In the coming months the Christian churches are engaging in a process of reflection on what is known as the Lund Principle. We will publish more on this process in the coming weeks but here are some thoughts on the principle and its background.

(Taken from www.gccuic-umc.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=260&Itemid=196  accessed 15 January 2016)

First articulated at the Third World Conference on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches held in Lund, Sweden in 1952, the Lund Principle reads in its most popular, abbreviated version:  “We would, therefore, earnestly request our Churches to consider whether they are doing all they ought to do to manifest the oneness of the people of God.  Should not our Churches ask themselves whether they are showing sufficient eagerness to enter into conversation with other Churches, and whether they should not act together in all matters except those in which deep differences of conviction compel them to act separately?”

The question formulated at Lund inverts the typical denominational point of view.  It subtly shifts the burden from a council of churches back to its member denominations to judge for themselves the sufficiency of their “eagerness” to “act together in all matters.”  The Lund Principle presses on a council of churches and its denominational membership the contemplation of an entirely different perspective on the interrelationship between them because it calls them to confront the key question of how well they are living out the ecumenical vision of not only being together, but acting together.  Does their being together enable them to be acting together?