Lecture - The Church - by William Henn

29 Reageer addresses such specific issues as action for justice and peace, the promotion of human life, serving as a teacher of the moral values to which Christian faith gives witness, engaging in dialogue with those who do not believe in Christ and collaborating with them for the betterment of human society. Other commentators might list and formulate the convergences in other ways than I have done. Indeed, I myself might add others. But these four might suffice for the purpose of the present discussion. The Church: Towards a Common Vision 1) roots its understanding of the Christian community in the will of God as discerned in God’s Word; 2) it is Trinitarian in its understanding of the Church as essentially missionary in the task of serving communion with God and among believers; 3) it is eschatological in a way that honor history, contextuality and the continual need for reform; and 4) it relates the Church to the Kingdom of God as a basis for engagement in society for the betterment of human beings. If one were to think of the origins of the World Council of Churches as the result of the coming together of three great ecumenical movements – the International Missionary Council, the Life and Work movement and the Faith and Order Movement – I believe that the current convergence text could be seen as reflecting and even representing an integration of the values represented by each of these great efforts to restore Christian unity. [39] The convergence text The Church: Towards a Common Vision does not claim to represent that degree of consensus that most would feel is necessary for the re- establishment of full unity. There is not yet convergence concerning how we might discern the will of God concerning some ecclesiological issues, such as whether that will calls for a particular institutional structure, such as the threefold ministry, mentioned in BEM, of bishop-presbyter-deacon and whether any authoritative teaching within the Church can be