Weaving on the way to a code on conversion

Four people gave papers at the beginning of our meeting - towards a code of conduct on conversion. Of course all of this is a bit more than tentative and not yet anything official, but the papers really helped to move things forwards, raise theological, political and cultural isues and also give particpants hope that there was a really good possibility of a way forwards to agreement on this subject in each of our various churches or traditions.

Because of resolving problems with batteries in some of the interpretation equipment I was unfortunately not abe to listen to all of the contributions, though each provided us with copies of their papers.

Hans Ucko had the task of linking this consulation to the previous one in Lariano and embedding us in the process of now looking specifically at conversion from a Christian perspective. The previous consultation had taken place together with people of other faiths. He emphasized that any code of conduct we come up will only have "no other weight or authority than the impact it may have in the hearts and minds of people who read and study it". He went on to express possible hopes about what such a code might include and concludede by expressing the particular hope that we would "be able to address the issue carefully, learning from each other and with respect for each other."

Thomas Shirrmacher who works, among many things, on the religious liberty commission of the World Evangelical Alliance entitled his paper "But with gentleness and respect" - why missions should be ruled by ethics.
He took as his biblical starting point the text from 1 Peter 3.15-17 "In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; ¹⁶yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil."
He argued in favour of looking at those issues which we could definitely agree on in order to come to a common code - for example agreement that violence in pursuit of conversion was completely unacceptable. He ranged widely over the ethical areas, quoting from both Vatican II documents and WCC statements ending "It will not be easy to nail down those unethical means to a conrete code of conduct, especially as historical, religious, cultural and political conditions are so different."

Tony Richie's paper particularly interested me because I felt even just the title helped to move the discussion forwards - A threefold cord: weaving together Pentecostal ecumenism, ethics and evangelism in Christian conversion. He used as his starting and finishing point a quote from Ecclesiastes "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." (Eccl. 4.12b) He used his threefold approach both to examine his own denomination's approach to conversion and also to critique some of the work done at Lariano, where the first consulation on this issue took place. He ended saying that "interlocking concerns of ecumenism, ethics and evangelism indicate that each ought to be grounded in and guided by the others in faithfulness to their own unique goals. In short ecumenism ought to be ethical and evangelistic as well; ethics ought also to be ecumenical and evangelistic; and evangelism ought to be ecumenical and ethical."

Listening to him I felt his paper really had what the French call "souffle" - as he's a Pentecostal this is not surprising - souffle means breath, a soufflé is something that has air in it. In this context I suppose "souffle" could be translated both a paper with spirit or inspiration - I think I might even add a capital to that - a Spirited paper.

Father Fio Mascarenhas from India based much of his paper on a close analysis of the late Pope John Paul II's letter to the Church in Asia Ecclesia in Asia (Nov 6 1999) particularly stressing the emphasis the Pope put on taking the situation of the listener (to the Gospel) to heart so as to offer a proclamation adapted to the listener's level of maturity (E in A 20). Also looking at aspects where Eccleisia in Asia emphasises the importance of the biblical word , of inculturation and of religious dialogue. He ended his paper with 6 points which he hoped all present at the meeting would be able to agree on, ending ... that "We evangelise in a holistic way and not proselytize, that is we commit oursleves to make efforts to foster interreligious dialoge and religious harmony in the local areas of our operation and cooperate wholehaertedly in human welfare projects for the uplift of all people in that neighbourhood."

I am of course not terribly used to making such detailed studies of Vatican documents (though I live with someone who is!) and it was a little frightening to try and find the quotes in French from the Vatican's website. Downloading it onto the computer helped a little but ecclesia in Asia is over 50 pages long so it wasn't exactly straightforward!

When listening to and meeting with many of the Catholic participants at the meeting I was powerfully reminded of the extraordinary diversity within that one Church.

The weaving we will all need to do in order to arrive at a code of conduct on conversion will have to be both intricate, creative and firm if it is to have any meaning.

(She's preaching again - ed)