"If it is true that the world is too strong for a divided Church. It is just as true that a divided world needs a strong Church." Angelo Fernandes
In grappling with the basic question of the mystery of the Church of Christ, there is the rising expectations that Christians cannot bypass the call to foster unity among each other.
Getting together at a friendly meal is a splendid way of fostering fellowship and friendship but praying and working together deepens the understanding of men and their attitudes. It opens their hearts to each other and brings them closer to their goal.
Ecumenical activity in the modern world is not a luxury; it is a "call to duty" and should be welcomed as a stringent yet pleasant duty.
Christ's will is so clear on the unity which the Church should image forth to the world. Regrettably, the division among Christians is a permanent scandal and it is besides, the greatest stumbling block to the furtherance of the message of the Gospel. Therefore any effort that highlights what unites Christians and soft-pedals what divides them should be strongly commended and warmly encouraged.
One of the greatest evil done to the psychic of ministers of the Gospel of Christ - ancient and modern, is the parterning of Seminaries and Theological Institutions after "Churches" and "Para-Churches" as well as religious groups instead of after Christ and His Gospel.
Theological investigations have over the centuries patterned after Churches in a bid to anggradise and massage "egos" of Church Dogmas and religious doctrines, thereby espousing more our differences rather than entrenching our commonalities. Thus further enstranging and dividing the visible body of Christ - the Church.
This is the need for a Theology of Unity which leads to a theology for the Christian Unity as both concepts are not the same.
To establish this Theology, we must take active steps to discorver the unity we do and do not share, since we do not want an artificial unity based on human organization but that based on our common faith in Jesus Christ.
We have seen through the centuries that the unity has taken more time than expected. But I think it's possible to talk about Theology of Unity today. In order to discover what we have in common, we can keep looking for new places to continue praying together, and we can expand the hope of more theological dialogues.
This is why Union Theological Institute stands out in the gap between praxis and faith in fostering a theology engenders that unity for which Christ prayed, namely: "...that they may all be one..."John 17:21ff.
In doing so, we find many sources of theological inspiration in the tradition of the early church, in some theologians and teachers to discuss Theology of Unity. First, it is not possible to talk about Christian unity without having Christ as a centre of reference. Second, it would be unacceptable not to use the Bible to point strongly to ideas about a Christian Unity Theology.
This prayer that John shares with us in John 17:23 is one of those testimonies. "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." Notice that Jesus uses various components in His prayer; he prays for the unity of the Christians, he prays for the unity of Christians with Him, and He also prays for His unity with the Father ("and You in Me").
Jesus also prays for the world, and its eternal love of God in His own person, the person of Jesus Christ, "and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
It is impressive to see how pleased Jesus is with his Father's love, but it is more admirable to see how he desires that humanity experiences this love. Without that unity, the unity of the body of Christ would not exist.
The other testimony is Paul. In most of his scriptures, Paul is very ample working the Christian unity theme. This is because from the beginning of the development of the church, in the first century some differences arose between Christians proceeding from Judaism and those proceeding from the gentile community. Paul, who was raised as a Hebrew citizen, understands the social, cultural, and religious tensions between both communities.
With this background and with his conversion to Christianity, the apostle makes extraordinary contributions to the Christian unity theme. See I Cor 1:10-17.
The same way that God is only one, but diverse in manifestation without losing unity and communion with the Son and the Holy Spirit, He invites us to have communion and unity in diversity. "The Theology of Unity does not work with reduction of unification or uniformity; it works for the communion and freedom, supreme values of the evangelism."Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI, "The God of the Christians".
The same way that every human is spirit, soul, and body without losing integrity, our differences should not be reason for fights, jealousy, competition; but the best reason to attract each other. Every human passion that separates us should be brought to the cross of Christ for treatment, reconciliation, and baptism of love. God illumine us in this ecumenical path.
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