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120-444: Selly Oak Colleges was a federation of educational facilities which in the 1970s and 1980s was at the forefront of debates about ecumenism - the coming together of Christian churches and the creation of new united churches such as the Church of South India ; the relationships between Christianity and other religions, especially Islam and Judaism ; child-centred teacher training ; and

240-499: A Lovefeast when churches celebrate them, to holding an ecumenical Stations of the Cross service on Fridays during the Christian liturgical season of Lent with the service being held at a different local church each Friday (e.g. Catholic, Lutheran, Moravian, Anglican, Reformed and Methodist). The ultimate goal of ecumenism is the recognition of sacramental validity, eucharistic sharing, and

360-528: A billion members of the major Christian traditions. This, with the Catholic Church's 1.25 billion Christians, indicates that 349 churches/denominations already account for nearly 80% of the world's Christian population. One problem with the larger numbers is that single denominations can be counted multiple times. For example, the Catholic Church is a single church, or communion, comprising 24 distinct self-governing particular churches in full communion with

480-467: A deeper understanding and a clearer presentation of the unfathomable riches of Christ. The unity willed by God can be attained only by the adherence of all to the content of revealed faith in its entirety. In matters of faith, compromise is in contradiction with God who is Truth. In the Body of Christ, "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6), who could consider legitimate a reconciliation brought about at

600-481: A distinct family of churches, though they may otherwise fit into any one of the previous categories. Some of these families are in themselves a single communion, such as the Catholic Church. Other families are a very general movement with no universal governing authority. Protestantism, for example, includes such diverse groups as Adventists , Anabaptists , Baptists, Congregationalists , Evangelicals , Hussites , Lutherans , Messianic Jews , Methodists (inclusive of

720-538: A handful of people. Other denominations may be very small remnants of once larger churches. The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing ( Shakers ) have only two full members, for example, yet are a distinct denomination. Most current divisions are the result of historical schisms —a break in the full communion between previously united Churches, bishops, or communities. Some historical schisms proved temporary and were eventually healed, others have hardened into

840-645: A leading role as one of the founders of the Church of South India , where he had been Bishop of Madurai Ramnad from 1947-1959, after which he became the General Secretary of the International Missionary Council and oversaw its integration with the World Council of Churches , of which he became Associate General Secretary, until he returned to South India where he served as Bishop of Madras from 1965-1974. Clifford, with John Gordon Davies , who

960-408: A liar, and his word is not in us". So we humbly beg pardon of God and of our separated brethren, just as we forgive them that trespass against us. Christians cannot underestimate the burden of long-standing misgivings inherited from the past, and of mutual misunderstandings and prejudices. Complacency, indifference and insufficient knowledge of one another often make this situation worse. Consequently,

1080-534: A number of daughter organisations around the world, including Australia and New Zealand, which have now become independent. The original proposal for the mission came from Charles Grant and George Udny of the East India Company and David Brown , of Calcutta , who sent a proposal in 1787 to William Wilberforce , then a young member of parliament , and Charles Simeon , a young clergyman at Cambridge University . The Society for Missions to Africa and

1200-547: A programme for the training of Namibian refugees, who added another dimension both to the teaching of development studies and to the lives of the colleges where they lived. There was always an international character to the colleges, with an awareness of foreign theologies that was unusual for British theological institutions until late in the twentieth century. In the 1930s the federation welcomed many important guests, not least Mahatma Gandhi who visited while in Britain for talks on

1320-699: A result of the Albigensian Crusade . In northern Italy and southeastern France, Peter Waldo founded the Waldensians in the 12th century, which remains the largest non-Catholic church in Italy and is in full communion with the Italian Methodist Church. In Bohemia , a movement in the early 15th century by Jan Hus called the Hussites called for reform of Catholic teaching and still exists to this day, known as

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1440-659: A revival within Anglicanism, especially in England and the American colonies , under the leadership of the brothers John Wesley and Charles Wesley , both priests in the Church of England. This movement also produced the Holiness movement churches. The Old Catholic Church split from the Catholic Church in the 1870s because of the promulgation of the dogma of Papal Infallibility as promoted by

1560-600: A study and conference centre for the Society of Friends, and Fircroft College , a small adult education college with residential provision, which continue today. Woodbrooke College was founded in 1903 by George Cadbury and other local members of the Society of Friends , (or Quakers ), in one of the former properties of George Cadbury, whose father John created the chocolate-making company Cadbury . The Society did not have salaried clergy, or professional training for its leaders. So

1680-438: A unity of local congregations in a worldwide communion . The term ecumenism as it is now commonly used refers to interdenominational cooperation between different Christian churches . These initiatives can range from local churches of different denominations operating a soup kitchen for the poor, hosting an ecumenical Bible study with participants from different Christian traditions, inviting all baptized Christians to partake in

1800-765: Is accredited by Durham University as part of the Church of England's Common Awards . In 2015 there were 70 students on the course, studying at certificate, diploma and MA level. In October 2012, Philip Mounstephen became the Executive Leader of the Church Mission Society. On 31 January 2016 Church Mission Society had 151 mission partners in 30 countries and 62 local partners in 26 countries (this programme supports local mission leaders in Asia, Africa and South America in "pioneer settings" ) serving in Africa, Asia, Europe and

1920-474: Is beginning to make considerable progress". Some elements of the Catholic perspective on ecumenism are illustrated in the following quotations from the council's decree on ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio of 21 November 1964, and Pope John Paul II 's encyclical, Ut Unum Sint of 25 May 1995. Every renewal of the Church is essentially grounded in an increase of fidelity to her own calling. Undoubtedly this

2040-462: Is broad agreement upon this goal, approaches to ecumenism vary. Generally, Protestants see fulfillment of the goal of ecumenism as consisting in general agreements on teachings about central issues of faith, with mutual pastoral accountability between the diverse churches regarding the teachings of salvation. For Catholics and Orthodox on the other hand, the true unity of Christendom is treated in accordance with their more sacramental understanding of

2160-444: Is important for the tasks which lie ahead of us, namely, the search for a just world order, the overcoming of the threat of nuclear war and the solution of the ecological crisis. All this needs understanding on a global scale. And since war and greed start in the hearts and heads of people there is no world peace without peace between the religions, and between religious and agnostic people. (Walter Hollenweger, The Future of Mission and

2280-862: Is known as the Great Schism . The canonical separation was sealed by the Latin sacking of Constantinople (1204) during the Fourth Crusade and through the poor reception of the Council of Florence (1449) among the Orthodox Eastern Churches. The political and theological reasons for the schism are complex. Aside from the natural rivalry between the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire and the Franco-Latin Holy Roman Empire , one major controversy

2400-507: Is responding to his admonition (John 17; Philippians 2) to be one in him and love one another as a witness to the world. The result of mutual recognition would be a discernible worldwide fellowship, organized in a historically new way. For a significant part of the Christian world, one of the highest goals to be sought is the reconciliation of the various denominations by overcoming the historical divisions within Christianity. Even where there

2520-452: Is rooted in the medieval Augustinian appropriation of Plotinian Neoplatonism . (See Augustine of Hippo, De Trinitate .) Both West and East agreed that the patriarch of Rome was owed a "primacy of honour" by the other patriarchs (those of Alexandria , Antioch , Constantinople and Jerusalem ), but the West also contended that this primacy extended to jurisdiction, a position rejected by

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2640-477: Is seen as being the grounds for Christian ecumenism, the concept of unity amongst Christians. With respect to ecumenism, A. W. Tozer maintained that "Unity in Christ is not something to be achieved; it is something to be recognized." Ecumenists cite John 17:20–23 as the Biblical basis of striving for church unity, in which Jesus prays that Christians "may all be one" in order "that the world may know" and believe

2760-472: Is that people focus primarily on Christ , not on separate church organizations. In Schlink's book Ökumenische Dogmatik (1983), he says Christians who see the risen Christ at work in the lives of various Christians or in diverse churches realize that the unity of Christ's church has never been lost, but has instead been distorted and obscured by different historical experiences and by spiritual myopia. Both are overcome in renewed faith in Christ. Included in that

2880-624: Is the basis of the movement toward unity … There can be no ecumenism worthy of the name without a change of heart. For it is from renewal of the inner life of our minds, from self-denial and an unstinted love that desires of unity take their rise and develop in a mature way. We should therefore pray to the Holy Spirit for the grace to be genuinely self-denying, humble. gentle in the service of others, and to have an attitude of brotherly generosity towards them. … The words of St. John hold good about sins against unity: "If we say we have not sinned, we make him

3000-429: Is training for Christian mission, and centres for dialogue between Christians and those of other faiths; training of teachers and social workers, people studying for professional qualifications and people studying for fun, bishops and even archbishops studying with unemployed industrial workers. [John Ferguson and Jack Thompson, Foreword, Selly Oak Journal No. 1, 1984, p. 2] It was Quaker initiative which founded

3120-485: Is used in terms such as " ecumenical council " and " Ecumenical Patriarch ", in the meaning of pertaining to the totality of the larger Church (such as the Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Church) rather than being restricted to one of its constituent local churches or dioceses . Used in this sense, the term carries no connotation of re-uniting the historically separated Christian denominations but presumes

3240-485: Is whether it upholds a number of moral values, not least those of equity and compassion. The second is whether the argument has taken account of other relevant disciplines. If we cannot make good Christian economic sense without taking the discipline of economics seriously, neither can we make good Christian economic sense without taking the discipline of Christian social theology seriously... We must be true to an inter-disciplinary approach in both directions ... The third test

3360-639: Is whether the approach takes account of the experiences of the poor whose practical insights into the effects of economic policies are as important as the predictions of the theorists. (Michael Taylor, then Director of Christian Aid in Jesus and the International Financial Institutions , Occasional Paper No.17, Selly Oak Colleges, 1996, p. 5 ISBN 0-900653-22-1 Ecumenism The fact that all Christians belonging to mainstream Christian denominations profess faith in Jesus , believe that

3480-698: The Azusa Street Revival in 1906 are held as the beginnings of the Pentecostal movement. These started just a few hours after Pope Leo XIII led a prayer Veni Spiritus Sanctus during an Urbi et Orbi message, consecrating the 20th century to the Holy Spirit and through this prayer to the reunion of Christianity. For some Protestants , spiritual unity, and often unity on the church's teachings on central issues, suffices. According to Lutheran theologian Edmund Schlink , most important in Christian ecumenism

3600-569: The Basel Seminary. The Church Missionary Society College, Islington opened in 1825 and trained about 600 missionaries; about 300 joined the CMS from universities and about 300 came from other sources. 30 CMS missionaries were appointed to the episcopate , serving as bishops. The CMS published The Church Missionary Gleaner , from April 1841 to September 1857. From 1813 to 1855 the society published The Missionary Register , "containing an abstract of

3720-626: The Bible is inspired by God ( John 1:1 ), and receive baptism according to the Trinitarian formula is seen as being a basis for ecumenism and its goal of Christian unity. Ecumenists cite John 17:20–23 as the biblical grounds of striving for church unity, in which Jesus prays " may all be one " in order "that the world may know" and believe the Gospel message . In 1920, the Ecumenical Patriarch of

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3840-499: The Body of Christ ; this ecclesiastical matter for them is closely linked to key theological issues (e.g. regarding the Eucharist and the historical Episcopate ), and requires full dogmatic assent to the pastoral authority of the Church for full communion to be considered viable and valid. Thus, there are different answers even to the question of the church , which finally is the goal of

3960-549: The Church of England , and its first women general secretary, Diana Witts . Gillian Joynson-Hicks was its president from 1998 to 2007. In 1995 the name was changed to the Church Mission Society . At the end of the 20th century there was a significant swing back to the Evangelical position, probably in part due to a review in 1999 at the anniversary and also due to the re-integration of Mid Africa Ministry (formerly

4080-570: The Church of England Zenana Missionary Society was absorbed into the CMS. Notable general secretaries of the society later in the 20th century were Max Warren and John Vernon Taylor . The first woman president of the CMS, Diana Reader Harris (serving 1969–1982), was instrumental in persuading the society to back the 1980 Brandt Report on bridging the North-South divide . In the 1990s CMS appointed its first non-British general secretary, Michael Nazir-Ali , who later became Bishop of Rochester in

4200-930: The Council for World Mission ; the buildings remain in use as the International Mission Centre, training missionaries for the BMS. The Church Missionary Society moved some of its training to Cowley, Oxford in 2005 and closed Crowther Hall. The United College of the Ascension closed in 2006 — some of its work, and that of the Department of Mission, is carried on by a reduced staff in the Selly Oak Centre for Mission Studies, located in The Queen's Foundation, Birmingham , an ecumenical theological foundation close to Birmingham University . The land on which Kingsmead College had stood

4320-564: The Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches before the Great Schism dividing the two churches; the first four ecumenical councils are recognized by the Lutheran Churches, Anglican Communion and Reformed churches though they are "considered subordinate to Scripture". The Assyrian Church of the East acknowledges the first two ecumenical councils, while Oriental Orthodox Churches accept

4440-605: The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg and had trained at the Berlin Seminary . The name Church Missionary Society began to be used and in 1812 the society was renamed The Church Missionary Society . In 1829, the CMS began to send medical personnel as missionaries. Initially to care for the mission staff, these missionaries could also care for the physical well-being of local populations. Dr. Henry Graham

4560-585: The First Vatican Council of 1869–1870. The term "Old Catholic" was first used in 1853 to describe the members of the See of Utrecht who were not under Papal authority. The Old Catholic movement grew in America but has not maintained ties with Utrecht, although talks are under way between some independent Old Catholic bishops and Utrecht. The Evangelical movement takes form as the result of spiritual renewal efforts in

4680-458: The Gospel message . As such, ecumenism has a strong implication for the Church's mission of evangelism , which is referenced in John 13:35 : "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another". Additionally, Jesus emphasized that the ties of Christians to one another are much greater than those to blood relatives. Historically, the term "ecumenism" was originally used in

4800-512: The Greek οἰκουμένη ( oikoumene ), which means "the whole inhabited world", and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire . The ecumenical vision comprises both the search for the visible unity of the Church (Ephesians 4:3) and the "whole inhabited earth" (Matthew 24:14) as the concern of all Christians. In Christianity, the qualification ecumenical was originally and still

4920-509: The Holiness movement ), Moravians, Pentecostals , Presbyterians , Reformed , and Waldensians. Many of these have, as a result of ecumenical dialogue, established full or partial communion agreements. The oldest lasting schism in Christianity resulted from fifth-century disagreements on Christology , heightened by philosophical , linguistic , cultural , and political differences. The first significant, lasting split in historic Christianity,

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5040-483: The Ruanda Mission ). The position of CMS is now that of an ecumenical Evangelical society. In 2004 CMS was instrumental in bringing together a number of Anglican and, later, some Protestant mission agencies to form Faith2Share, an international network of mission agencies. In June 2007, CMS in Britain moved the administrative office out of London for the first time. It is now based in east Oxford. In 2008, CMS

5160-613: The University of Birmingham . The Centre for New Religious Movements was created in 1981, and the Centre for the Study of Judaism and Jewish-Christian Relations, headed by the Jewish scholar Norman Solomon in 1983. There were valuable facilities on the site – sports fields, a swimming pool, and a hall for meetings and performance. In 1929 a guest house was opened for the use of missionaries on furlough. In

5280-557: The University of Ibadan in Nigeria, the first Dean of Arts in the UK Open University , a hymnwriter, playwright, and amateur musician and conductor. He was also a successful businessman: he and his wife Elnora created Carfax Publishing which assembled a portfolio of academic journals which was sold to Routledge in 1997. When he died in 1989 he left £2.5m to establish a Chair of Global Ethics at Selly Oak Colleges – eventually located in

5400-775: The World Communion of Reformed Churches , as well as almost all jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church ; the Roman Catholic Church participates as an observer, sending delegates to official gatherings. Many regional councils affiliated with the World Council of Churches, such as the Middle East Council of Churches , National Council of Churches in Australia and Christian Churches Together , work for

5520-476: The World Council of Churches and other ecumenical organisations. All the colleges were under pressure. The missionary colleges were small and expensive to run and it was debatable whether training missionaries for work in developing countries overseas was better undertaken in countries where Christianity was expanding, rather than in the UK. Kingsmead College closed in 1993, its work and some of its staff joining what became

5640-631: The Young Women's Christian Association established the YWCA College. In 1925 Fircroft produced a rural offshoot, Avoncroft, on a site in the Worcestershire countryside, about 12 miles from Selly Oak. The creation of Crowther Hall in 1969 by the Church Missionary Society meant that all the major Protestant missionary societies, including both high church and low church Anglicanism were on

5760-740: The bishop of Rome (the largest being the Latin Church , commonly called "Roman Catholic"). Further, the Catholic Church's presence in each country is counted as a different denomination—though this is in no way an ecclesiologically accurate definition. This can result in the one Catholic Church being counted as 242 distinct denominations, as in the World Christian Encyclopedia . Additionally, single nondenominational congregations or megachurches without denominational affiliation are effectively counted each as its own denomination, resulting in cases where entire "denominations" may account for only

5880-472: The theology of Christian mission. It was located on a substantial campus in Selly Oak , a suburb in the south-west of Birmingham , England , about a mile from the University of Birmingham . In 2001 the largest college, Westhill College, whose main work was the training of teachers, passed into the hands of the University of Birmingham , and most of the remaining colleges closed, leaving Woodbrooke College ,

6000-524: The "West" or "East", respectively. (There exist both Eastern Rite Roman Catholicism and Western Rite Orthodoxy, for example.) There is an ongoing and fruitful Catholic-Orthodox dialogue . In Western Christianity, there were a handful of geographically isolated movements that preceded in the spirit of the Protestant Reformation . The Cathars were a very strong movement in medieval southwestern France, but did not survive into modern times, largely as

6120-518: The 'missionary colleges' increasingly provided training and experience for church leaders and administrators from across the developing world, who could also sit for certificates or diplomas awarded by Westhill College or diplomas or degrees awarded by the Department of Mission, in association with the Theology Department at the University of Birmingham, whose first Professor of Theology, from 1940,

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6240-402: The 1980s, resulting in agreement on the very issue that split them asunder, in the 1994 Common Christological Declaration , which identifies the origin of the schism as largely linguistic, due to problems of translating very delicate and precise terminology from Latin to Aramaic and vice versa. As part of the then-ongoing Christological controversy, following the Council of Chalcedon in 451,

6360-427: The 3rd and 7th Ecumenical councils ). Church Missionary Society The Church Mission Society ( CMS ), formerly known as the Church Missionary Society , is a British Anglican mission society working with Christians around the world. Founded in 1799, CMS has attracted over nine thousand men and women to serve as mission partners during its 200-year history. The society has also given its name "CMS" to

6480-812: The Anabaptists, people such as Menno Simons and Jakob Ammann , whose movements resulted in today's communities of Mennonites , Amish , Hutterites , and Brethren churches, and to some extent, the Bruderhof Communities . Further reform movements within Anglicanism during the 16th through 18th centuries, with influence from the Radical Reformation, produced the Puritans and Separatists , creating today's Baptists, Congregationalists , Quakers , and eventually Unitarian Universalism . The Methodist churches, which uphold Wesleyan-Arminian theology , grew out of

6600-457: The College was set up to provide its lay leaders with good knowledge of Quaker traditions and of Christian theology, and Christian responses to social questions. It was not an official institution of the Society of Friends, but it had the active support of many Quakers on both sides of the Atlantic. Kingsmead College was founded in 1905 by the Friends' Foreign Mission Association, for the training of women missionaries. From 1915 Methodists came to

6720-444: The Danish Folk High Schools, was founded as a residential college for working men, to broaden their outlook and to increase their self-confidence. It maintained close links with UK trade unions, and the Workers Educational Association . Attracted by Kingsmead, three Free Church mission agencies ( Baptist , Congregationalist and Presbyterian ) jointly founded Carey Hall (1912) as a training college for women missionaries. In 1919

6840-407: The East (as the society was first called) was founded on 12 April 1799 at a meeting of the Eclectic Society , supported by members of the Clapham Sect , a group of activist Anglicans who met under the guidance of John Venn , the Rector of Clapham . Their number included Charles Simeon , Basil Woodd , Henry Thornton , Thomas Babington and William Wilberforce . Wilberforce was asked to be

6960-418: The Eastern Orthodox Church , Germanus V of Constantinople , wrote a letter "addressed 'To all the Churches of Christ, wherever they may be', urging closer co-operation among separated Christians, and suggesting a 'League of Churches', parallel to the newly founded League of Nations ". In 1937, Christian leaders from mainstream Christian churches resolved to establish the World Council of Churches , to work for

7080-447: The Eastern Orthodox Church. Although the Christian world as a whole did not experience any major church divisions for centuries afterward, the Eastern , predominantly Greek-speaking and Western , predominantly Latin-speaking, cultural divisions drifted toward isolation, culminating in the mutual excommunication of Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius and the legate of then-deceased Pope of Rome Leo IX in 1054, in what

7200-519: The Eastern patriarchs. Various attempts at dialogue between the two groups would occur, but it was only in the 1960s, under Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras , that significant steps began to be made to mend the relationship between the two. In 1965, the excommunications were "committed to oblivion". The resulting division remains, however, providing the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, both of which are globally distributed bodies and no longer restricted geographically or culturally to

7320-402: The Filioque implies that the essential divinity of the Holy Spirit is derived not from the Father alone as arche (singular head and source), but from the perichoretic union between the Father and the Son. That the hypostasis or persona of the Spirit either is or is produced by the mutual, pre-eternal love between God and His Word is an explanation which Eastern Christian detractors have alleged

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7440-446: The Indian constitution in 1931, Albert Schweitzer who came as a visiting lecturer, Charles Freer Andrews and Rabindranath Tagore . In the 1980s it pioneered dialogue between Christians and Muslims and between the black-led churches, e.g. of inner-city Birmingham, and the mainstream, and a broad theology of mission. It also developed strong links with the struggle against apartheid in South Africa Throughout its life it influenced both

7560-493: The Lord, that mutual trust will grow and barriers will be overcome, for that is what mission is about. Differences, even theological ones, do not need to separate Christians or throw up obstacles among us. (Marcella Hoesl in Encounters in Mission: Two World Conferences , Occasional Paper No.2, Selly Oak Colleges, 1989, pp. 11–12) Arguments about which economic policies will work best will be never ending, but any conclusion must not be allowed to escape three crucial tests. One

7680-451: The Middle East. In addition, 127 mission associates (affiliated to Church Mission Society but not employed or financially supported through CMS) and 16 short-termers. In 2015–16, Church Mission Society had a budget of £6.8 million, drawn primarily from donations by individuals and parishes, supplemented by historic investments. The Church Mission Society Archive is housed at the University of Birmingham Special Collections. In Australia ,

7800-420: The Mission of the Future , Occasional Paper No.2, Selly Oak Colleges, 1989, p. 5) On all these issues ... there are different points of view... Hence it is essential that staff and course participants be able and willing to communicate why they believe what they believe, and to do so credibly and intelligibly. There is no way, other than by encounter, open respect, sharing of personal and communal stories in

7920-561: The Moravian Church. Though generally counted among Protestant churches, groups such as the Waldensians and Moravians pre-exist Protestantism proper. The Protestant Reformation began, symbolically, with the posting of Martin Luther 's " Ninety-Five Theses " in Saxony on October 31, 1517, written as a set of grievances to reform the Western Church. Luther's writings , combined with the work of Swiss theologian Huldrych Zwingli and French theologian and politician John Calvin , sought to reform existing problems in doctrine and practice. Due to

8040-406: The Orchard Learning Centre, was opened in 2001, shortly before the Federation ceased to exist. The individual colleges were much more than halls of residence: they were learning communities with their own tutors, where people experienced the interaction of different nationalities, faiths and opinions as well as the particular atmosphere of their own college. In the late 1980s, the Federation took on

8160-460: The Puritans". Historian Mark Noll adds to this list High Church Anglicanism, which contributed to Evangelicalism a legacy of "rigorous spirituality and innovative organization". Pentecostalism is likewise born out of this context, and traditionally traces its origins to what it describes as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on 1 January 1901 in Topeka, Kansas , at the Bethel Bible College . Subsequent charismatic revivals in Wales in 1904 and

8280-464: The Roman Catholic White Father and Bishop, Patrick Kalilombe , from Malawi; the theologian Anthony G. Reddie and many others. Earlier, in 1975, the Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations was established – its work continues today at the University of Birmingham. John Ferguson, President from 1979-1986, was a man of many parts: a Quaker, a pacifist, a classical scholar and specialist on comparative religion, Professor of Classics at

8400-459: The Society had entered 103 women, unmarried or widows, on its list, and the Annual Report for 1886–87 showed twenty-two then on its staff, the majority being widows or daughters of missionaries. From the beginning of the organisation until 1894 the total number of CMS missionaries amounted to 1,335 (men) and 317 (women). During this period the indigenous clergy ordained by the branch missions totalled 496 and about 5,000 lay teachers had been trained by

8520-428: The United College of the Ascension. The Multi-faith Centre also closed in 1993, the Jewish Christian Centre the following year. Michael Taylor, a former director of Christian Aid took over as president in 1997. The Centre for Black and White Christian Partnership ended in 1999, and St Andrew's Hall closed in 2000 after the Baptist Missionary Society withdrew from the partnership with the United Reformed Church and

8640-548: The University of Birmingham. By this time the Federation was clearly unsustainable, and in a separate agreement the University of Birmingham took over the central facilities and the staff there. Part of the site was developed for use by its Department of Drama and Theatre Arts. The end of the Federation was far more than the loss of the individual colleges. It meant the loss of a culture, a way of working, of inclusiveness engendered by small institutions, of contacts overseas and within

8760-454: The University. Paul Clifford , President from 1965-1978, was a Baptist minister who was strongly committed to the principles of ecumenism – that the future of Christianity, everywhere in the world, lay with the ecumenical movement, the coming together of the different Christian denominations. This was reflected in the appointment of Bishop Lesslie Newbigin as Professor of Ecumenics and Theology of Mission from 1974-1979. Newbigin had played

8880-551: The anglophone world in the 18th century. According to religion scholar, social activist, and politician Randall Balmer , Evangelicalism resulted "from the confluence of Pietism, Presbyterianism, and the vestiges of Puritanism. Evangelicalism picked up the peculiar characteristics from each strain—warmhearted spirituality from the Pietists (for instance), doctrinal precisionism from the Presbyterians, and individualistic introspection from

9000-414: The beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time. While some Eastern Orthodox churches commonly rebaptize converts from the Catholic Church, thereby refusing to recognize the baptism that the converts have previously received, the Catholic Church has always accepted the validity of all

9120-457: The branch missions. In 1894 the active members of the CMS totalled: 344 ordained missionaries, 304 indigenous clergy (ordained by the branch missions) and 93 lay members of the CMS. As of 1894, in addition to the missionary work, the CMS operated about 2,016 schools, with about 84,725 students. In the first 25 years of the CMS nearly half the missionaries were Germans trained in Berlin and later from

9240-602: The cause of Christian unity on the domestic level, with member denominations including churches from the Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Methodist, Anglican, and Reformed traditions, among others. Each year, many ecumenical Christians observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity for the goal of ecumenism, which is coordinated by the World Council of Churches and adopted by many of its member churches. The terms ecumenism and ecumenical come from

9360-1025: The cause of Christian unity; it today includes churches from most major traditions of Christianity as full members, including the Assyrian Church of the East , the Old Catholic Church , the Oriental Orthodox Churches , the Lutheran World Federation , the Anglican Communion , the Baptist World Alliance , the Mennonite churches , the World Methodist Council , the Moravian Church , the Pentecostal churches and

9480-466: The churches in this country. It also meant the loss of a leadership role within liberal Christianity, and within the world of religious education. In words of some of those who worked there: The Selly Oak Colleges , it is said, are better known in Bangladesh than Birmingham, and Lesotho than London. Yet they are one of the most exciting places in the world. Exciting because they are international: within

9600-491: The college, and Methodist influence and commitment increased, until in 1946 it came under Methodist control. In 1960 it became the centre for the training of all Methodist missionary candidates from the UK and a place that they could return to when they returned home on leave. Westhill College (1907) was also begun by Quakers, at first to train Sunday school teachers with, from 1912, a governing body which included representatives from

9720-563: The commitment to ecumenism must be based upon the conversion of hearts and upon prayer, which will also lead to the necessary purification of past memories. With the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Lord's disciples, inspired by love, by the power of the truth and by a sincere desire for mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, are called to re-examine together their painful past and the hurt which that past regrettably continues to provoke even today. In ecumenical dialogue, Catholic theologians standing fast by

9840-511: The context of the larger ecumenical councils organised with the support of the Roman Emperor . The aim of these councils was to clarify matters of Christian theology and doctrine, leading to the meaning of unity behind the term "ecumenical". The ecumenical councils brought together bishops from across the Roman Empire, with a total of seven ecumenical councils accepted to have been held by both

9960-619: The controlling bodies of these five colleges agreed to work together, and to establish a Central Council. They differed in style and ethos, each was independently organised, but all were Christian in inspiration with interests in: In 1923 the Anglican SPG Society for the Propagation of the Gospel founded the College of the Ascension initially for the training of women missionaries, and in 1926

10080-456: The council's aim was to seek renewal of the church itself, which would serve, for those separated from the See of Rome , as a "gentle invitation to seek and find that unity for which Jesus Christ prayed so ardently to his heavenly Father". Pope Paul VI, in his 1964 encyclical letter Ecclesiam Suam observed that "ecumenical dialogue, as it is called, is already in being, and there are places where it

10200-466: The denominations of today. However individual denominations are counted, it is generally acknowledged that they fall into the following major "families" of churches (though certain parts of some Christian denominations, such as Quakerism , may fall into the mainline category though the majority are evangelical Quakers): In the United States , the historic racial/ethnic churches are sometimes counted as

10320-444: The ecumenist movement itself. However, the desire of unity is expressed by many denominations, generally that all who profess faith in Christ in sincerity, would be more fully cooperative and supportive of one another. For the Catholic and Orthodox churches, the process of approaching one another can be described as formally split in two successive stages: the "dialogue of love" and the "dialogue of truth". Examples of acts belonging to

10440-453: The expense of the truth?...Even so, doctrine needs to be presented in a way that makes it understandable to those for whom God himself intends it. When the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome, all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on his Church from

10560-624: The first four colleges. It was Quaker money which enabled the federation to come about and sustained it in its early years. It was Quaker hostility to legalism and binding documents which gave the Selly Oak Colleges freedom to develop and grow. (David Mole, The Selly Oak Tradition , Selly Oak Journal No.1, 1984, p. 3) If mission and mission studies have a future, they must be rigorously ecumenical . Ecumenical does not only mean that we have to co-operate with all Christians. We must also listen to that which non-Christians have to offer... This

10680-513: The first president of the society, but he declined to take on this role and became a vice-president. The treasurer was Henry Thornton and the founding secretary was Thomas Scott , a biblical commentator. Many of the founders were also involved in creating the Sierra Leone Company and the Society for the Education of Africans . The first missionaries went out in 1804. They came from

10800-773: The first three ecumenical councils. Christianity has not been a monolithic faith since the first century , also known as the "Apostolic Age", and in the present day, a number of widely varied Christian groups exist, both within and without mainstream Christianity. Despite the division between these groups, a number of commonalities exist throughout their traditions, understanding of theology , governing church systems , doctrine and language. As such, many of these groups are visibly divided into different communions or denominations , groupings of Christians and their churches in full communion with one another, but to some degree set apart from other Christians. The World Council of Churches counts 348 member churches, representing more than half

10920-582: The following year Edward Cadbury provided a new library building to house the growing number of books and the Mingana Collection of 3,000 manuscripts from the Middle East. An extension to the library in 1936 provided a home for the new Department of Mission, with professorships of missions and church history financed by Edward Cadbury , who also made provision for a chair in Islamics in 1947. A new library,

11040-601: The former include the mutual revocation in 1965 of the anathemas of 1054, returning the relics of Sabbas the Sanctified (a common saint) to Mar Saba in the same year, and the first visit of a Pope to an Orthodox country in a millennium ( Pope John Paul II accepting the invitation of the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church , Teoctist , in 1999), among others. Christian ecumenism can be described in terms of

11160-489: The largest by far in the federation — was small in comparison to other teacher-training colleges. To get over this, it worked jointly with Newman College, now Newman University , a Roman Catholic teachers training college on a separate campus about three miles away, but full joint-working was not acceptable to the Roman Catholic hierarchy and the collaboration ended. Westhill’s educational philosophy of child-centred education

11280-608: The main Free Churches in the UK. Its work expanded to train youth and community workers, and it became a pioneering training college for primary and infants school teachers. Its teacher training stressed the importance of child-centred education, especially for young children, on the principles of Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852), and Christian education. Its students, and those at the other colleges, were able to study for its certificates in education, youth and community work, and religious education. Fircroft College (1909), influenced by

11400-894: The next large split came with the Syriac and Coptic churches dividing themselves. The churches dissented from Chalcedon, becoming today's Oriental Orthodox Churches. These also include the Armenian Apostolic Church , the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church , and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church in India. In modern times, there have also been moves towards healing this division, with common Christological statements being made between Pope John Paul II and Syriac patriarch Ignatius Zakka I Iwas , as well as between representatives of both Oriental Orthodoxy and

11520-429: The past five years they have seen students from 110 countries, a United Nations in miniature, and more peaceable! Exciting because they are ecumenical: virtually every main Christian denomination is represented: where else would you find four Protestant missionary colleges calling an American Roman Catholic to be their Dean, or an Anglican college with an Egyptian Coptic nun as tutor? Exciting because they are diverse: there

11640-639: The pope. Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury introduced the English Reformation in a form compromising between the Calvinists and Lutherans. This schism created today's Anglican Communion. The Radical Reformation , also mid-sixteenth century, moved beyond the Magisterial Reformation , emphasizing the invisible, spiritual reality of the Church , apart from any visible ecclesial manifestation. A significant group of Radical reformers were

11760-501: The principal missionary and bible societies throughout the world". From 1816, "containing the principal transactions of the various institutions for propagating the gospel with the proceedings at large of the Church Missionary Society". During the late 19th and early 20th century, the CMS maintained a training program for women at Kennaway Hall at the former "Willows" estate where the training program started. Kennaway Hall

11880-429: The reaching of full communion between different Christian denominations. There are a variety of different expectations of what that Christian unity looks like, how it is brought about, what ecumenical methods ought to be engaged, and what both short- and long-term objectives of the ecumenical movement should be. Baptism according to the Trinitarian formula , which is done in most mainstream Christian denominations,

12000-698: The reactions of ecclesiastical office holders at the time of the reformers, the Catholic Church separated from them, instigating a rift in Western Christianity. This schism created the Mainline Protestant Churches, including especially the Lutheran and Reformed traditions. In England , Henry VIII of England declared himself to be supreme head of the Church of England with the Act of Supremacy in 1531, repressing both Lutheran reformers and those loyal to

12120-533: The sacraments administered by the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. The Catholic Church likewise has very seldom applied the terms " heterodox " or " heretic " to the Eastern Orthodox churches or its members, although there are clear differences in doctrine, notably about the authority of the Pope, Purgatory, and the filioque clause. More often, the term "separated" or " schismatic " has been applied to

12240-466: The sacraments. The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism , 102 states: "Christians may be encouraged to share in spiritual activities and resources, i.e., to share that spiritual heritage they have in common in a manner and to a degree appropriate to their present divided state." Pope John XXIII , who convoked the council that brought this change of emphasis about, said that

12360-514: The site. Prospect Hall was created in 1978 to assist in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities. By the end of the 1970s Carey Hall had become St Andrew's Hall, and the YWCA College had moved to London. Overdale, the theological college of the Churches of Christ , joined the Federation in 1931; it closed when the United Reformed Church was formed in 1972. It was apparent that much of

12480-459: The so-called Nestorian Schism , came from the Church of the East , consisting largely of Eastern Syriac churches outside the Roman Empire , who left full communion after 431 in response to misunderstandings and personality conflicts at the Council of Ephesus . After fifteen centuries of estrangement, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Catholic Church entered into an ecumenical dialogue in

12600-447: The state of the Eastern Orthodox churches. The Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches are two distinct bodies of local churches. The churches within each body share full communion , although there is not official communion between the two bodies. Both consider themselves to be the original church, from which the West was divided in the 5th and 11th centuries, respectively (after

12720-636: The teaching of sacred scripture and tradition. Before the Aggiornamento or "updating" of the Second Vatican Council , the main stress was laid on this second aspect, as exemplified in canon 1258 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law: The 1983 Code of Canon Law has no corresponding canon. It absolutely forbids Catholic priests to concelebrate the Eucharist with members of communities which are not in full communion (canon 908), but allows, in certain circumstances and under certain conditions, other sharing in

12840-448: The teaching of the Church and investigating the divine mysteries with the separated brethren must proceed with love for the truth, with charity, and with humility. When comparing doctrines with one another, they should remember that in Catholic doctrine there exists a "hierarchy" of truths, since they vary in their relation to the fundamental Christian faith. Thus the way will be opened by which through fraternal rivalry all will be stirred to

12960-438: The teaching of the colleges was best delivered jointly. So from 1922 the colleges were loosely coordinated through a Federation, which from 1960 was headed by a President, and theology was taught by a central Department of Mission. Social Studies (which included Development Studies) and later English were added later. In the 1970s the numbers of Christian missionaries being sent overseas by UK-based missionary societies declined, and

13080-507: The theologies and the practices of churches overseas through its teaching and its open-minded approaches to issues of controversy. Most of those who taught, and many who came to study, were profoundly influenced by the experience, not just of formal lessons but also of the collegiality, the openness, the opportunities to debate and discuss with those from other backgrounds. Martin Conway, President from 1986, had spent most of his professional life in

13200-435: The three largest divisions of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. While this underemphasizes the complexity of these divisions, it is a useful model. The Catholic Church has always considered it a duty of the highest rank to seek full unity with estranged communions of fellow Christians and, at the same time, to reject what it sees as a false union which would mean being unfaithful to or glossing over

13320-533: Was Professor of Theology at Birmingham University from 1960-1986, also recruited Walter Hollenweger , a Swiss theologian and Pentecostal pastor, as Professor of Mission 1971-1989. His previous position was as Secretary for Evangelism in the World Council of Churches in Geneva. He pioneered the use of social media in evangelism. One of his ambitions, expressed in the creation of the Black and White Christian Partnership in 1978,

13440-805: Was acknowledged as a mission community by the Advisory Council on the Relations of Bishops and Religious Communities of the Church of England. It currently has approximately 2,800 members who commit to seven promises, aspiring to live a lifestyle shaped by mission. In 2010 CMS integrated with the South American Mission Society (SAMS). In 2010 Church Mission Society launched the Pioneer Mission Leadership Training programme, providing leadership training for both lay people and those preparing for ordination as pioneer ministers. It

13560-456: Was considerable debate over the possible introduction of a doctrinal test for missionaries, which advocates claimed would restore the society's original evangelical theology. In 1922, the society split, with the liberal evangelicals remaining in control of CMS headquarters, whilst conservative evangelicals established the Bible Churchmen's Missionary Society (BCMS, now Crosslinks ). In 1957

13680-655: Was endowed by the Quaker Edward Cadbury . Its initial occupant was H. G. Wood , who had been Director of Studies at Woodbrooke College. In 1970 Quakers endowed a Chair of Mission Studies shared between the Colleges’ Department of Mission and the University Department of Theology, and they were also influential in creating a Chair in Pastoral Theology (now more often called Practical Theology ) at

13800-507: Was out of favour with the government. Its Principal, Jack Priestley, and governors responded by trying to re-create the college as a liberal arts university and raising money to finance a modern new library, the Orchard Learning Centre — before suddenly agreeing to be taken over by the University of Birmingham in 2001, after which its training of teachers, social workers, and youth and community workers transferred to different parts of

13920-539: Was redeveloped as a free school , the University of Birmingham School, which took its first students in 2015. The College of the Ascension site was refurbished and expanded as the Al-Mahdi Institute – ironic in that this order of Shia Muslims would, in earlier years, have been the perfect partner for further explorations of the common ground between Christianity and Islam. Fircroft College and Woodbrooke College continue as independent colleges. Westhill College —

14040-491: Was the Church Missionary Society training center for female missionaries. The training center was called "The Willows", under the Mildmay Trustees, until having been bought by the Church Missionary Society in 1891. Elizabeth Mary Wells took over the presidency in 1918 of Kennaway Hall. During the early 20th century, the society's theology moved in a more liberal direction under the leadership of Eugene Stock . There

14160-404: Was the first CMS Medical missionary when he was sent to Sierra Leone and shifted the focus from care of the mission staff to assistance for local people. In 1802 Josiah Pratt was appointed secretary, a position he held until 1824, becoming an early driving force in the CMS. The principal missions, the founding missionaries, and the dates of the establishment of the missions are: Up to 1886

14280-577: Was the inclusion and acceptance in the West in general—and in the diocese of Rome in particular—of the Filioque clause ("and the Son") into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed , which the East viewed as a violation of ecclesiastical procedure at best, an abuse of papal authority as only an Ecumenical Council could amend what had been defined by a previous council, and a heresy at worst, inasfar as

14400-477: Was to bring the Pentecostal churches into the ecumenical movement. It recruited a remarkable set of leaders: Roswith Gerloff, who directed the Centre from 1978 to 1984 and explored the concept of “reverse mission” where previously poor or colonised nations send missionaries to previously rich ones; her co-director, the South African Mongani Mazibuko; their successor, Bishop Joe Aldred; his successor,

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