Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from “Towards a More Responsive and Inclusive Ecumenical Vision”: Report of the Antelias Consultation. The full Consultation Report is available in the May-June issue of Ecumenical Trends.

During the course of its more than 100-year history, the ecumenical movement has faced several moments of significant transition, often connected with times of major society upheaval. We believe that the ecumenical movement is again in such a moment. We may even say it is in a time of crisis, remembering that crisis need not be an indication of impending decline, but an opportunity for critical and realistic assessment and necessary transformation.…

The ecumenical movement must broaden its agenda, expand its range of participants, rethink its methodologies, and reclaim its vision in terms that speak in a compelling way to a new generation….

A compelling ecumenical vision is needed now more than ever given the environmental, social, and religious challenges of our era. Numerous issues were raised in the course of our discussions, with six receiving particular attention. 

• We live at a time when climate change, largely the result of human activity, is threatening creation itself. It is not overly dramatic to say that there will be catastrophic consequences for life on this planet if the assault on the natural environment is not quickly curtailed.
• We live in an era of globalization when the economic power of richer nations and their corporations is exacerbating the disparity of wealth and income, both within and between countries. Forced migration, driven by the effects of environmental degradation and economic deprivation, is a major and growing reality. 
• We live at a time when xenophobic nationalism is increasing, when politicians in various countries are feeding populist resentment against those who are “other.” In the name of security, nations are becoming more militarized at the expense of other priorities.
• We live in a digital age, which, paradoxically, both facilitates communication and runs the risk of undermining genuine community.
• We live in an age when it no longer makes sense to speak of a geographical and cultural “center” of Christianity. The Christian faith, manifest in a variety of ecclesial forms, is now—thanks be to God—rooted throughout the world and growing most rapidly outside of Europe and North America. This shift rightly poses significant challenges to the Euro-centric ecumenism of earlier generations, a narrowness that lingers even today.
• We live at a time when religious pluralism is the reality even in parts of the world previously dominated by Christianity. Along with this is a growing ecclesial and spiritual pluralism within Christianity itself that challenges and impacts traditional forms of Christian community. 

The world needs an ecumenical movement that offers an alternative vision of world order based on cooperation and solidarity, a vision of God’s promised reign marked by justice, peace, the dignity of all humanity and the integrity of creation. This makes it all the more tragic that churches in this era are so often focused on their own institutional survival or display a sense of self-sufficiency that undercuts their willingness and capacity to engage ecumenically….

A more responsive and inclusive movement will seek to foster engagement, even more than in the past, with Christian communities not historically identified as ecumenical, many of which are among the fastest-growing parts of the body of Christ. Churches associated with the ecumenical movement do not want to back off hard-won commitments or weaken long-established relationships in an effort to accommodate new partners; but they surely must be willing to rethink old structures and explore new issues. A movement that does not include a large portion of those who claim the name of Christ hardly deserves to be called “ecumenical.”…

Such a movement will listen to the stories of people often ignored or demeaned by our society—and even our churches. Responsive, inclusive ecumenism will focus on the “margins” where the struggle for life is most intensely taking place and where the power of the gospel can inspire new forms of spirituality and witness.

Such a movement will value the contributions and leadership of youth. Ecumenical formation needs to be a priority in our churches, seminaries, and ecumenical bodies, because there is merit in learning from the past. But there is also merit in listening to the voices of those who are not constrained by the language of old documents or past methods.

Such a movement will develop deeper sensitivity to the spiritual wealth arising from the lived experience of the faithful in different cultures and confessions. We are grateful for the ecumenical gains achieved through common service and mission and through multilateral and bilateral theological dialogues. What we do and say together are surely important. Beneath them, however, is what we are together: a Spirit-led people that gives prayerful thanks for God’s forgiving grace, made flesh in Jesus Christ, and does so in a wondrous variety of ways. 

A renewed focus on spiritual ecumenism—on praying with and for one another, on recognizing the Spirit’s presence in and through all creation—may open us to truths too deep for words.  It may help to renew the movement from within and provide a common source of inspiration and hope. It may also strengthen the bonds we have with Christians who worship and pray in a manner unfamiliar to us….

Ecumenism is widely regarded today as another program or denominational office, rather than a way of understanding the faith and the church that must take deeper root in congregations and parishes. One of the challenges of our times is to make ecumenism appealing once again for the educated and activist-minded laity….

Whenever Christians are confronting divisions of race, gender, age or culture, are living beyond old ecclesial divisions in their efforts to realize justice and peace, then we glimpse the church to which we are called—and give thanks to God. Identifying and encouraging people’s ecumenism—which may well entail a change in language, culture, and methodology—should be part of the future agenda and vision of the ecumenical movement….

May new generations of Christian leaders continue the struggle to express a more responsive, inclusive vision for the ecumenical movement. May they strive in their era to articulate a vision of a transformed church working with God for a transformed world, even as we have attempted to do so in ours. May God give us the strength and wisdom to support them in this effort.