Rural ecumenism

Abstract

PART 1 traces the growth of ecclesiastical concurrence as it arose from the various difficulties faced during the century or so prior to the ecumenical watershed which was the 1910 Edinburgh Conference. Between the two world wars the new movement received an impetus from the 1920 Lambeth Conference, had its first contacts with Roman Catholicism and produced the bases from which Councils of Churches - world, national and local - were to spring. The growth of these Councils is traced, together with examples of national ecumenical activity and denominational progress towards unity. The section concludes with a sketch of the ecumenical position in 1980. PART 11 Provides the horizontal partner to Part 1's vertical axis. Here is spread a broad view of the social conditions of today's rural inhabitants, depicting some of the major changes that have occurred and are still occurring in the lives of the people among whom the Church is set. It then looks more closely at a specific rural area by way of illustrating and confirming its generalised assertions and giving them the more personalised texture that is of the essence of the Church's work. PART 111 begins with a consideration of some current thinking about the Church and relates this to the latter's rural commitment. Three critical components of this commitment are examined in more detail and then four instances of rural ecumenism are described. The study ends with a resume of current conditions and indicates the ingredients it believes necessary for rural ecumenical progress.