Unity Through Humility- a Priority
By Vernon Broyles, Associate for Corporate Witness, Social Justice Ministries. National Ministries Division, Presbyterian Church, USA Louisville, Kentucky.

When I was asked to offer some personal reflections for the Ecumenical Ministry Network, I began to try to focus on some things that I believe are at the core of the ecumenical enterprise and, indeed, at the heart of Christian discipleship and evangelism. In the process, my thoughts turned to my own father's many years of ministry in a large, downtown church in Atlanta.

Perhaps the most salient memory is of the great variety of music that marked worship in that church. On Sunday morning, we sang from the official Presbyterian hymnal; but on Sunday night and Wednesday at Prayer Meeting, we used to use the old Service Hymnal and a couple of other Gospel standards. Because of that I have always been able to keep up with my Baptist and Methodist friends at almost any hymn-sing. The other strong memory of growing up in that church centers on the people who taught me in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, always making me feel cared for, even when (on rare occasions!) I was a problem to them.

By the time I had finished seminary and became pastor of my own church, I grew much more fully aware of how genuinely diverse that congregation was, socially, economically and especially, theologically. Conversations with my father revealed that among those who had nurtured me through the years, there were tremendous theological differences and, sometimes, even conflict. And my wonder grew as to how my father managed to minister to so many different people, some of them vehemently ideological in presenting their particular view of the Christian faith. Somehow he managed, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to keep them working together in the common enterprise of Christian witness to the community and around the world.

What I realized over time, was that the key to my father's ministry was relationships. As I have thought back about it, I don't ever remember an occasion where he let ideological or theological differences, no matter how important, come between him and another person. My father related the same way to the wealthy and powerful of the congregation and of the city as he did to the poorest member and the church janitorial and kitchen staff.

As I write these thoughts, I realize that they are reinforced by memories of a high school Latin teacher who frequently recited to us Paul's admonition in Phillipians 2:3, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves."

This Ecumenical Ministry Network, or any other ecumenical enterprise contains both the joy of coming together around faith in a common Lord and also the potential for competing over strongly held tenets of our particular traditions. Once we have acknowledged that we are held together by Christ who is our Head, the key to a faithful and fruitful ecumenical witness is our relating to each other as Paul has charged us, in humility regarding others as better than ourselves. It is not only the path to growth and learning from one another. It is also the open door through which others will feel led to come and join us.

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