Growth in Agreement IV:

The textual fruits of ecumenical dialogue over the last decade are presented here in complete documents. The vast yield is here collected in two volumes, incorporating bilateral and multilateral dialogues of the churches across the Christian confessions—Orthodox, Catholic, and Reformation traditions—and evinces not only agreements and disagreements but also the new insights that dialogue itself reveals.

Also included are the key documents from the Faith and Order Commission during these years, especially the ecclesiological documents that ultimately have yielded The Church: Towards a Common Vision, the 2013 convergence statement now being responded to by the churches.

The 37 documents gathered here reflect new dialogue partners and a wider circle of churches dialogically committed to reconciliation, further dialogue on questions of personal and social ethics, deeper exploration and use of the koinonia concept, stronger use of the insights  of the early writers of the church, and new insights into the dialogical process itself, including reception.

Educators, preachers and church leaders have here a rich resource for promoting this work of the Holy Spirit through their ministry.

“The gift of these texts is … a challenge to the Christian community …: to make the rich results of these dialogues a ‘common heritage.’ These texts are intended, each in their own way, to bring new vitality to church life at every level from the congregational to the regional and global. They seek to foster and serve reconciliation, healing and renewed common mission. The task now is to bring the results of these sometimes-technical works into the lives of the churches, in forms that will enrich seminary, congregational, missional and spiritual life throughout the Christian world.”—John Gibaut, former director, Faith and Order