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Why can’t Christians work together?
How things have changed. Nowadays, Christians recognise that there’s more that unites them than divides them – and so we are so often seen to be working together.
The principal starting point for this era of collaboration began, surprisingly, 100 years ago this month. Between the 14th and 23rd June, 1910 there was a World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh. Missionaries from the various Christian denominations came from all over the world and basically said, “These divisions between us are making our work impossible. We must do something to improve the situation.” The Conference members understood what was being said and set out to find ways in which they could work together. What is known as the Ecumenical Movement began, and successively church people have sought new ways of working at the local level.
It’s still difficult at the top – but at the grass roots we get on pretty well. Of course, there’s still much we can do to improve things, but we’re having a go.
The recent Christian Aid Week, and the occasional Holiday Club, and a whole range of other things are evidence of this working in partnership. If the churches are working at this sort of collaboration, perhaps our Society and Community might follow. What a transformation could be achieved if we found ways of working together.
David Ainge
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