The Highway Forums Announcements What's New on The Highway website? "The Reformed Pastor and Ecumenism" - by C. VanTil

The Reformed pastor cannot escape confrontation with the modern ecumenical movement. Many of his fellow ministers will chide
him for his lack of enthusiasm for this trend. He may even be called in question for his loyalty to Christ by many evangelical
clergymen who profess purely biblical motivations for their cooperative efforts with non-evangelicals. What positive presentation
may the Reformed minister give of the biblical view of ecumenism? Is there such an ecumenism?

Although written nearly 30 years ago, Cornelius VanTil's comments on "Ecumenism" are no less relevant today than they were then. Don't be put off by the title and think that this article only will be of interest to Pastors. For, what VanTil has to say is of great importance to believers of all kinds.

By first showing how the Bible teaches true ecumenism, extremes are avoided, e.g., what I like to call the "Elijah syndrome" (total alienation from others) and the "screen door in a submarine syndrome", i.e., being overly open-minded and tolerant of everyone's beliefs, groups, etc. VanTil then proceeds to compare the biblical teaching with the modern view(s) of ecumenism.

Read this article now here: The Reformed Pastor and Ecumenism.

For later reading, you can find this article in "Calvinism and the Reformed Faith" and in the Ecclesiology - The Doctrine of the Church section.

In His service and grace,