I have just arrived in Salisbury for the Meissen Theological Conference. I attend as Anglican Co-chair of the Meissen Commission, but have no responsibility in this conference other than to participate and enjoy it. How nice is that?
The theme this time is ‘Ecclesiology in Mission Perspective’ – which basically means that we want to tease out our understandings of what the Church is (and what it is for). If that is still too vague, then we will be looking at culture, Scripture, unity, implications of Fresh Expressions, academic thinking in Germany and the UK, systematic and practical theological perspectives, ecumenism… and taking a peek at dead influential theologians (who happen to be both dead and influential) such as Karl Barth and Lesslie Newbigin.
Now, for those outside of church circles who might think this is a weird way to spend the inside of a week, I’ll explain where the interest lies.
Churches – like any institutions or any groups of human beings with a common interest or task – easily fail to address the demands of a rapidly changing world. Their default setting is to consolidate the gains or settled patterns of the past – especially where such gains were hard won or costly in some way. So, it is vital that serious consideration is given at regular intervals to re-examining why we think we are who we think we are and why we do what we do in the way that we do it.
The advantage of doing this here is that bringing two cultures and two histories together provides a perspective that sets the experience and priorities of a church in one culture in the context of the critical light of another. So, what might appear to be (or assumed to be) fixed and ‘given’ in England might look a little more relative when seen through the lens of another church’s theological or historical experience and thinking.
Given that – for both the Church of England and the EKD – our churches are not there merely to maintain themselves as ‘societies’ or institutions with a common identity, these themes become important. The Church exists for the sake of the world and not vice versa. It needs to be built up, grown and supported in order that it can fulfil its primary mission of ‘creating the space in which people can find that they have been found by God’ (in whatever circumstances of life). And we can learn better how to do that by subjecting our own preoccupations and assumptions to the scrutiny and questioning of those who come from somewhere else.
I’ll keep you posted.
January 12, 2011 at 12:35 am
Sounds like a really interesting week Nick. I’d certainly be interested in hearing more about the discussions.
I’ve been writing about Fresh Expressions, and Christian Mission for my degree and have been looking at some of the ideas of Barth and Newbigin!
January 12, 2011 at 9:01 am
It sounds a very worthwhile way to spend a week. I’m always interested in how what is discussed and learned at a ‘high level’ is translated and percolated down throughout the church and its’ congregations. We desperately need this knowledge on the ground.
January 12, 2011 at 9:06 am
Kim, it happens in a variety of ways – not least by forming the mind and imagination of people like me who then shape things in the light of what is learned. I also try to put stuff (in digest) on here so that a wider audience can share it. So, watch this space…
January 12, 2011 at 10:10 am
That’s a really interesting way to think about the primary purpose of the church – ‘creating the space in which people can find that they have been found by God’. Can you help me. What’s the source of that quote?
January 12, 2011 at 10:19 am
Nancy, the quote is from me. Sorry!
January 12, 2011 at 3:04 pm
The reduced-size EKD logo looks like a smiley wearing a church-shaped mortar board. A positive symbol for an important conference.
January 12, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Dear Bishop Nick,
we Anglican-Lutheran-Society bodies will follow you all and meet in Salisbuty this September. Thank you very much for writing blogs I can challenge my young German and American frieds here in Stuttgart to read.
January 12, 2011 at 11:10 pm
The meaning of “Church’ comes from the Greek, ‘ecclesia’ meaning to convoke or ‘bring together’, in other words to bring Unity where it does not yet exist. This is the essence of the meaning ‘to love our enemies’. It is not just a question of belief only, but living this.
January 13, 2011 at 12:14 am
Lionel, ‘Church’ actually comes from the Greek ‘ekklesia’ and it means ‘called out’. It has to do with unity, but only indirectly. I hope to post on this from the conference.
January 13, 2011 at 10:50 am
Dear Nick, however you spell it in English, its ‘external’ meaning is to ‘hold an assembly’, i.e. to convoke. That which is convokes begins as individualised units, but when in an assembly it forms a unity. The deeper, ‘internal’ current within these concepts reveals that the function of the Church is to establish Unity where this does not yet exist. The same applies to the word synagogi . This, I suggest, is the inner meaning of Christ’s teaching. I look forward to your comments.
January 13, 2011 at 11:41 am
[...] Meissen Theological Conference in Salisbury is proving too full for me to have done an easy digest as we go along. So, I’ll [...]
January 13, 2011 at 11:50 am
Lionel, I am not sure what an ‘external’ meaning is, but I thought you were defining the term ‘ekklesia’ in your original comment. I would be interested to hear how you develop you last comment. I think I know where you are going, but I am not sure.
January 13, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Dear Nick, I look forward to your report of the conference.
In the meantime, to answer your question; all that exists is created by God therefore by observing Nature around us through our material senses, we are actually observing God in His ‘externalised’ manifestation, i.e. in the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of His creation. This, however, does not answer the deeper question ‘why’. It is this inner meaning that the Church, I believe, is mandated to reveal, not by repeating the interpretations of past thinkers, but in a language that meets the needs of today and into tomorrow.
Thus we observe God externally and internally.
Returning to the meaning of the word ‘Church’, I perceive its inner function is to bring unity to humanity, not identicality of dogma, but that spiritual unity in line with the One and Only Truth, which in God’s Creation is expressed through an infinite diversity. Only in LOVE can such a unity be established, the central teaching of Christ, i.e. ‘love your enemies’, irrespective of their belief.
Forgive me if I speak the obvious.
Kind regards, and continue the work.