After months of isolation from other people and from entire countries, after the mourning of hundreds of thousands of dead and after the standstill of large parts of public life, the worldwide ecumenical movement will meet in Karlsruhe. For many, especially for societies outside the wealthy industrialized countries, the effects of the Corona pandemic will not yet be overcome.

Even apart from the pure dynamics of a major event with its scripted moments of emotional address, it is to be expected that there will be moving moments and encounters when the worldwide church meets within the ecumenical movement after periods of isolation.

Initially only a pious wish

The theme of the assembly, “Christ’s love moves the world to reconciliation and unity,” provides a contextual framework for this. At the same time, the theme initially remains a “pious wish”. From my perspective, this is true in two respects: Reconciliation and unity in the world are a wish, at best a process, and certainly only in part a tangible reality. The theme thus describes a goal, a reality to be expected in faith, and not a description of the present – a pious wish. For the very topic sounds decidedly pious to my ears.

While the leading themes of the general assemblies have formulated petitions since the meeting in Canberra – mostly to God and his Spirit, sometimes also to people as a call to conversion – the focus is now again on a Christological intensification. Strictly speaking, this is not a wish, but a proclamatory statement. Completely in the style of the General Assembly of Nairobi 1975, “Jesus Christ liberates and unites”, definite statements are made about Jesus the Christ. While unity returns in the title as the central motif of the ecumenical movement, this is now complemented by the themes of movement and reconciliation.

The themes of reconciliation and unity seem to me to be common and established themes of the ecumenical movement. More blurred, more in need of explanation – in my eyes thereby also more interesting – is the movement. What does it mean that the love of Christ not only unites and reconciles the world, but also moves it?

Protestant state church or free church is irrelevant in global ecumenism

I am writing from a free church perspective. While some of the free churches in Germany are themselves part of the World Council of Churches, others work more with other churches at the level of the Working Communities of Christian Churches and the Association of Protestant Free Churches. In my view, this significantly shapes how strongly the Assembly in Karlsruhe, and thus its theme, is anchored in the consciousness of the respective free churches in the first place. From the perspective of intercultural theology, it should certainly be noted that the category of “free church” as an analytical category is only justified in the mostly European structures with their distinction between state or national churches and free churches; within global ecumenism it is largely irrelevant.

Free churches in this respect are first and foremost Protestant churches, usually with a specific tradition of piety and often a congregational church structure. In this tradition, the Christological intensification of the Assembly theme certainly resonates more strongly than the more general talk of God. That it is Christ who reconciles is a foundation of faith for these churches in their Reformation tradition. And while unity is not always sought within the framework of the World Council of Churches, it remains a mandate for free churches as well, which they pursue in different ways. The movement on this issue within the free churches in Germany is evidenced by the intense wrangling of the Union of Free evangelical Churches in Germany over whether the Union should become a member of the World Council of Churches. So far, the pandemic situation has prevented the decision, originally planned for the Annual Assembly in 2020.

“To let one’s self be moved” and “to move” as a central motif

The somewhat unclear and unwieldy statement “Christ’s love moves the world” is at least in my free-church environment comprehensible, since many free churches and free church missions see themselves ideally as movements. While on the one hand in many free churches there is a definite tendency to criticize institutions, agility is a high ideal in the free church context. In free churches, moving and being moved is a central motif.

Talking about movement can certainly also be part of a self-reassurance strategy of an aging organization. Proclamation always includes a performative moment and thus fluctuates between promise and simply making noise to ignore a present danger. My own church, the German Baptist Union, gave itself a new motto a few years ago. It reads: “Moved by God’s love, we build living churches.“ Of course, I first thought of this motto, of the similarities and differences, when I heard the theme of the 11th Assembly of the Ecumenical Council.

Who will be moved by love?

It is interesting that love is specified in the Assembly theme as Christ’s love, while in the motto of my church it remains more generally as the love of God. Following common clichés, one might have expected it to be the other way around. Another thought suggests itself in this comparison: who is moved by love? Entirely in the characteristic of a proclamation, the theme of the Assembly proclaims and announces to us: Christ’s love moves the whole world. Not only us, not only a few ecumenists, not only missionaries and pastors, not only Christians – Christ’s love moves the world. One can hear this as an exaggeration or even as a provocation, but also as a promise.

Personally, I was moved by how Christians from churches in China donated masks in the emergency of the pandemic and sent them to Europe. All this in spite of the fact that state repression against unregistered congregations was once again intensified during this time. Even though many may not have been privileged enough to help generously, I have experienced the love of the Body of Christ in our own little helplessness.

Move people – change the world

For all the promise of the theme, in the concrete contexts of church, mission and ecumenism, the question remains: how is God’s loving movement visible in the world? Even with the 11th Assembly of the worldwide ecumenical movement, the face of the earth has not changed comprehensively. Further, the church in its many different social forms faces the challenges of war, violence, hunger, exclusion, injustice and much more. And all-too-often the church is also a cause of or participant in all this, while elsewhere it is a sign of God’s love in the world.

In the last few years, we have been discussing a title in the governing body of a free church mission society that puts our fellowship and work as Christians in 26 countries under a concise heading: “Moving People – Changing the World”. We want to experience that people can be moved and that the face of this world changes. In this sense, the theme of Karlsruhe 2022 is very much in line with the concerns of this mission society. It seems that the movement of God’s love strikes a chord with various Christians worldwide. Beyond that, however, the theme has more to offer, it can become a welcome correction. As a worldwide Jesus movement, we experience again and again at the different levels of church, mission and ecumenism that it is not our power and ability that ultimately moves, reconciles and unites the world.

The christological focus in Karlsruhe on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, as formulated in the Letter to the Hebrews (12:2), can save us from false triumphalism and can-do thinking. And at the same time, the proclamatory character conveys hope and confidence. Unity and reconciliation are needed, and for that also movement. But the wind in the sail of the ship of ecumenism cannot simply be blown into the sail by the crew of the boat – Jesus Christ himself remains the moved mover. It is he who moves, reconciles and unites us and this world.

Matthias Ehmann for the EMW-Themenheft 2021

About the author

Matthias Ehmann is a full-time lecturer in missiology and intercultural theology at Ewersbach Theological College.