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Latin American Studies Program of Providence College

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JOINT WORKING GROUP BETWEEN

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

THE CHALLENGE OF PROSELYTISM AND THE CALLING TO COMMON WITNESS

Study Document of the Joint Working Group Between The World Council of Churches

and the Roman Catholic Church

Foreword

We would like to present the document The Challenge of Proselytism and the Calling to Common Witness, which has been prepared by the Joint Working Group between the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church, in response to concerns expressed by some of our churches in regard to the missionary outreach of other churches that would seem to bear some of the characteristics of proselytism.

It is within the concern for full Christian unity and common Christian witness that the question of proselytism is looked at in this document. There is the common conviction that central to the work of Christian unity is an urgent need for all Christians to be able to give a truly common witness to the whole Christian faith.

In this spirit, the document may help Christian communities to reflect on their own motivation for mission and also on their methods of evangelizing. Dialogue in a truly ecumenical spirit with those considered to be proselytizing is highlighted.

It is our hope, therefore, that this document will be shared at different levels of church life and reflected on by churches, so that it can contribute towards breaking down mistrust, suspicion, misunderstanding or ignorance of the other, where any of these may exist, as well as encourage persevering effort to seek new ways and means of closer collaboration in evangelization, according to the different circumstances of time, place and culture.

All such efforts will mean a deeper commitment to the goal of full communion among Christ’s disciples, in the certitude that our fellowship is with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. This document is meant as a contribution to that goal.

His Eminence Metropolitan Elias of Beirut and Most Rev. Alan C. Clark

Co-moderators of the Joint Working Group

25 September, 1995

I. Introduction

1. This document is the result of discussions in the Joint Working Group (JWG) and is presented with the conviction that it is timely, and with the hope that it may serve as an impulse for further reflection and action in the churches. The conversations in the JWG were marked both by the grateful recognition of the increase of common witness of Christians from different traditions, and serious concerns about tensions and conflicts created by proselytism in nearly all parts of the world. It is the new reality of common witness and a growth in koinonia which forms the backdrop for a critical consideration of proselytism which has been described as conscious efforts with the intention to win members of another church.

2. Even though the JWG has addressed the questions of common witness and proselytism on two previous occasions, recent dramatic events have led it to study these issues once again. Over the past few years we have become more aware of the concern being expressed in new situations and contexts in which people tend to be vulnerable in one way or another, and where proselytizing activity is alleged to be taking place. Some situations invite urgent ecumenical attention, such as:

– within the climate of newly found religious freedom, e.g. in Central and Eastern Europe where there is a threat felt by some churches that their members are under pressure from other churches to change their allegiance;

– instances in the "developing world", (often easily identified with nations in the southern hemisphere, though also found elsewhere), in which proselytizing efforts take advantage of people’s misfortunes – e.g. in situations of poverty in villages, or in the mass migration to the cities where new arrivals have a sense of being lost in anonymity, or marginalized, and are frequently outside the pastoral structures of their own church – to induce them to change their church affiliation;

– where people of a particular ethnic group, traditionally members of one church, are said to be encouraged by unfair means to become members of other churches;

– the activity of some new missionary movements, groups or individuals, both within our churches and outside them, especially those originating in the newly industrialized nations which enter countries often uninvited by any church and begin missionary activity among the local people in competition with the local churches; peace. For these reasons, international instruments and the constitutions and laws of almost all nations recognize the right to religious freedom. Proselytism can violate or manipulate the right of the individual and can exacerbate tense and delicate relations between communities and thus destabilize societies.

The responsibility of fostering religious freedom and the harmonious relations between religious communities is a primary concern of the churches. Where principles of religious freedom are not being respected and lived in church relations, we need, through dialogue in mutual respect, to encourage deeper consideration and appreciation of these principles and of their practical applications for the churches.

IV. In the history of the church, the term "proselytism" has been used as a positive term and even as an equivalent concept for missionary activity. More recently, especially in the context of the modern ecumenical movement it has taken on a negative connotation when applied to activities of Christians to win adherents from other Christian communities. These activities may be more obvious or more subtle. They may be unworthy motives or by unjust means that violate the conscience of the human person; or even i0f proceeding with good intentions, their approach ignores the Christian reality of other churches or their particular approaches to pastoral practice.

19. Proselytism as described in this document stands in opposition to all ecumenical effort. It includes certain activities which often aim at having people change their church affiliation and which we believe must be avoided, such as the following;

– making unjust or uncharitable references to other churches’ beliefs and practices and even ridiculing them;

– comparing two Christian communities by emphasizing the achievements and ideals of one, and the weaknesses and practical problems of the other;

– employing any kind of physical violence, moral compulsion and psychological pressure e.g. the use of certain advertising techniques in mass media that might bring undue pressure on readers/viewers;

– using political, social and economic power as a means of winning new members for one’s own church;

– extending explicit or implicit offers of education, health care or material inducements or using financial resources with the intent of making converts;

– manipulative attitudes and practices that exploit people’s needs, weaknesses or lack of education especially in situations of distress, and fail to respect their freedom and human dignity.

20. While our focus in this document is on relationships between Christians, it is important to seek the mutual application of these principles also in interfaith relations. Both Christians and communities of other faiths complain about unworthy unacceptable methods of seeking converts from their repsective communities. The increased cooperation and dialogue among people of different faiths could result in witness offered to one another that would respect human freedom and dignity and be free of the negative activities described above.

V. SOURCES OF TENSION IN CHURCH RELATIONSHIPS

21. We need to look at some of the sources of tension in church relationships which could lead to proselytism, in order to ground some of this concern. One is the holding of distorted views of another church’s teaching or doctrine and even attacking or caricaturing them e.g. denouncing prayer for the dead as a denial of the need for personal acceptance of Christ as Lord and Saviour; discrediting the veneration of icons as signs of crude idolatry; interpreting the use of art in church buildings as a transgression of the first commandment.

22. Different understandings of missiology and different concepts of evangelization also underly some inter-church tensions e.g. seeing God’s gift of salvation as coming exclusively through one’s own church; seeing the task of mission as

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