weekend activities that sap the strength of churches when they need it most. More and more believers are taking a prolonged vacation from responsibility.

Evangelicals are paying for their failure to develop a theology of leisure. Christians in the West cannot afford sustained pleasure-seeking while multitudes of struggling and suffering people in the world are strangers to Christ. These masses may well rise to judge our indifference.

The Church is doing little to prepare for a society in which—if a four-day work week emerges—the masses will live for a Friday-through-Sunday holiday. Instead, more and more churchgoers seem to be waiting for that day themselves.

No Threat To Secularism

Many university campuses offer little religious education in the classroom. What is the situation outside the classroom? At the University of Michigan, an issue of the U-M Daily early this semester advertised six weekly classes at Hillel in Jewish thought and history and seven study courses at the Roman Catholic center, including fundamental Christian doctrines and the New Testament message.

And the Protestants? The Quakers were promoting their own polity and social concern. Presbyterians offered lectures by India’s M. M. Thomas, chairman of last summer’s World Council of Churches Conference on Church and Society. His topics: Viet Nam, Communism, social revolution, and India’s political outlook. Only Thomas’s speech to an ecumenical group had a religious theme.

Protestants seem generally to be trying to beat the secular classroom at its own game, and against very bad odds. Why not imitate the Catholics instead, and offer academic-level lectures on the unique heritage the collegian cannot get in class?

The Nonsensical Touch

Higgledy-piggledy

Church ecumeniacs

Give to their work a non-Sensical touch.

Save for production of

Broad ambiguities,

Talk-a-thon conferences

Never do much.

Ambiguous terminology has protected the advancing crest of the ecumenical movement, and the linguistic tide shows few signs of receding. “Ecumenism” itself is a case in point; few people know how to pronounce it, let alone what it means. It now sometimes stands for “the unity for which Christ prayed,” sometimes for the “organic union of the churches,” and at other times merely for “all things good”—as opposed to conservative or evangelical concerns. Dialogue, renewal, encounter, and koinonia are the good guys, who wear the white hats; all things old are bad, and the newest notions are hip.

Now readers point out that the initials “COCU,” which stand for the influential Consultation on Church Union, provide a warning. In French, a cocu is a gullible husband deceived by his unfaithful wife. Of course, this is not evidence of ecclesiastical gullibility or ecumenical deception. But if ecumenical vocabulary—and theology—were less ambiguous, there would be far less cause to think so.

Down, Jesus, Down

Many seminaries today harbor private doubts about Bible beliefs, even outright rejection, in line with the unbelief of radical ecumenical theologians. But public caricature of Christian doctrine is something else, and it crowned the close of COCU sessions in Cambridge. Delegates were met by an Ascension Day mockery led by students from the Episcopal Theological School. They chanted “Up, Jesus, Up!,” distributed fliers inviting COCU members to “See Christ Ascend Before Your Eyes,” and then released helium-filled balloons bearing a paper figure. Since COCU is doctrinally inarticulate, the demonstration had a tinge of irony as well as blasphemy.

The Criminal Code: Reform Or Retreat?

Under the goal of criminal-code “reform,” a task force of the President’s crime commission recommends liberalization of laws against drunkenness, gambling, bad checks, sexual misbehavior, abortion, and vagrancy.

The presupposition seems to be that if a law is broken often enough it ought to be repealed.

The task force’s report commendably points out that “criminal law is not the sole or even the primary method relied upon by society to motivate compliance with its rules,” that “civil liability, administrative regulations, licensing, and noncriminal penalties carry the brunt in many important fields,” and that “internal moral compunctions and family, group, and community pressures are some of the obvious informal sanctions that often are more effective than the prohibitions of the criminal law.”

However, this troubling implication runs throughout the report, that statutes widely flouted have no place in the criminal code. This, we feel, is a dangerous assumption. If it is influential in the reappraisal of their criminal codes reportedly being made by thirty states, it ought to be viewed with alarm.

Among the crime commission’s nineteen members, nineteen consultants, and thirty-two advisers, there is not a single clergyman, a fact that may account somewhat for the lack of a more significant respect for moral standards in the findings of the commission.

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