Blog - Page 25 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Is This a New Era in Global Catholic-Evangelical Relationships?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:47-05:00November 24th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

Unless you follow the various meetings and events which impact global Christian ecumenism closely you may well have missed one of the more historic meetings that took place in 2014. On November 6, in Rome, Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, had a meeting with Pope Francis. This meeting included a group of dear friends who are exploring together how missional-ecumenism might be better understood and lived between Catholics and evangelicals around the world. Because I make it my personal practice to prayerfully follow such events, and to support them in every way possible, I share several reports about this meeting. (The translator for the meeting was a very dear friend who I’ve had the joy of sharing my life and vision with in a deep mutual friendship thus I also followed this meeting with particular prayer!) The report that follows was given by the WEA, which is the oldest such alliance of churches in the world.

WEA Secretary General Visits Pope Francis,

Sees ‘New Era in Evangelical and Roman Catholic Relations’

New York, NY – […]

Cardinal O’Malley: ‘If I were founding a Church, I’d love to have women priests’

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:47-05:00November 20th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, Discipleship, Emergent Church, Evangelism, Faith, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

I was in Boston for three days last weekend working in a number of exciting missional-ecumenical contexts. Boston is best known, in terms of its Christian leadership, for the work of Cardinal Sean O’Malley. I pray for Cardinal O’Malley, a leader who represents Pope Francis and his vision as well as any American leader in the Catholic Church. Let me explain some of what I mean by sharing about my recent experience in Boston.

On Sunday evening (November 16) I met with twelve ecumenical leaders from the city. Included among those at the table were some wonderful folks such as the leader of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the newly appointed dean of the Orthodox Cathedral, the evangelical catalyst for overseeing the joint efforts of ten seminaries in the greater Boston area, a lay leader in the office of ecumenism for Cardinal O’Malley and various religious leaders, both clergy and non-clergy. We were Catholic, Orthodox, charismatic, evangelical, mainline Protestant. We were Asian, white, black and hispanic. We were male and female, young and old. It was quite a […]

Lausanne Catholic Evangelical Conversation

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:47-05:00November 18th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, My Christian Unity Story, Personal, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

During the days of September 11-13, 2014, the second Lausanne Catholic-Evangelical Conversation took place at Mundelein Seminary in suburban Chicago. Twenty-six leaders, thirteen Catholics and thirteen evangelical Protestants, met to consider again what the Spirit is saying to us about a new “springtime” of unity in Christ’s mission. The rest of the conversation was private. A report of this private dialogue will be posted here soon.

The only public meeting that we held included two papers and two responses. This evening meeting began our formal conversation on September 11. Four of us participated in this public, formal conversation. ACT3 Network secured a videographer to make a high-quality film of the entire evening. This includes the dialogue and some questions from the audience. Remember, the audience response does not reflect the actual private dialogue that the twenty-six of us shared throughout three wonderful days.

We rarely post anything of this length on our ACT3 Network web page or here on my personal blog site. We do so today because this material is extremely useful to the work of missional-ecumenism, the work that I have given my life to as a minister […]

A Gospel Call in Montreal (4)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:59-05:00November 14th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Discipleship, Evangelism, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

The Gospel Call renewal event that I shared in Montreal two weeks ago has four specifically stated goals:

To deepen our Christian sense of identity and solidarity with one another.
To enable the co-sponsoring congregations to envision their mission differently.
To identify concrete ways that congregations can act together in the future.
To increase awareness of the biblical call to unity in faith, worship and mission.

Gospel Call is a ministry under the oversight of the North American Paulist Ministry Center in Washington, D.C.. Further information is available at the Paulist site.

On the last day of our Gospel Call mission in Montreal Fr. Tom Ryan and I led a “follow-through” event at the Lutheran Church. After a meal we invited leaders from the nine participating churches to come together as a group for prayer and one more symbolic expression of our oneness. In this instance the liturgy was quite simple and did not include a sermon. We placed an open Bible before the congregation and offered prayers.

Following this opening time of gathering we broke into six small groups around various ministries within the […]

A Gospel Call in Montreal (3)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:59-05:00November 13th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Discipleship, Evangelism, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

The final Gospel Call worship celebration in Montreal (October 28) was the last large event that Fr. Ryan and I led together. This evening event was also the last of three preaching times. The focus was on the word “Sent.” Fr. Ryan and I again preached as a team, taking turns and both speaking for about five minutes and then stopping to allow the second person to speak. Back and forth the flow went as we challenged the people to go out into the world as God’s “sent” people to be the missional people of Christ. What is different about the charge that we gave is that the context called people and churches to specifically cooperate, collaborate and practice unity. We are not asking Catholics to stop being Catholic or Protestants to cease to be Protestants. We are calling everyone to realize that we are all part of the same Christian family. As fellow members of the one body of Jesus Christ we can share in his mission better as those who are “sent” in unity into […]

A Gospel Call in Montreal (2)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:59-05:00November 12th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Evangelism, Missional-Ecumenism, Protestantism, Renewal, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

The primary purpose of the Gospel Call mission that Fr. Thomas Ryan and I led in Montreal (October 25–29) was to celebrate the gains of Christian unity from the last fifty years and “take these gains to the pews.” For all the work done in ecumenism very little is actually being done to help specific churches and leaders build collaborative efforts for unity in Christ’s mission. No work that I have done in recent years more clearly expresses the purpose of ACT3 Network than the Gospel Call work since ACT3’s mission is specifically “to empower churches and leaders for unity in Christ’s mission.” The Gospel Call mission seeks to practically “empower” this vision to happen on the ground, where churches are located in a city or town. These churches are located, in many cases, side-by-side. (Some of our churches in Montreal were literally across the street from each other!)

Fr. Ryan and I both believe that as long as local communities of believers live in separation from each other, the credibility of the gospel of reconciliation that they […]

A Gospel Call in Montreal (1)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:59-05:00November 11th, 2014|Categories: Uncategorized|

Yesterday (November 10) I noted that I preached twice on Reformation Sunday (October 26) in Montreal. I also mentioned that I was in Quebec to serve in partnership with Fr. Tom Ryan of the Paulist Fathers. We were the lead missioners in a Gospel Call event. The Gospel Call is a four-day renewal event which brings together Christians for worship, community and mission. The Gospel Call provides a unique “on the ground” opportunity for Christians, and their respective parishes, to come together in order to give visible expression to the deep communion that we already share in the Trinitarian life of God. We gather from many different Christian traditions to listen to the Word of God and respond in solidarity to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

This Gospel Call mission can take place in any context where congregations wish to come together for such a mission. The churches invite Fr. Ryan and me to come and serve them together. The mission is sponsored by local congregations in a town, suburb or city center. The number […]

The Most Memorable Reformation Sunday in My Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:59-05:00November 10th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Gospel/Good News, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, Renewal, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

October 26, 2014, was a day that dawned with profound joy in my soul. I shall never forget it as long as I live. It began with personal morning prayer in a guest home in Montreal. I was in this great city to do my first Gospel Call mission with Fr. Thomas Ryan, CSP. Tom directs the ministry of ecumenism for the Paulists and works out of their Washington, D.C. office. He invited me in 2013 to join him as his fellow team member/missioner for a four-day event that we hope to do at least three times per year in various parts of North America. Tom did his first Gospel Call mission almost twenty-five years ago in Canada. He has had three Protestant partners before me. I will share more about the mission this week but today I’d like to tell you my story of this unforgettable day, October 26.

After breakfast I went to St. Luke Catholic Church in Montreal. In the first Mass of the Lord’s Day I was invited to give the homily. […]

ACT3 Network Story Video (3)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:59-05:00November 5th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Evangelism, Love, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, My Christian Unity Story, Personal, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

On Monday I introduced you to the best resource we have ever created to share our vision. This new resource is our ACT3 Network Story video. Yesterday I shared some ways in which you could use this story to impact your own life and that of others who you feel that you can reach. Today I wish to share how we will use many new video resources that came from our interviews. I believe that we have created short films that share a great story that can impact thousands of viewers like you.

In making this new ACT3 Network Story film producer and director Tim Frakes shot 10-12 minute interviews with about forty-five different people. These interviews included filming with Catholic and Orthodox priests, Protestant ministers from many traditions, lay leaders from the entire church and people of varied backgrounds ethnically and nationally. We interviewed men and women, young and old. The major question that we asked each person was simple: “Tell us what Christian unity means to you and why?” We also asked each person to talk about how they saw ACT3 Network sharing this vision with others. You will hear […]

ACT3 Network Story Video (2)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:14:02-05:00November 4th, 2014|Categories: ACT 3, Evangelism, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, My Christian Unity Story, Personal, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

I introduced our new ACT3 Network video yesterday. Because this new resource is so important to what we are attempting to do I share more today. You can help us extend the witness of ACT3 by using this video in several ways:

1. Send this blog, and the video link, to your friends. Ask them to watch the video and then to pray for ACT3.

2. Encourage friends to join us in the work of missional-ecumenism by sharing the news of this work more widely, with all Christians everywhere. By these kinds of tools we can reach a global audience.

3. Support us financially if you can. We do not do “fund raising” campaigns or plead for funds. We are responsible and accountable. I have lived my life, and led this mission, as an “open book.” I do not make a big income. When I speak the money is all directed to ACT3, not to me personally. I have gladly taken salary hits in order to be faithful to this message. I thus am not ashamed to ask for your support of a truly honest and faithful ministry. […]