Unity and Mission

It is often acknowledged within the ecumenical movement that unity and mission belong together, and joint working between, for example, the Faith and Order Commission and the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism is readily encouraged and even deepened. However, something in the strong histories and cultures of these two movements (and others like them) seems to work against the dismantling of a false binary that might be desired. While mission and unity seem incontrovertibly “one” in the New Testament, they seem to have been separated by the formal ecumenical movement in ways that demand challenge and radical change. It is time to do something more than “work together.”