The Communion of Saints in Mission

The March 2003 issue of FIRST THINGS presents "A Statement of Evangelicals and Catholics Together" in an article called "The Communion of Saints" (although this current issue is not published online yet).

One section of this impressive statement is about mission. It says,

Always we are brought back to mission, and to explore how we might be more fully together in mission, for there is no doubt that Jesus speaks to all of us when he commands that we "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19). As we are sent by the same Lord, as we go forth in the name of the same Lord, as we proclaim the same Lord, so we ought to evangelize with one another rather than against one another. In the words of the Evangelical leaders gathered at the Amsterdam 2000 conference on evangelization:

"Jesus prayed to the heavenly Father that his discipes would be one so that the world might believe. One of the great hinderances to evangelism worldwide is the lack of unity among Christ's people, a condition made worse when Christians compete and fight with one another rather than seeking together the mind of Christ. ... In all ways that do not violate our consciences, we should pursue cooperation and partnerships with other believers in the task of evangelism, practicing the well-tested rule of Christian fellowship: 'In necessary things unity, in nonessential things liberty, in all things charity.' We pledge ourselves to pray and work for unity in truth among all true believers in Jesus and to cooperate as fully as possible in evangelism with other brothers and sisters in Christ so that the whole Church may take the whole gospel to the whole world.

In its frontier mission work, Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship and the PCUSA rejoice that we are continually expanding our networks of partnerships with other believers around the world. One of PFF's core values is that we are "Committed to the unity of the global church in mission."