Blog - Page 11 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Ecumenism and Interfaith Harmony: What’s the Difference?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:15-05:00January 26th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, Interfaith Relations and Dialogue, Islam, The Church, The Future|

We have just come out of the January 18-25 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and are heading into the February 1-7 Interfaith Harmony Week put in the calendar for annual observance in 2010 by the General Assembly of the United Nations. How are the two different?

The question is real in the minds of many. During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity I led a five-day retreat at the Providence Spirituality Centre in Kingston, Ontario on the theme of “Together in Christ.” Although the primary focus was on the importance of an increasingly more visible unity among us as Christians, given the tensions in the world today between people of different religions, towards the end I devoted a few of our conference sessions to interreligious relations as well.

In doing so, the questions from participants indicated a fogginess concerning the difference between the goals of work for Christian unity and the goals of interreligious dialogue. Some referred to other denominations of Christian faith as “other religions”.

But Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Evangelicals are not “other religions.” […]

“Black Lives Matter” – Michelle Higgins @ Urbana 2015

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:15-05:00January 22nd, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Civil Rights, Culture, Current Affairs, Ethics, Race and Racism|

Many evangelical and conservative Christians, especially older white Christians of conservative persuasion, are weary of the popular slogan: “Black Lives Matter.” Some are even angry at the actual movement that is associated with this name and believe it is harmful to our culture. I’ve heard various responses regarding this negative view of the slogan and the movement but the most common is that this is a bogus notion because Christians should say, and believe, that: “All Lives Matter.” The truth is, as often is the case, much deeper and more socially and personally nuanced.

It is true that “All Lives Matter.” From conception to the grave life matters. This is, at least for the broad tradition of Christian faith and practice, the truth. This is why I believe the death penalty needs to be abolished. It has become a “cruel and unusual punishment” in its present form. (This assumes it was right in the past and I even question this conclusion on ethical grounds as I understand the New Testament and the teaching of our Lord.) I also believe environmental concerns must become the concern of the […]

ACT3 Network and Social Media

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:15-05:00January 20th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, Social Networking, The Church, The Future|

I work regularly with a leadership consultant who is lending help to me so that ACT3 Network can better use the social media. While I continue to major on face-to-face friendships and growing relationships I believe the social media can both supplement and help such friendships I also believe it can establish the basis for such a friendship. The social media is not an elixir for Christian ministry but it is important.

To the end that we better use this media I offer this update so friends can pray for ACT3 as we try to expand our vision of “empowering leaders and church for unity in Christ’s mission.” Pray that each day I respond in true love to those God brings across my path and pray that every post I write is both thoughtful and focused on this mission statement.

National Workshop on Christian Unity

By John Armstrong|2016-01-07T09:00:11-06:00January 18th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, Missional-Ecumenism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

Since 1963 the National Workshop on Christian Unity (NWCU) has met in a designated city in the United States. It began when a group of Roman Catholics, in the context of Vatican II, met to equip local leadership for the task of ecumenical ministry. In 1969, they invited leaders of other Christian communions to join, and today the national ecumenical officers of the churches continue their oversight of the workshop, which is planned by national and local committees. There are both denominational and ecumenical sessions during the workshop. The NWCU celebrates the spirit of ecumenism by:

providing meeting seminars for all who are concerned with the ministry of Christian unity: laity, clergy, ecumenical officers, theologians, staff of ecumenical organizations;
stimulating an exchange of ideas and experiences among people concerned with Christian unity and the bodies they represent;
being a resource and balance between national planning and local responsibility, general ecumenical discussions and particular interchurch conversations, and regional leadership efforts and local realities,
encouraging denominational networks to develop and serve as a framework within which they can interact;
celebrating the unity which already exists among Christians and searching for ways to overcome the divisions that […]

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Wheaton 2016

By John Armstrong|2016-01-09T10:08:56-06:00January 15th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, Prayer, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, Unity of the Church|

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:15-05:00January 14th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, Church History, Current Affairs, History, Prayer, Protestantism, Renewal, Roman Catholicism, Unity of the Church|

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an international Christian ecumenical observance kept annually between January 18 and 25. It is actually an octave, which means the observance lasts for eight days.

The observance began in 1908 and was focused on prayer for the church unity. The basic idea, and the January dates, were suggested by Father Paul Wattson, co-founder of the Graymoor Franciscan Friars. Watson conceived of the week beginning on the Feast of the the Conversion of St. Paul and concluding on the Feast of the Conversion of St. Peter. The dates and ideas actually were a variant of the Protestant version of these Catholic celebrations. (Wattson was himself a former Anglican priest.) In the mid-1920’s Protestant leaders proposed an annual octave for unity leading up to Pentecost. (Many local communities also celebrate this time and offered joint prayers for unity.) Pope Benedict XVI “encouraged its observance throughout the entire Roman Catholic Church.”

What is interesting is that this observance began in Catholic circles but once it jumped boundaries it took new forms and meanings. Abbé Paul Couturier of Lyons, France, who has been called […]

Fr. Thomas Baima’s Short Address to the Muslim Society of Chicago

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:15-05:00January 12th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, Christ/Christology, Culture, Current Affairs, Interfaith Relations and Dialogue, Islam|

Many readers know that Fr. Thomas Baima is a close friend and a supporter of ACT3 Network. Tom and I go back more than a decade now in ecumenical work and inter-religious dialogue. Tom has one of the best minds, and some of the finest first-hand experience, in this field of dialogue. I turn to him quite often to discuss a myriad of issues.

Tom spoke a few weeks ago to the Muslim Society of Chicago at a large gathering at McCormick Place. The broad topic was “Inter-religious Dialogue.” An interfaith panel from many backgrounds spoke for nearly sixty minutes. Tom’s words come around the 12 minute mark on this video and ended at about 16 minutes. In this short address you can see him answering an important question: “What is the motive for dialogue between religions from a Christian perspective?”

He suggests that there is a common motive, namely the recognition of our shared humanity and shared belief in God. He believes this motive encourages tolerance and other societal goods. He calls the second motive particular. This motive allows us to learn from each other in our […]

The Pope’s Appeal for Inter-Religious Unity and Love

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:15-05:00January 11th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Creeds, Current Affairs, Evangelism, Faith, Gospel/Good News, Interfaith Relations and Dialogue, Islam, Jesus, Pope Francis, The Church, The Future|

In the light of the debates now raging among Christians regarding how to respond to people of other faiths Pope Francis gives us here a short video in which he expresses his heart and personal hope.

https://youtu.be/Nq7us5Lf5IU

Many evangelicals will see this video and conclude something like the following: “Pope Francis believes all people are brothers and sisters and thus he believes all will be saved by God regardless of their life and faith. Therefore, it makes no real difference whether or not the church does evangelization and mission since ALL people who are sincere in their faith will be saved in the end.”

Am I right or am I wrong in the way in the way I state this conclusion?

I think I am right. I know this is how I would have heard this message twenty years ago. So, my next question is this: “Does this make me a pluralist (or liberal) who denies John 14:6 or sees no urgency for sharing the good news and making disciples of Jesus?”

The problem lies in the meaning of all the words and ideas presented here by my comments. The Catholic […]

Christena Cleveland: A Powerful Message on Unity at Urbana 2015

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:16-05:00January 6th, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, Discipleship, Evangelism, Gospel/Good News, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

The recent Urbana 2015 Conference, held in St. Louis, featured a number of great speakers and topics. One of our ACT3 board members, Scott Brill, is on staff with InterVarsity and sent me links to two plenary addresses I found immensely important. I share the first of these two messages in today’s blog post. Scott Brill was also responsible for staffing a Catholic room at Urbana to network with Catholic students who were in attendance. This Catholic presence is new to IVCF and something I wholeheartedly welcome. (Catholic staff have served with IVCF for some years now, though their number is still quite small.) Pray for many evangelical mission agencies who now work openly with Catholics and do not try to “convert” students to evangelicalism but to Christ in humble faith. This is a risky strategy and presents challenges when donors do not like this direction. ACT3 not only openly supports this direction but seeks to serve it, and ministries who are doing this, wherever possible.

Dr. Christena Cleveland, author of a wonderful book titled Disunity in Christ. She is a social psychologist with a hopeful passion for […]

The Signs of Love Should Not Be Obscured

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:13:16-05:00January 1st, 2016|Categories: ACT 3, Christ/Christology, Current Affairs, History, Love, Spirituality, The Future|

The world roils in bad news and the story of immense tragedies. These painful realities are quite real. But the great danger we Christians face in 2016 is to focus our attention on this “bad news.”

In his final public utterance of 2015, Pope Francis on Thursday, December 31, insisted that the horrors of the past year are often “weighed down by private interests, by an insatiable thirst for power, and by gratuitous violence.” But Francis stressed that the reality of true goodness should not be lost in 2016. Indeed, I believe this true goodness should be stressed, certainly not in a pollyannaish way, but in a distinctly Christian way. Christ has overcome evil and his peace has changed the world. During these twelve days of Christmas let us remember that the evil of sin remains, but only for the time being. (Sin too will finally be put down completely on the “Last Day!”) This is why we should not entertain false notions about world peace.

Pope Francis added, “How many great gestures of goodness, of love […]