REC Home*** Theological Forum Theological Forum Vol. XXII, No. 2, July 1994
KOINONIA
For several years, koinonia (often translated as communion) has been a key concept in ecumenical thought. When I meet each year with secretaries of organizations representing the various Christian traditions, we meet as Christian World Communions. This was changed from "confessional families" in the 1970s. At its 1990 assembly in Brazil, the Lutheran World Federation decided that it would no longer be a loose collection of churches, that is, a federation, but would make the mutual commitment to become a communion of churches.
The recent conversations about communion or koinonia bring to my mind some of the struggles within the Reformed Ecumenical Council. Much of the REC's attempt to be a synod, as suggested by its first name, Reformed Ecumenical Synod, was an attempt to have true koinonia in faith. Although the REC/RES never claimed to have achieved such unity, that goal was a driving force behind our agenda. That goal also had something unhealthy about it. The meetings were usually crisis meetings, and the fragile unity we experienced has always seemed on the verge of collapse.
When we changed the name of our body from Reformed Ecumenical Synod to Reformed Ecumenical Council in 1988, many took that as a sign that we were loosening the relationship within the council. Others noted that the constitutional changes adopted with the name change were not basic ones, and that the council was essentially the same as the synod. During a recent visit to Geneva, staff members of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) asked me (and others from the REC) whether the REC was still trying to be a communion. They said they were trying to move towards communion, while we appeared to be moving away from it.
Is that true? It would be a serious problem for the REC to face if it were. I do not have an answer to this question, but I have a few intuitions about it. In the same conversation with the LWF staff, we were told that the LWF from its beginning had a strong component of shared works of mercy. There was a strong sense at its 1947 meeting that they had to support pastors who protested fascism during the recently ended war. They also acted to care for European refugees across the continent. This was a focus on the koinonia of witness that George Vandervelde writes so clearly about in this issue. The REC, on the other hand, was trying to build the koinonia of faith, and diaconal witness has come rather later on our agenda.
Therefore, I think the discussions at the Faith and Order conference are very relevant for our own fellowship. I am pleased we could have an official representative, and I am pleased that we can have two different perspectives on what happened there. We need to continue this discussion.
Richard van Houten
Editor