Theologian Criticizes Ecumenical Groups

The ecumenical movement is out of touch with people in the churches and has “almost ceased to be taken seriously” as a spiritual force, according to the president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

Professor Choan-Seng Song, a systematic theologian at California’s Pacific School of Religion and Graduate Theological Union, said the ecumenical movement, including his own organization, had failed to respond to the growing spiritual awareness among ordinary people, adding that the ecumenical movement’s “financial coffer is empty because the spiritual coffer of our member Christians is empty.”

In particular, Song was critical of what he called the “ecumenical mind-set,” which he said is far removed from both authentic spirituality and the day-to-day lives of the millions of Christians who attend worship services in the churches that are part of the movement.

It is not enough to lament the fact that ecumenical churches have lost a large number of people to charismatic movements that make spiritual experience their sole business, Song said in an address to the executive committee of the world alliance, which is meeting through Tuesday in Taipei, Taiwan.

“We may not like the spiritual experience promoted by the charismatic Christian communities of diverse hues and colors,” he said, “but what alternative have we been able to suggest?”