Evangelicals & Catholics Together:
The Christian Mission in the Third
Millennium
Copyright
(c) 1994 First Things 43 (May 1994): 15-22.
The following statement is the product of
consultation, beginning in September 1992, between
Evangelical Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians.
Appended to the text is a list of participants in the
consultation and of others who have given their support to
this declaration.
Introduction We are Evangelical Protestants
and Roman Catholics who have been led through prayer, study,
and discussion to common convictions about Christian faith and
mission. This statement cannot speak officially for our
communities. It does intend to speak responsibly from our
communities and to our communities. In this statement we
address what we have discovered both about our unity and about
our differences. We are aware that our experience reflects the
distinctive circumstances and opportunities of Evangelicals
and Catholics living together in North America. At the same
time, we believe that what we have discovered and resolved is
pertinent to the relationship between Evangelicals and
Catholics in other parts of the world. We therefore commend
this statement to their prayerful consideration.
As the Second Millennium draws to a close, the Christian
mission in world history faces a moment of daunting
opportunity and responsibility. If in the merciful and
mysterious ways of God the Second Coming is delayed, we enter
upon a Third Millennium that could be, in the words of John
Paul II, "a springtime of world missions." (Redemptoris
Missio) As Christ is one, so the Christian mission is
one. That one mission can be and should be advanced in diverse
ways. Legitimate diversity, however, should not be confused
with existing divisions between Christians that obscure the
one Christ and hinder the one mission. There is a necessary
connection between the visible unity of Christians and the
mission of the one Christ. We together pray for the
fulfillment of the prayer of Our Lord: "May they all be one;
as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, so also may they be
in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." (John 17)
We together, Evangelicals and Catholics, confess our sins
against the unity that Christ intends for all his disciples.
The one Christ and one mission includes many other Christians,
notably the Eastern Orthodox and those Protestants not
commonly identified as Evangelical. All Christians are
encompassed in the prayer, "May they all be one." Our present
statement attends to the specific problems and opportunities
in the relationship between Roman Catholics and Evangelical
Protestants. As we near the Third Millennium, there are
approximately 1.7 billion Christians in the world. About a
billion of these are Catholics and more than 300 million are
Evangelical Protestants. The century now drawing to a close
has been the greatest century of missionary expansion in
Christian history. We pray and we believe that this expansion
has prepared the way for yet greater missionary endeavor in
the first century of the Third Millennium. The two communities
in world Christianity that are most evangelistically assertive
and most rapidly growing are Evangelicals and Catholics. In
many parts of the world, the relationship between these
communities is marked more by conflict than by cooperation,
more by animosity than by love, more by suspicion than by
trust, more by propaganda and ignorance than by respect for
the truth. This is alarmingly the case in Latin America,
increasingly the case in Eastern Europe, and too often the
case in our own country. Without ignoring conflicts between
and within other Christian communities, we address ourselves
to the relationship between Evangelicals and Catholics, who
constitute the growing edge of missionary expansion at present
and, most likely, in the century ahead. In doing so, we hope
that what we have discovered and resolved may be of help in
other situations of conflict, such as that among Orthodox,
Evangelicals, and Catholics in Eastern Europe. While we are
gratefully aware of ongoing efforts to address tensions among
these communities, the shameful reality is that, in many
places around the world, the scandal of conflict between
Christians obscures the scandal of the cross, thus crippling
the one mission of the one Christ. As in times past, so also
today and in the future, the Christian mission, which is
directed to the entire human community, must be advanced
against formidable opposition. In some cultures, that mission
encounters resurgent spiritualities and religions that are
explicitly hostile to the claims of the Christ. Islam, which
in many instances denies the freedom to witness to the Gospel,
must be of increasing concern to those who care about
religious freedom and the Christian mission. Mutually
respectful conversation between Muslims and Christians should
be encouraged in the hope that more of the world will, in the
oft-repeated words of John Paul II, "open the door to Christ."
At the same time, in our so-called developed societies, a
widespread secularization increasingly descends into a moral,
intellectual, and spiritual nihilism that denies not only the
One who is the Truth but the very idea of truth itself. We
enter the twenty-first century without illusions. With Paul
and the Christians of the first century, we know that "we are
not contending against flesh and blood, but against the
principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers
of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6) As
Evangelicals and Catholics, we dare not by needless and
loveless conflict between ourselves give aid and comfort to
the enemies of the cause of Christ. The love of Christ compels
us and we are therefore resolved to avoid such conflict
between our communities and, where such conflict exists, to do
what we can to reduce and eliminate it. Beyond that, we are
called and we are therefore resolved to explore patterns of
working and witnessing together in order to advance the one
mission of Christ. Our common resolve is not based merely on a
desire for harmony. We reject any appearance of harmony that
is purchased at the price of truth. Our common resolve is made
imperative by obedience to the truth of God revealed in the
Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, and by trust in the promise
of the Holy Spirit's guidance until Our Lord returns in glory
to judge the living and the dead. The mission that we embrace
together is the necessary consequence of the faith that we
affirm together.
We Affirm Together Jesus Christ is Lord.
That is the first and final affirmation that Christians make
about all of reality. He is the One sent by God to be Lord and
Savior of all: "And there is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given among men by which
we must be saved." (Acts 4) Christians are people ahead of
time, those who proclaim now what will one day be acknowledged
by all, that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2) We affirm
together that we are justified by grace through faith because
of Christ. Living faith is active in love that is nothing less
than the love of Christ, for we together say with Paul: "I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me." (Galatians 2) All who accept Christ as Lord
and Savior are brothers and sisters in Christ. Evangelicals
and Catholics are brothers and sisters in Christ. We have not
chosen one another, just as we have not chosen Christ. He has
chosen us, and he has chosen us to be his together. (John 15)
However imperfect our communion with one another, however deep
our disagreements with one another, we recognize that there is
but one church of Christ. There is one church because there is
one Christ and the church is his body. However difficult the
way, we recognize that we are called by God to a fuller
realization of our unity in the body of Christ. The only unity
to which we would give expression is unity in the truth, and
the truth is this: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as
you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all,
who is above all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4) We
affirm together that Christians are to teach and live in
obedience to the divinely inspired Scriptures, which are the
infallible Word of God. We further affirm together that Christ
has promised to his church the gift of the Holy Spirit who
will lead us into all truth in discerning and declaring the
teaching of Scripture. (John 16) We recognize together that
the Holy Spirit has so guided his church in the past. In, for
instance, the formation of the canon of the Scriptures, and in
the orthodox response to the great Christological and
Trinitarian controversies of the early centuries, we
confidently acknowledge the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In
faithful response to the Spirit's leading, the church
formulated the Apostles Creed, which we can and hereby do
affirm together as an accurate statement of scriptural truth:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator
of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our
Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and
born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and
is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come
again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic
Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
We Hope Together We hope together that all
people will come to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
This hope makes necessary the church's missionary zeal. "But
how are they to call upon him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never
heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how
can men preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10) The church
is by nature, in all places and at all times, in mission. Our
missionary hope is inspired by the revealed desire of God that
"all should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." (1
Timothy 2) The church lives by and for the Great Commission:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded
you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."
(Matthew 28) Unity and love among Christians is an integral
part of our missionary witness to the Lord whom we serve. "A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even
as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this
all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another." (John 13) If we do not love one another, we
disobey his command and contradict the Gospel we declare. As
Evangelicals and Catholics, we pray that our unity in the love
of Christ will become ever more evident as a sign to the world
of God's reconciling power. Our communal and ecclesial
separations are deep and long standing. We acknowledge that we
do not know the schedule nor do we know the way to the greater
visible unity for which we hope. We do know that existing
patterns of distrustful polemic and conflict are not the way.
We do know that God who has brought us into communion with
himself through Christ intends that we also be in communion
with one another. We do know that Christ is the way, the
truth, and the life (John 14) and as we are drawn closer to
him-walking in that way, obeying that truth, living that
life-we are drawn closer to one another. Whatever may be the
future form of the relationship between our communities, we
can, we must, and we will begin now the work required to
remedy what we know to be wrong in that relationship. Such
work requires trust and understanding, and trust and
understanding require an assiduous attention to truth. We do
not deny but clearly assert that there are disagreements
between us. Misunderstandings, misrepresentations, and
caricatures of one another, however, are not disagreements.
These distortions must be cleared away if we are to search
through our honest differences in a manner consistent with
what we affirm and hope together on the basis of God's Word.
We Search Together Together we search for a
fuller and clearer understanding of God's revelation in Christ
and his will for his disciples. Because of the limitations of
human reason and language, which limitations are compounded by
sin, we cannot understand completely the transcendent reality
of God and his ways. Only in the End Time will we see face to
face and know as we are known. (1 Corinthians 13) We now
search together in confident reliance upon God's
self-revelation in Jesus Christ, the sure testimony of Holy
Scripture, and the promise of the Spirit to his church. In
this search to understand the truth more fully and clearly, we
need one another. We are both informed and limited by the
histories of our communities and by our own experiences.
Across the divides of communities and experiences, we need to
challenge one another, always speaking the truth in love
building up the Body. (Ephesians 4) We do not presume to
suggest that we can resolve the deep and long- standing
differences between Evangelicals and Catholics. Indeed these
differences may never be resolved short of the Kingdom Come.
Nonetheless, we are not permitted simply to resign ourselves
to differences that divide us from one another. Not all
differences are authentic disagreements, nor need all
disagreements divide. Differences and disagreements must be
tested in disciplined and sustained conversation. In this
connection we warmly commend and encourage the formal
theological dialogues of recent years between Roman Catholics
and Evangelicals. We note some of the differences and
disagreements that must be addressed more fully and candidly
in order to strengthen between us a relationship of trust in
obedience to truth. Among points of difference in doctrine,
worship, practice, and piety that are frequently thought to
divide us are these:
- The church as an integral part of the Gospel or the
church as a communal consequence of the Gospel.
- The church as visible communion or invisible fellowship
of true believers.
- The sole authority of Scripture (sola
scriptura) or Scripture as authoritatively interpreted
in the church.
- The "soul freedom" of the individual Christian or the
Magisterium (teaching authority) of the community.
- The church as local congregation or universal communion.
- Ministry ordered in apostolic succession or the
priesthood of all believers.
- Sacraments and ordinances as symbols of grace or means
of grace.
- The Lord's Supper as eucharistic sacrifice or memorial
meal.
- Remembrance of Mary and the saints or devotion to Mary
and the saints.
- Baptism as sacrament of regeneration or testimony to
regeneration.
This account of differences is by no
means complete. Nor is the disparity between positions always
so sharp as to warrant the "or" in the above formulations.
Moreover, among those recognized as Evangelical Protestants
there are significant differences between, for example,
Baptists, Pentecostals, and Calvinists on these questions. But
the differences mentioned above reflect disputes that are deep
and long standing. In at least some instances, they reflect
authentic disagreements that have been in the past and are at
present barriers to full communion between Christians. On
these questions, and other questions implied by them,
Evangelicals hold that the Catholic Church has gone beyond
Scripture, adding teachings and practices that detract from or
compromise the Gospel of God's saving grace in Christ.
Catholics, in turn, hold that such teachings and practices are
grounded in Scripture and belong to the fullness of God's
revelation. Their rejection, Catholics say, results in a
truncated and reduced understanding of the Christian reality.
Again, we cannot resolve these disputes here. We can and do
affirm together that the entirety of Christian faith, life,
and mission finds its source, center, and end in the crucified
and risen Lord. We can and do pledge that we will continue to
search together-through study, discussion, and prayer-for a
better understanding of one another's convictions and a more
adequate comprehension of the truth of God in Christ. We can
testify now that in our searching together we have discovered
what we can affirm together and what we can hope together and,
therefore, how we can contend together.
We Contend Together As we are bound together
by Christ and his cause, so we are bound together in
contending against all that opposes Christ and his cause. We
are emboldened not by illusions of easy triumph but by faith
in his certain triumph. Our Lord wept over Jerusalem, and he
now weeps over a world that does not know the time of its
visitation. The raging of the principalities and powers may
increase as the End Time nears, but the outcome of the contest
is assured. The cause of Christ is the cause and mission of
the church, which is, first of all, to proclaim the Good News
that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us
the message of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5) To proclaim
this Gospel and to sustain the community of faith, worship,
and discipleship that is gathered by this Gospel is the first
and chief responsibility of the church. All other tasks and
responsibilities of the church are derived from and directed
toward the mission of the Gospel. Christians individually and
the church corporately also have a responsibility for the
right ordering of civil society. We embrace this task soberly;
knowing the consequences of human sinfulness, we resist the
utopian conceit that it is within our powers to build the
Kingdom of God on earth. We embrace this task hopefully;
knowing that God has called us to love our neighbor, we seek
to secure for all a greater measure of civil righteousness and
justice, confident that he will crown our efforts when he
rightly orders all things in the coming of his Kingdom. In the
exercise of these public responsibilities there has been in
recent years a growing convergence and cooperation between
Evangelicals and Catholics. We thank God for the discovery of
one another in contending for a common cause. Much more
important, we thank God for the discovery of one another as
brothers and sisters in Christ. Our cooperation as citizens is
animated by our convergence as Christians. We promise one
another that we will work to deepen, build upon, and expand
this pattern of convergence and cooperation. Together we
contend for the truth that politics, law, and culture must be
secured by moral truth. With the Founders of the American
experiment, we declare, "We hold these truths." With them, we
hold that this constitutional order is composed not just of
rules and procedures but is most essentially a moral
experiment. With them, we hold that only a virtuous people can
be free and just, and that virtue is secured by religion. To
propose that securing civil virtue is the purpose of religion
is blasphemous. To deny that securing civil virtue is a
benefit of religion is blindness. Americans are drifting away
from, are often explicitly defying, the constituting truths of
this experiment in ordered liberty. Influential sectors of the
culture are laid waste by relativism, anti- intellectualism,
and nihilism that deny the very idea of truth. Against such
influences in both the elite and popular culture, we appeal to
reason and religion in contending for the foundational truths
of our constitutional order. More specifically, we contend
together for religious freedom. We do so for the sake of
religion, but also because religious freedom is the first
freedom, the source and shield of all human freedoms. In their
relationship to God, persons have a dignity and responsibility
that transcends, and thereby limits, the authority of the
state and of every other merely human institution. Religious
freedom is itself grounded in and is a product of religious
faith, as is evident in the history of Baptists and others in
this country. Today we rejoice together that the Roman
Catholic Church-as affirmed by the Second Vatican Council and
boldly exemplified in the ministry of John Paul II-is strongly
committed to religious freedom and, consequently, to the
defense of all human rights. Where Evangelicals and Catholics
are in severe and sometimes violent conflict, such as parts of
Latin America, we urge Christians to embrace and act upon the
imperative of religious freedom. Religious freedom will not be
respected by the state if it is not respected by Christians
or, even worse, if Christians attempt to recruit the state in
repressing religious freedom. In this country, too, freedom of
religion cannot be taken for granted but requires constant
attention. We strongly affirm the separation of church and
state, and just as strongly protest the distortion of that
principle to mean the separation of religion from public life.
We are deeply concerned by the courts' narrowing of the
protections provided by the "free exercise" provision of the
First Amendment and by an obsession with "no establishment"
that stifles the necessary role of religion in American life.
As a consequence of such distortions, it is increasingly the
case that wherever government goes religion must retreat, and
government increasingly goes almost everywhere. Religion,
which was privileged and foundational in our legal order, has
in recent years been penalized and made marginal. We contend
together for a renewal of the constituting vision of the place
of religion in the American experiment. Religion and
religiously grounded moral conviction is not an alien or
threatening force in our public life. For the great majority
of Americans, morality is derived, however variously and
confusedly, from religion. The argument, increasingly voiced
in sectors of our political culture, that religion should be
excluded from the public square must be recognized as an
assault upon the most elementary principles of democratic
governance. That argument needs to be exposed and countered by
leaders, religious and other, who care about the integrity of
our constitutional order. The pattern of convergence and
cooperation between Evangelicals and Catholics is, in large
part, a result of common effort to protect human life,
especially the lives of the most vulnerable among us. With the
Founders, we hold that all human beings are endowed by their
Creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. The statement that the unborn child is a human life
that-barring natural misfortune or lethal intervention-will
become what everyone recognizes as a human baby is not a
religious assertion. It is a statement of simple biological
fact. That the unborn child has a right to protection,
including the protection of law, is a moral statement
supported by moral reason and biblical truth. We, therefore,
will persist in contending-we will not be discouraged but will
multiply every effort-in order to secure the legal protection
of the unborn. Our goals are: to secure due process of law for
the unborn, to enact the most protective laws and public
policies that are politically possible, and to reduce
dramatically the incidence of abortion. We warmly commend
those who have established thousands of crisis pregnancy and
postnatal care centers across the country, and urge that such
efforts be multiplied. As the unborn must be protected, so
also must women be protected from their current rampant
exploitation by the abortion industry and by fathers who
refuse to accept responsibility for mothers and children.
Abortion on demand, which is the current rule in America, must
be recognized as a massive attack on the dignity, rights, and
needs of women. Abortion is the leading edge of an encroaching
culture of death. The helpless old, the radically handicapped,
and others who cannot effectively assert their rights are
increasingly treated as though they have no rights. These are
the powerless who are exposed to the will and whim of those
who have power over them. We will do all in our power to
resist proposals for euthanasia, eugenics, and population
control that exploit the vulnerable, corrupt the integrity of
medicine, deprave our culture, and betray the moral truths of
our constitutional order. In public education, we contend
together for schools that transmit to coming generations our
cultural heritage, which is inseparable from the formative
influence of religion, especially Judaism and Christianity.
Education for responsible citizenship and social behavior is
inescapably moral education. Every effort must be made to
cultivate the morality of honesty, law observance, work,
caring, chastity, mutual respect between the sexes, and
readiness for marriage, parenthood, and family. We reject the
claim that, in any or all of these areas, "tolerance" requires
the promotion of moral equivalence between the normative and
the deviant. In a democratic society that recognizes that
parents have the primary responsibility for the formation of
their children, schools are to assist and support, not oppose
and undermine, parents in the exercise of their
responsibility. We contend together for a comprehensive policy
of parental choice in education. This is a moral question of
simple justice. Parents are the primary educators of their
children; the state and other institutions should be
supportive of their exercise of that responsibility. We affirm
policies that enable parents to effectively exercise their
right and responsibility to choose the schooling that they
consider best for their children. We contend together against
the widespread pornography in our society, along with the
celebration of violence, sexual depravity, and antireligious
bigotry in the entertainment media. In resisting such cultural
and moral debasement, we recognize the legitimacy of boycotts
and other consumer actions, and urge the enforcement of
existing laws against obscenity. We reject the self-serving
claim of the peddlers of depravity that this constitutes
illegitimate censorship. We reject the assertion of the
unimaginative that artistic creativity is to be measured by
the capacity to shock or outrage. A people incapable of
defending decency invites the rule of viciousness, both public
and personal. We contend for a renewed spirit of acceptance,
understanding, and cooperation across lines of religion, race,
ethnicity, sex, and class. We are all created in the image of
God and are accountable to him. That truth is the basis of
individual responsibility and equality before the law. The
abandonment of that truth has resulted in a society at war
with itself, pitting citizens against one another in bitter
conflicts of group grievances and claims to entitlement.
Justice and social amity require a redirection of public
attitudes and policies so that rights are joined to duties and
people are rewarded according to their character and
competence. We contend for a free society, including a vibrant
market economy. A free society requires a careful balancing
between economics, politics, and culture. Christianity is not
an ideology and therefore does not prescribe precisely how
that balance is to be achieved in every circumstance. We
affirm the importance of a free economy not only because it is
more efficient but because it accords with a Christian
understanding of human freedom. Economic freedom, while
subject to grave abuse, makes possible the patterns of
creativity, cooperation, and accountability that contribute to
the common good. We contend together for a renewed
appreciation of Western culture. In its history and missionary
reach, Christianity engages all cultures while being captive
to none. We are keenly aware of, and grateful for, the role of
Christianity in shaping and sustaining the Western culture of
which we are part. As with all of history, that culture is
marred by human sinfulness. Alone among world cultures,
however, the West has cultivated an attitude of self-criticism
and of eagerness to learn from other cultures. What is called
multiculturalism can mean respectful attention to human
differences. More commonly today, however, multiculturalism
means affirming all cultures but our own. Welcoming the
contributions of other cultures and being ever alert to the
limitations of our own, we receive Western culture as our
legacy and embrace it as our task in order to transmit it as a
gift to future generations. We contend for public policies
that demonstrate renewed respect for the irreplaceable role of
mediating structures in society-notably the family, churches,
and myriad voluntary associations. The state is not the
society, and many of the most important functions of society
are best addressed in independence from the state. The role of
churches in responding to a wide variety of human needs,
especially among the poor and marginal, needs to be protected
and strengthened. Moreover, society is not the aggregate of
isolated individuals bearing rights but is composed of
communities that inculcate responsibility, sustain shared
memory, provide mutual aid, and nurture the habits that
contribute to both personal well-being and the common good.
Most basic among such communities is the community of the
family. Laws and social policies should be designed with
particular care for the stability and flourishing of families.
While the crisis of the family in America is by no means
limited to the poor or to the underclass, heightened attention
must be paid those who have become, as a result of
well-intended but misguided statist policies, virtual wards of
the government. Finally, we contend for a realistic and
responsible understanding of America's part in world affairs.
Realism and responsibility require that we avoid both the
illusions of unlimited power and righteousness, on the one
hand, and the timidity and selfishness of isolationism, on the
other. U.S. foreign policy should reflect a concern for the
defense of democracy and, wherever prudent and possible, the
protection and advancement of human rights, including
religious freedom. The above is a partial list of public
responsibilities on which we believe there is a pattern of
convergence and cooperation between Evangelicals and
Catholics. We reject the notion that this constitutes a
partisan "religious agenda" in American politics. Rather, this
is a set of directions oriented to the common good and
discussable on the basis of public reason. While our sense of
civic responsibility is informed and motivated by Christian
faith, our intention is to elevate the level of political and
moral discourse in a manner that excludes no one and invites
the participation of all people of good will. To that end,
Evangelicals and Catholics have made an inestimable
contribution in the past and, it is our hope, will contribute
even more effectively in the future. We are profoundly aware
that the American experiment has been, all in all, a blessing
to the world and a blessing to us as Evangelical and Catholic
Christians. We are determined to assume our full share of
responsibility for this "one nation under God," believing it
to be a nation under the judgment, mercy, and providential
care of the Lord of the nations to whom alone we render
unqualified allegiance.
We Witness Together The question of
Christian witness unavoidably returns us to points of serious
tension between Evangelicals and Catholics. Bearing witness to
the saving power of Jesus Christ and his will for our lives is
an integral part of Christian discipleship. The achievement of
good will and cooperation between Evangelicals and Catholics
must not be at the price of the urgency and clarity of
Christian witness to the Gospel. At the same time, and as
noted earlier, Our Lord has made clear that the evidence of
love among his disciples is an integral part of that Christian
witness. Today, in this country and elsewhere, Evangelicals
and Catholics attempt to win "converts" from one another's
folds. In some ways, this is perfectly understandable and
perhaps inevitable. In many instances, however, such efforts
at recruitment undermine the Christian mission by which we are
bound by God's Word and to which we have recommitted ourselves
in this statement. It should be clearly understood between
Catholics and Evangelicals that Christian witness is of
necessity aimed at conversion. Authentic conversion is-in its
beginning, in its end, and all along the way-conversion to God
in Christ by the power of the Spirit. In this connection, we
embrace as our own the explanation of the Baptist-Roman
Catholic International Conversation (1988):
Conversion is turning away from all that is
opposed to God, contrary to Christ's teaching, and turning
to God, to Christ, the Son, through the work of the Holy
Spirit. It entails a turning from the self-centeredness of
sin to faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. Conversion is a
passing from one way of life to another new one, marked with
the newness of Christ. It is a continuing process so that
the whole life of a Christian should be a passage from death
to life, from error to truth, from sin to grace. Our life in
Christ demands continual growth in God's grace. Conversion
is personal but not private. Individuals respond in faith to
God's call but faith comes from hearing the proclamation of
the word of God and is to be expressed in the life together
in Christ that is the Church. By preaching,
teaching, and life example, Christians witness to Christians
and non-Christians alike. We seek and pray for the conversion
of others, even as we recognize our own continuing need to be
fully converted. As we strive to make Christian faith and
life-our own and that of others-ever more intentional rather
than nominal, ever more committed rather than apathetic, we
also recognize the different forms that authentic discipleship
can take. As is evident in the two thousand year history of
the church, and in our contemporary experience, there are
different ways of being Christian, and some of these ways are
distinctively marked by communal patterns of worship, piety,
and catechesis. That we are all to be one does not mean that
we are all to be identical in our way of following the one
Christ. Such distinctive patterns of discipleship, it should
be noted, are amply evident within the communion of the
Catholic Church as well as within the many worlds of
Evangelical Protestantism. It is understandable that
Christians who bear witness to the Gospel try to persuade
others that their communities and traditions are more fully in
accord with the Gospel. There is a necessary distinction
between evangelizing and what is today commonly called
proselytizing or "sheep stealing." We condemn the practice of
recruiting people from another community for purposes of
denominational or institutional aggrandizement. At the same
time, our commitment to full religious freedom compels us to
defend the legal freedom to proselytize even as we call upon
Christians to refrain from such activity. Three observations
are in order in connection with proselytizing. First, as much
as we might believe one community is more fully in accord with
the Gospel than another, we as Evangelicals and Catholics
affirm that opportunity and means for growth in Christian
discipleship are available in our several communities. Second,
the decision of the committed Christian with respect to his
communal allegiance and participation must be assiduously
respected. Third, in view of the large number of non-
Christians in the world and the enormous challenge of our
common evangelistic task, it is neither theologically
legitimate nor a prudent use of resources for one Christian
community to proselytize among active adherents of another
Christian community. Christian witness must always be made in
a spirit of love and humility. It must not deny but must
readily accord to everyone the full freedom to discern and
decide what is God's will for his life. Witness that is in
service to the truth is in service to such freedom. Any form
of coercion-physical, psychological, legal, economic-corrupts
Christian witness and is to be unqualifiedly rejected.
Similarly, bearing false witness against other persons and
communities, or casting unjust and uncharitable suspicions
upon them, is incompatible with the Gospel. Also to be
rejected is the practice of comparing the strengths and ideals
of one community with the weaknesses and failures of another.
In describing the teaching and practices of other Christians,
we must strive to do so in a way that they would recognize as
fair and accurate. In considering the many corruptions of
Christian witness, we, Evangelicals and Catholics, confess
that we have sinned against one another and against God. We
most earnestly ask the forgiveness of God and one another, and
pray for the grace to amend our own lives and that of our
communities. Repentance and amendment of life do not dissolve
remaining differences between us. In the context of
evangelization and "reevangelization," we encounter a major
difference in our understanding of the relationship between
baptism and the new birth in Christ. For Catholics, all who
are validly baptized are born again and are truly, however
imperfectly, in communion with Christ. That baptismal grace is
to be continuingly reawakened and revivified through
conversion. For most Evangelicals, but not all, the experience
of conversion is to be followed by baptism as a sign of new
birth. For Catholics, all the baptized are already members of
the church, however dormant their faith and life; for many
Evangelicals, the new birth requires baptismal initiation into
the community of the born again. These differing beliefs about
the relationship between baptism, new birth, and membership in
the church should be honestly presented to the Christian who
has undergone conversion. But again, his decision regarding
communal allegiance and participation must be assiduously
respected. There are, then, differences between us that cannot
be resolved here. But on this we are resolved: All authentic
witness must be aimed at conversion to God in Christ by the
power of the Spirit. Those converted- whether understood as
having received the new birth for the first time or as having
experienced the reawakening of the new birth originally
bestowed in the sacrament of baptism-must be given full
freedom and respect as they discern and decide the community
in which they will live their new life in Christ. In such
discernment and decision, they are ultimately responsible to
God, and we dare not interfere with the exercise of that
responsibility. Also in our differences and disagreements, we
Evangelicals and Catholics commend one another to God "who by
the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly
than all that we ask or think." (Ephesians 3) In this
discussion of witnessing together we have touched on difficult
and long-standing problems. The difficulties must not be
permitted to overshadow the truths on which we are, by the
grace of God, in firm agreement. As we grow in mutual
understanding and trust, it is our hope that our efforts to
evangelize will not jeopardize but will reinforce our devotion
to the common tasks to which we have pledged ourselves in this
statement.
Conclusion Nearly two thousand years after
it began, and nearly five hundred years after the divisions of
the Reformation era, the Christian mission to the world is
vibrantly alive and assertive. We do not know, we cannot know,
what the Lord of history has in store for the Third
Millennium. It may be the springtime of world missions and
great Christian expansion. It may be the way of the cross
marked by persecution and apparent marginalization. In
different places and times, it will likely be both. Or it may
be that Our Lord will return tomorrow. We do know that his
promise is sure, that we are enlisted for the duration, and
that we are in this together. We do know that we must affirm
and hope and search and contend and witness together, for we
belong not to ourselves but to him who has purchased us by the
blood of the cross. We do know that this is a time of
opportunity-and, if of opportunity, then of responsibility-for
Evangelicals and Catholics to be Christians together in a way
that helps prepare the world for the coming of him to whom
belongs the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
PARTICIPANTS: Mr. Charles Colson Prison
Fellowship Fr. Juan Diaz-Vilar, S.J. Catholic
Hispanic Ministries Fr. Avery Dulles, S.J.
Fordham University Bishop Francis George, OMI
Diocese of Yakima (Washington) Dr. Kent Hill
Eastern Nazarene College Dr. Richard Land
Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
Dr. Larry Lewis Home Mission Board of the
Southern Baptist Convention Dr. Jesse Miranda
Assemblies of God Msgr. William Murphy
Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston Fr. Richard
John Neuhaus Institute on Religion and Public Life
Mr. Brian O'Connell World Evangelical
Fellowship Mr. Herbert Schlossberg Fieldstead
Foundation Archbishop Francis Stafford
Archdiocese of Denver Mr. George Weigel
Ethics and Public Policy Center Dr. John
White Geneva College and the National Association of
Evangelicals
ENDORSED BY: Dr. William Abraham Perkins
School of Theology Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier
Union Theological Seminary (Virginia) Mr. William
Bentley Ball Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Dr.
Bill Bright Campus Crusade for Christ
Professor Robert Destro Catholic University
of America Fr. Augustine DiNoia, O.P.
Dominican House of Studies Fr. Joseph P. Fitzpatrick,
S.J. Fordham University Mr. Keith
Fournier American Center for Law and Justice
Bishop William Frey Trinity Episcopal School
for Ministry Professor Mary Ann Glendon
Harvard Law School Dr. Os Guinness Trinity
Forum Dr. Nathan Hatch University of Notre
Dame Dr. James Hitchcock St. Louis University
Professor Peter Kreeft Boston College
Fr. Matthew Lamb Boston College Mr.
Ralph Martin Renewal Ministries Dr. Richard
Mouw Fuller Theological Seminary Dr. Mark
Noll Wheaton College Mr. Michael Novak American
Enterprise Institute John Cardinal O'Connor Archdiocese of New
York Dr. Thomas Oden Drew University
Dr. James J. I. Packer Regent College
(British Columbia) The Rev. Pat Robertson
Regent University Dr. John Rodgers Trinity
Episcopal School for Ministry Bishop Carlos A.
Sevilla, S.J. Archiocese of San Francisco

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