The champions of ecumenism had no mean task when the Ghana Assembly of the International Missionary Council convened at year-end. Their objective was to get the delegates on record in favor of a proposal for merger with the World Council of Churches—a valuable promotional asset for achieving a final consummation of the plan. Whatever resolution the delegates voted on, therefore, would have to be just noncommittal enough to prevent wholesale opposition, a development which might work lasting damage to the ecumenical cause.
Significant personalities behind the ecumenical movement were on hand to guide the action. Among those who braved the blazing equatorial sun on the campus of the University College at Achimoto were Dr. W. A. Visser ’t Hooft, General Secretary of the WCC; Dr. John A. Mackay, President of Princeton Theological Seminary, who was made honorary chairman of the IMC after serving 10 years as its chairman; Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, Chairman of the WCC Central Committee; Dr. Henry P. Van Dusen, President of Union Theological Seminary; Dr. Roswell P. Barnes, Executive Secretary for the WCC in the United States; and Dr. Charles W. Ranson, outgoing General Secretary of the IMC, who had to return suddenly to his London home because of his wife’s death.
An Ambiguous ‘Yes’ Resolution
The Assembly voted 58 to 7 to adopt a “steering committee” report of 1,420 words as a representative statement. Tucked into the document as the first of its 10 resolutions was this significant sentence:
“Resolved: 1. The Ghana Assembly of the International Missionary Council, having reviewed the steady growth of the relationship of association between the IMC and the WCC and having considered with care the opinions of delegates, and those of the Christian Councils whose views have been presented, accepts in principle the integration of the two Councils and desires further steps to be taken toward this goal.”
The language is sufficiently ambiguous so that delegates may be said, loosely speaking, to have voted for a merger. But there was no vote on straight acceptance or rejection of integration or on the draft plan for merger previously made public. The WCC is readying itself to exploit the Ghana development with bandwagon technique.
The vote on the resolutions was no accurate index to the atmosphere of the meeting. There were apprehensions and tensions, fears of American pressure and domination, and criticism of proceedings which Dr. Van Dusen conceded as “very indignant.”
Integration proponents gained their large vote by (1) appealing to desires for unity, (2) phrasing resolutions carefully so as not to bind the delegates to specific action, (3) formally recognizing opposing viewpoints, (4) encouraging criticism, (5) promising further study, (6) allowing plenty of time, and (7) by stressing that the WCC and the IMC have been working together to a progressively greater extent all along so that a merger would not be as great a step as it might seem. Generous as these points appeared, numerous delegates insisted they represented no real concessions by ecumenical proponents. On the other hand, the WCC is now armed with the most powerful propaganda tool it has ever had in its drive to absorb the IMC.
Three New Councils Added
When the 12-day Ghana conclave began December 28, the IMC had 35 constituent councils. During the proceedings three new members were admitted: the National Councils of Ghana, Hong Kong and Northern Rhodesia. The IMC has strength because it has the support of old-line denominations which control the larger churches. Some evangelical groups have been associated with it since its organization in 1921.
Although the matter of integration was unmentioned until halfway through the Ghana Assembly, this one supreme concern overshadowed the sessions. From the outset a formidable bloc propagandized in favor of integration: the United States, Canada and Australia, where an elemental integration already exists, and all the churches of Asia except Korea. From this circle came almost ecstatic support for the plan in the two plenary sessions.
Backers of a merger say that the aim of the new WCC Commission formed out of the IMC would be to “further the effective proclamation to all men of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Says the WCC-IMC Joint Committee: “The unity of the church and the mission of the church can no longer be separated.”
The opposition stood its ground. In addition to Korea, the whole of Latin America represented in the Assembly (except the River Plate) was opposed; Congo Protestant Council, one of the oldest members of the IMC and one of the most vigorous councils in Africa, was opposed; observers from Nigeria, French West Africa and Kenya voiced opposition; Norway and Sweden were opposed, as were two speakers from Germany; and spokesmen for the British Evangelical Alliance and for the Church Missionary Society of London were opposed. Canon M. A. C. Warren, General Secretary of the CMS, opposed integration in the course of a careful examination of theological and practical aspects of the proposal, and voiced severe criticism of the handling of the plan.
“The divided church,” he said, “has carried on a very effective mission, and there is no reason to think that an administrative act of this kind would make its mission endeavor more effective.”
Concluded the Canon, “When the vote is taken, I hope that no doxology will be sung.” He nevertheless voted for the resolutions “with regrets.” He said the waste of manpower had gone too far, and failure to accept the plan would mean the resignation of officers of the IMC.
The introduction of the merger proposal was to have been handled by Ranson. But tragedy struck just 24 hours before the presentation. Ranson was notified of the death of his wife in a London automobile accident, whereupon he left immediately for England. The presentation thus fell upon President Mackay. His speech was followed by another from Dr. Fry as representative of the WCC, and one from President Van Dusen, chairman of the joint integration committee. The talks took about 40 minutes. Van Dusen later admitted that only the favorable side was presented, and it was this procedure with which Warren took issue in a plenary session the following day. Van Dusen believes the opposition thus got a fair deal in that the Canon took almost as long to criticize the plan as it took to present it.
It is significant that neither the draft nor the approved Ghana resolutions list the nature of the unfavorable aspects of merger. The negative view is recognized but not spelled out. There is no attempt to stack up the advantages and disadvantages side by side to see which side carries greater weight in principle.
Ecumenical leaders consider the absorption of the IMC essential, say opponents of the plan, and they appear willing to go to any extreme to see it through. They point out that the proponents of merger are not on record as having even answered objections. One approved resolution passed off criticism as stemming “in part from a misunderstanding of the WCC and ignorance of the already existing relations between the two organizations.”
The “positive” wing of the churches is asserted to be after “more co-operation.” Yet there is no consideration of co-operation already in effect among evangelical groups in IMC. These groups assertedly have long been the most aggressive and successful proclaimers of the Gospel, whose convictions are incompatible with theological inclusivism now represented by the WCC. But evangelicals at Ghana were unable to get their case on record in the face of the tide of ecumenism.
In approving the adoption of the resolutions, the Assembly agreed that the draft plan of integration “is a generally suitable instrument for integration.” The plan was referred back to IMC constituent organizations for further study, comment and criticism, for amendment and further improvement.
One resolution asked the WCC to consider postponement of its 1960 Assembly at Ceylon for a year. Dr. Visser ’t Hooft had already indicated his willingness to delay the Assembly. This was to follow for “further unhurried consideration.”
Under the resolution timetable, comment from member organizations on the IMC plan is to be in the hands of the secretariat by April 30, 1959. The joint committee’s final plan is to be sent to member organizations early in 1960 and is to include in draft form a constitution for the new unified body. Then the Administrative Committee or an Assembly of the IMC is to consider the constitution in 1960 or in the early part of 1961. If approved, it will go to the member councils and six months later the official action of the IMC is to be signified to the Joint Committee and to the WCC. The Administrative Committee was given power to reconvene the IMC Assembly if required.
The assembly at Ghana was historic, said some critics, as a pattern for “the most expeditious way of promoting ecumenical amalgamation.”
“There was little in the way of an obvious meeting of minds, much less a blending of hearts in prayer,” said one observer. “The Lord God was not mentioned in the adopted report. Neither was the Bible, nor any expressed desire to seek the will of the Lord.”
Partisans of the merger were confident, however, that a majority vote can be anticipated when the integration issue is faced in final form.
(Most estimates place IMC missionary strength between 12,000 and 15,000. The Interdenominational Foreign Missions Association and the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association together represent more than 10,000 missionaries.)
Evangelical spokesmen felt that their opportunity for constructive and positive appraisal and criticism of the plan must now be centered within the constituent members of the IMC.
George S. Constance, Area Secretary for the Christian and Missionary Alliance in South America, Africa, and the Middle East, said that a merger would trigger the formation of more independent evangelical councils in various mission fields.
Dr. Clyde W. Taylor, Executive Secretary of the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association, said that in face of the merger evangelicals “probably will strive to withdraw their councils from the IMC and thus maintain a united front.” Taylor added that “where this is not possible, the natural course of action will be withdrawal and the establishment of evangelical fellowships where these do not already exist.”
Dr. Everett L. Cattell, former secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, takes this view: “My deep fear is that the effort to educate these churches in which missions are peripheral, to their duty to make them central, by the mere organizational device of merging the IMC with the WCC, will actually result in moving missions still further from the center.
“If vigorous missionary societies functioning in the congregations of these denominations for a century have not been able to put missions central in the structure of their churches, does anyone seriously believe that it can be done better from Geneva by plotting a blueprint whose intricacy approaches that of the tax structure of the United States?
“The fallacy involved in this move is the old one of assuming that spiritual deficiencies can be made up by organizational change. In India it has been thoroughly demonstrated that making over authority to nationals and integrating missions into churches, good and right as such moves may be, has in no case supplied spiritual life when it was deficient. There is little hope that doing a wrong thing in a bigger and better way will be any more successful.”
[Next issue: CHRISTIANITY TODAY reports on $4,000,000 in grants to the IMC for ecumenical theological training of nationals, a move unprecedented in the history of missions.]
People: Words And Events
Clergymen Retiring—Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam said he will retire June 15, 1960. A successor to the former co-president of the World Council of Churches will be elected when the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference of the Methodist Church meets in Washington at the time of Oxnam’s retirement.… Dr. James Henry Hutchins, who saw the Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena, California, grow in membership from 400 to 1,700 in his 37 years of ministry there, will retire at the end of 1958.
“Dependence” Hit—Bishop David Chellappa warned against “excessive dependence on overseas support” in a talk to the biennial synod of the Church of South India.
Theological Dictionary—Dr. Everett F. Harrison, Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, is guiding the publication of a new Dictionary of Theology as its editor-in-chief. Dr. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Episcopal pastor in Scotland and a contributing editor to CHRISTIANITY TODAY, is an associate editor. Contributors to the dictionary scheduled for 1959 publication include W. F. Albright, G. C. Berkouwer, F. F. Bruce, Gordon Clark, Oscar Cullman and R. V. G. Tasker.
Scholars’ Society
A firm if not a spectacular contribution to current evangelical vitality may be credited to more than 275 Bible scholars from some 75 faculties who make up the Evangelical Theological Society.
As it has done annually since its inception in 1949, the society named a new president for 1958: Dr. Warren C. Young, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary. Young succeeds Dr. Ned B. Stonehouse, Professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary, who in leaving office restated the society’s outlook.
Its purpose as set forth by Stonehouse is “to foster conservative biblical scholarship by providing for the oral exchange and written expression of thought and research in the general field of the theological disciplines as centered in the Scriptures.”
Can the society exert a theological impact?
Most assuredly, according to Stonehouse, despite the fact that “its purpose is not to make propaganda for the Christian faith” and therefore “its proceedings do not attract much attention even from the Christian public.”
He said the group’s activity “consists largely in the exchange of ideas at periodic conferences” which have the potential to nourish “the most fruitful scholarly labors.”
“The Evangelical Theological Society came into being,” he said, “because of the conviction that (other societies), because of their doctrinal inclusiveness, could not fulfill the widely felt need for a fellowship of conservative scholars.”
Weary of negative and critical approaches to the Bible, the society’s founders unequivocally committed themselves to the Bible as Word of God in the formulation of a doctrinal basis definition.
They confined it to one article:
“The Bible alone and the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written, and therefore inerrant in the autographs.”
Stonehouse said creeds of more than one article “characteristically lack precision,” and “because of their fragmentary character, they fail to reflect the unity of biblical truth.”
He also expressed awareness of three “dangers attendant upon the formulation of beliefs solely in terms of the inspiration of the Scripture.”
Here, according to Stonehouse, are the dangers and how they are being faced:
(1) “That this doctrine might be held in doctrinaire fashion.
“This danger can be avoided only if we recognize that our doctrine of Scripture is an aspect of our doctrine of God and that to acknowledge Scripture as infallible is to acknowledge the absolute supremacy of the God of the Covenant in the sphere of truth.”
(2) “That we shall conceive of infallibility in an abstract manner in dealing, for example, with such matters as the harmony of the Gospels and quotations of the Old Testament in the New and thus shall draw inferences from the affirmation of infallibility, or apply this doctrine in such a way as actually to do violence to the total witness of Scripture.
“There ought to be a constant concern, therefore, to reflect upon the testimony of the whole of Scripture to its own character.”
(3) “That in concentrating attention upon the doctrine of Scripture we shall relegate to a position of subordination the message of the Bible as a whole including in particular the doctrine of redemption.
“Our very commitment to the Sola Scriptura doctrine must constrain us to press forward to lay hold with all our powers on the whole counsel of God in order that all our thoughts and ways may come under His control.”
Pulpit Potpourri
Church World Service, a relief agency of the National Council of Churches in the United States, advanced $100,000 to the United Nations Refugee Fund to help resettle more than 20,000 White Russians stranded in Communist China since the Red Revolution 40 years ago.…
An appeal court in Ontario ruled that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation must stand trial on charges of violating the Lord’s Day Act of Canada. The CBC planned a higher appeal.…
Drafts were completed for documents intended to unite the American Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church.…
The International Reformed Congress will meet in Strasbourg, France, July 22–30.… The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) now has a world membership of 192,820.…
The Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, began regular telecasting of its Sunday morning worship services.… Central Airlines inaugurated a new half-fare clergy travel plan. The line serves 30 cities in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.
The Methodist Board of Education allocated $1,000,000 to the denomination’s ten theological seminaries.… Evangelist Monroe Parker took over the presidency of Pillsbury Conservative Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minnesota.…
Harvard University Press is offering $3,000 to the author of the best book manuscript on the history of religion submitted during the next four years.… The National Lutheran Education Conference voted to establish a national office in Washington.
The International Society of Christian Endeavor marked its 77th anniversary with a Youth Week observance in cooperation with the United Christian Youth Movement.…
In a 600-word statement, educators attending the 44th annual convention of the Association of American Colleges in Miami believed they had the first Protestant-Catholic agreement on general policy in education in 400 years. The basis of agreement: “Church-related colleges upon which Christian higher education depends must be maintained at all costs.”
Schools And Government
Tax-writing United States Congressmen heard a new bid for legislation which would give income tax relief to parents who send their children to Christian schools.
Legislation sponsored by Representative Gerald R. Ford, Jr., a Michigan Republican, would make legal deductions of tuition payments to schools which are non-parochial but nevertheless conducted “on a religious basis.”
There are some 350 such elementary and elementary and secondary schools in the United States joined by two organizations: the National Union of Christian Schools and the National Association of Christian Schools. Evangelical convictions are their common ground, although neither has any direct affiliation with churches.
John A. Vander Ark, director of the National Union, represented both groups in a statement before the House Ways and Means Committee, which drafts tax legislation.
Vander Ark said tuition rates at schools he represented “are, in effect, suggested minimum contributions for parents.”
“Pupils,” he said, “are not barred because of non-payment of tuition.”
Viewing the tuition payments as contributions, Vander Ark said the tax law thus reveals an inequity between these non-parochial “Christian parental” schools and parochial schools. In the case of the latter, payments by parents for the schooling of the children can be channeled through churches which directly support the schools. Such payments are unquestionably deductible.
There were those who saw an inequity, but who nevertheless had qualms about the bill. Notable opposition can be expected from the organization of Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which fears that should it become law, the measure might be invoked later as a precedent for partisan programs.
Greater Than Ever
Construction of churches and synagogues in the United States set a new record in 1957, the government reported.
The value of new church buildings constructed last year was estimated at $868,000,000, topping the previous all-time high of 1956 by $100,000,000.
A new record also was established in the building of private hospitals, homes for the aged and other institutions, many of which are church-related.
Private school construction, however, was down three per cent.
Obscene Literature
The Post Office Department classified three magazines as obscene. So did a string of lower courts. The United States Supreme Court said no. Result: Mailing bans against the magazines were lifted.
The high court decision (unanimously delivered, but without written opinions) did not deter other efforts:
—Postal authorities will continue to deny mailing privileges to magazines which exploit obscenity, said Abe McGregor Goff, general counsel.
—The House Judiciary Committee scheduled public hearings on legislation designed to increase penalties for mailing obscene matter.
—The International Society of Christian Endeavor urged local affiliates to support any such legislation.
Obituaries
Dr. Frank C. Phillips, Executive Secretary of World Vision, Inc., died after a heart attack in Los Angeles.
The Rev. John C. O’Hair, pastor of the North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago, died after a heart attack.
Dr. P. B. Fitzwater, Professor of Theology and New Testament at Moody Bible Institute for 41 years, died of injuries suffered when struck by a car.
Latin America
Off to the Islands
Evangelist Billy Graham shook off effects of a flu attack and began a Caribbean campaign with meetings on the islands of Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad.
The aid of associate evangelists, including Spanish-speaking clergymen traveling with the team, enabled overlapping schedules in Graham’s nine crusades. Meetings in Panama were to be underway this week, with rallies in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico to follow.
Graham was enthusiastic over early reports of favorable reaction. His Caribbean evangelistic thrust follows on the heels of unprecedented evangelical cooperation in the South American crusade of Dr. Oswald J. Smith, whose eight city campaigns in the last four months of 1957 resulted in some 4,500 first-time decisions for salvation.
Graham said the response in Smith’s meetings indicated “a world-wide move of the Holy Spirit.”
Before leaving for the Caribbean, the evangelist visited Charlotte, North Carolina, to arrange for a series of rallies there next fall. He said “the difficulty of conducting a crusade in the southern United States is that a lot of religion there is not dedicated to Christ.”
He said that “to be a church member in the South is the popular thing,” whereas those in the North take their religion far more seriously and “must brave more criticism for their faith.”
Ministers in Buffalo, New York, are studying a proposal to invite Graham to their city for meetings next summer.
Crusade Cancelled
Continued reports of political unrest in Venezuela prompted Billy Graham to cancel rallies which had been scheduled this week in Caracas.
Graham announced the decision a week before bloody demonstrations broke out against the government.
The evangelist was to have sandwiched in a Venezuelan crusade between meetings in Trinidad and Panama.
There was a feeling that it was best to forego the evangelistic opportunity at a time when conditions were unstable.
Protestantism in Venezuela had enjoyed, at least until recently, a great deal more respect from Dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez, than did the Roman Catholic Church. Protestant church leaders attributed this advantage to Roman Catholic involvement in politics. The Catholic press has had open clashes with the government.
Demonstrations against the government were continuing despite the fact that Venezuelans voted Perez Jimenez into office for a second five-year term in December. Five priests were jailed following an abortive New Year’s Day revolt by military units, but all were released after a cabinet reshuffle which saw the replacement of the police chief. One of the imprisoned priests was Msgr. Jesus Hernandez-Chappellin, editor of the Catholic daily La Religion, generally regarded as critical of the Perez Jimenez regime.
Meet Nelson Edman
Mrs. Billy Graham presented her evangelist husband with the couple’s fifth child, the second boy, in an Asheville, North Carolina hospital.
The baby was named Nelson Edman in honor of Mrs. Graham’s father, Dr. L. Nelson Bell, Executive Editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY and Dr. V. Raymond Edman, president of the Grahams’ alma mater, Wheaton College.
Nelson Edman arrived just several days before Graham was to leave for the Caribbean. Only once previously had the 39-year-old evangelist been with his wife when she gave birth.
Africa
A Gift of Souls
When the Kagoro Christians learned that the Rev. and Mrs. Tom Archibald were leaving Nigeria for their ninth furlough, they decided that a collection of $300 was hardly enough to pay due respect to a Scottish missionary couple who had worked for 37 years among head hunters and cannibals.
Why not conduct a special evangelistic crusade aiming to reach every last individual with the message of salvation?
The dark-skinned Kagoro tribesmen responded first with a revival among their own church people. Prayer meetings drew overflow crowds before dawn, then a witnessing campaign followed. Two by two they went out for Christ, these same people who 30 years before had lived and worshipped in the blood of others.
Now the Archibalds were leaving. Thousands of the dark-skinned people swarmed onto a football field cut out of the jungle. Kagoro Pastor Adamu rose to present the gift. He only gestured. On the field were 3,533 new Christians, the fruit of the three-week evangelistic effort in honor of the missionary couple.
Europe
Their Irish Up?
Three ministers and a layman aired their views on mass evangelism over the facilities of the Northern Ireland Broadcasting Service.
The Rev. W. M. Craig listened quietly while a fellow panel member likened the big campaign with its emotions to a “brain-washing technique.”
Then Craig stepped to the microphone and reminded the accuser that emotion is an integral part of human personality, and that when a soul passed from death unto life there is bound to be emotion.
“Some aspects may not please all,” he said, “but the church cannot cast the first stone.”
Craig declared that the past campaigns in the North of Ireland had given the church “some wonderful leaders,” and that he did not consider them “over-evangelized.”
S.W.M.
