Making a Common Vision of the Church Possible

Abstract

The final pages of a report on the responses by more than 150 churches to what is undoubtedly one of the most widely known and appreciated ecumenical documents of the twentieth century—the Faith and Order Commission’s Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM), adopted in Lima, Peru, in 1982—include the following lines:

The search for Christian unity implies the search for common ecumenical perspectives on ecclesiology. This need is strongly underlined by the analysis of the responses to BEM which reveal many different presuppositions but also convergences regarding the nature of the church… In the light of the Lima document, to which Christian churches throughout the world are responding, new momentum is given to the search for common perspectives on ecclesiology… many responses to BEM requested that ecclesiology be made a major study in future Faith and Order work. Such an ecclesiology in an ecumenical perspective must take into account the various ideas of the church which reflect the churches’ different self-understanding and their views on the nature of the church and its unity. It also requires the search for basic ecclesiological principles, which could provide common perspectives for the churches’ different ecclesiologies and serve as a framework for their convergence. These principles could be appropriately applied in different contextual situations in the life of the churches.¹