wfn.org | Faith and Order in Lay Terms -- Resent Pasted In

["Carol Fouke" <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

In case the attachment version of this story didn't come through well, here
it is again pasted in.	Carol

NCC Media Contact: 212-870-2252
E-Mail: news@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org
March 31, 2003, For Immediate Release

NCC FAITH AND ORDER COMMISSION STUDIES RICH RANGE OF ISSUES

Is salvation a moment in time or a process?  Once a person is saved, then
what?  By what authority do churches address public policy issues, and
preach the Gospel to people not already part of the church?  What is the
role of the papacy in promoting unity among Christians?

These are just a few of the issues being studied by the National Council of
Churches Faith and Order Commission - the most confessionally diverse
theological dialogue in the United States - with participants from
historical Protestant, Oriental Orthodox, Byzantine Orthodox, Roman
Catholic, Anglican, African American, Pentecostal, Holiness, Evangelical and
Peace churches.

Meeting March 13-15 in Washington, D.C., the commission reviewed progress on
its current studies and began to lay plans for a new study, to be launched
in 2004.

Hosted at Catholic University of America on March 14-15, the commission took
the occasion to honor the 22 years of service to the commission by Father
John Ford, CSC, of the Catholic University faculty.  Father Ford also has
served as a consultant to Churches Uniting in Christ and its predecessor
body, the Consultation on Church Union.  He addressed the National Council
of Churches General Assembly at its November 2000 meeting in Atlanta, Ga.

Here are brief descriptions of current and upcoming studies:

7	A study on Full Communion, which by November 2003 expects to
complete
the first phase of its work -- a text summarizing how the expression full
communion is used theologically in different churches, and what other
expressions are used by churches that do not normally use full communion
as a category.	This study will continue in a second phase of work in
2004-2007.

7	The study group on Authority in the Church expects to complete a
convergence text before the end of 2003.  Dr. Ann Riggs, NCC Faith and Order
Director, said this study is looking at issues that include:  What can
churches that claim the authority of apostolic succession and those that
assert the authority of the local congregation agree on, and where do they
disagree?  What are the points of agreement and disagreement among churches
that understand ordination as a sacrament and those that do not?  By what
authority does the one who presides at the Eucharist do so?  How do
different churches regard the authority of the Holy Spirit in relation to
the reading and proclamation of Scripture?  The wide-ranging discussion in
this group has included the authority of reason, the authority of personal
spiritual experience, the authority of the saints and of the example of
their lives.

7	The study group on Authority in the Church also prepared a draft
that
the entire commission affirmed in March, a response to Petrine Ministry: A
Working Draft, at the invitation of the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity.  The effort originated from the Encyclical Ut Unum Sint,
in which Pope John Paul II invited theologians and church leaders to enter
with him into a patient and fraternal dialogue on how the papacy might
better serve the unity of the churches, without sacrificing the claims of
the Catholic Church.  The NCC Faith and Order Commission was among initial
respondents.  The Pontifical Council synthesized the responses of scholars,
churches and commissions into the report Petrine Ministry: A Working Draft
.  That document in turn was shared with the NCC Faith and Order Commission
with a request for continuing dialogue and response.  The commission gives
the Pope access to voices he will not hear from any other source.

7	The Authority of the Church in the World continues to discuss the
nature
of the Church's authority and its application in witness, as these affect
the divisions among churches and their pilgrimage toward visible unity.  The
overarching issue at hand, Dr. Riggs said, is the responsibility and
authority in the world that the Church has from God.  This has implications
both for understanding the churches authority and call to evangelize and
for the churches ministries of social justice and of speaking and acting in
the public square - whether on the war on Iraq, welfare reform or the
federal budget.  If the churches together believe that God wills full human
flourishing, Dr. Riggs said, how can we understand the authority that God
has given to the Church to foster such flourishing?  This study will
continue in 2004-2007.

7	In 2004, the commission will begin a new study,
Justification/Sanctification/Theosis and Justice/Ethics.  The title, while
cumbersome, embraces exploration of a number of important questions around
the relationship of salvation to growth in spiritual relationship with God,
as this is understand by diverse churches, Dr. Riggs said.  For example, is
salvation a process or a moment in time?  After youre saved, then what?
How are salvation and growth in spiritual relationship with God related, in
turn, with the love of neighbor and the pursuit of personal moral behavior
and social ethics?  This study will draw on important international work
connected to the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
between Lutheran World Federation and the Roman Catholic Church, and
dialogue between Lutheran and Orthodox churches, and will address
long-standing disagreements within American Protestantism between the more
conservative and the more liberal churches, Dr. Riggs said.  The study
promises to rebut the stereotype of conservatives being focused on
justification and liberals on social justice.  Its not the case that NCC
member churches have a concern only for social justice and National
Association of Evangelicals members care only about the salvation of
individuals, Dr. Riggs said.

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