Perspectief 2015-29

2015-29 The Making of an Ecumenical Text 17 Reag eer The first draft of “The Church as Koinonia ” was submitted to the Faith and Order Board in Bangkok, January 1996 and to the Faith and Order Plenary Commission in Moshi in August 1996 30 . Both meetings raised different objections to the new methodological direction. For some the purpose of the text on the Church “should not be to re-write the Canberra Statement” as it was the case. Others noted that a text the revisited the Canberra Statement “would undermine its authority which resides in the fact that it was adopted by the Assembly”. Addressing the Faith and Order Commission meeting held in Moshi, Tanzania, in August 1996, S. Mark Heim noted that “the ecclesiology study must develop a free-standing text which does not have the character of a commentary of the Canberra statement. Only in this way will the study be able to reach its necessary audience and have the needed effect” 31 . 3. The Nature and Purpose of the Church The Board Sub-Committee on Ecclesiology 32 met in London in December 1996. It decided to abandon the idea of a commentary of the Canberra statement and to develop a new outline on the basis of the schemes produced in Etchmiadzin (1990), Dublin and Codrington (1994). The new text would have four main sections: the nature of the Church; visible unity – already and not yet; issues regarding visible communion that need further discussion, and challenges to the churches 33 . Produced in the short period of one year, it was now called The Nature and Purpose of the Church 34 (TNPC-98). It was submitted to the Faith and Order Board in Istanbul, in January 1998. According to the two Co-moderators of the drafting group, the main purpose of the new text was “to give expression to what 30 “The Church as Koinonia: An Ecumenical Study”. Commission on Faith and Order, Minutes of the Meeting of the Faith and Order Board 7-14 January 1996 Bangkok Thailand, Geneva, WCC, 1996, F&O Paper 172, 116-118, 106-116; A. Falconer (ed.), Faith and Order in Moshi: the 1996 Commission Meeting , Geneva, WCC, 1998, F&O Paper 177, p. 234-245. 31 Commission on Faith and Order, Minutes of the Meeting of the Faith and Order Board 7-14 January 1996 Bangkok Thailand, Geneva, WCC, 1996, F&O Paper 172, 43, 44; A. Falconer (ed.), Faith and Order in Moshi: the 1996 Commission Meeting , Geneva, WCC, 1998, F&O Paper 177, p. 105. 32 Neville Callam, William Rusch (Co-Moderators), Nicolas Lossky, Mary Tanner, Jean Tillard, Dorothea Wendebourg, Yemba Kekumba (members), Alan Falconer and Peter Bouteneff (staff). 33 Commission on Faith and Order, Minutes of the Faith and Order Board 8-15 January 1997 Abbaye de Fontgombault, France , Geneva, WCC, 1994, F&O Paper 178, 23-28. 34 The Nature and Purpose of the Church , Geneva, WCC, 1998, F&O Paper 181.