November 6, 1999

CLEVELAND—In a very real sense, Bishop James K. Mathews arrived at the NCC's 1950 Constituting Convention in Cleveland via India.

Bishop Mathews had gone to India as a missionary of the Methodist Church (now The United Methodist Church) in 1938 and, during World War II, he served for four years in India with the U.S. Army. On his return, he was elected a secretary of his communion's Board of Missions, initially, with responsibility for India and Burma.

"It was my experience as a missionary in India," he says, "that when you were serving in a part of the world where the Christians were in a minority, the lines of distinction between and among the churches is blurred and one is almost automatically caught up in ecumenical matters. It has often been said that the missionary road leads to the ecumenical road and that was certainly my experience."

"When I began to do my work in New York, at the headquarters of the Board of Missions," he continues, "I was immediately involved in the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, which was the interdenominational body that coordinated Protestant missions all over the world. It reflected the structures of the various boards of missions. I mention all this because it was one of the eight bodies which made up finally the National Council of Churches, and that was the angle from which I came in. Because of my involvement in missions, I was made one of the delegates from the Methodist Church."

Bishop Mathews recalls that at the final meeting of the Foreign Missions Conference, he had the honor of making the motion that the body become part of the NCC, and remembers that period as an exciting time. "People looked forward with great anticipation to the formation of this Council," he says. "You must understand that the word 'ecumenical,' which has become so common, even hackneyed, in our day, was seldom used at that time. It was not yet in vogue.

"I might mention that in 1870, when the World Methodist Council was established—and it included the worldwide family of Methodist bodies—we called ourselves the Ecumenical Methodist Council, and that was the first modern usage of the term 'ecumenical.' And then in the mid-1950s, the World Methodist Council dropped the name 'ecumenical' in order, as it were, to free the word to apply to the wider bodies."

Recalling the days in Cleveland when the NCC was formed, Bishop Mathews points out that the delegates were all on the main floor of the huge Public Auditorium, seated in sections by communion. "And then," he says, "we began to notice certain figures who would stand out. I remember particularly a man named Hermann Morse, a Presbyterian who had come out of the Home Missions Council. He was moderator of a number of the sessions and I was greatly impressed by his skill. And then Franklin Fry of the Lutherans began to show up to great effect. And, of course, Bishop Henry Knox Sherrill, who was then Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church and, as it turned out, became the first president of the National Council of Churches. And there were many others.

"What struck me about this was that almost immediately one had a sense that these leaders were now our leaders. In other words, you sort of forgot about the denominational distinctions for the time being and it added to the excitement to see these highly talented persons¾and I mention only a few of them¾who were now our leaders. I think that was one of the highly significant things that happened while were there."

Bishop Mathews also remembers well that Secretary of State Dean Acheson "made a notable address on behalf of the President," by radio, heard in the auditorium and carried to the nation by on all major networks. "He was very polished, and that impressed us as well. There was a celebratory note that continued throughout and it was an extremely uplifting experience."

Bishop Mathews adds that the excitement of Cleveland "tended to be renewed each time there was an assembly of the NCC every two or three years. It was a rekindling of the ecumenical spirit."

Briefly tracing the flow of enthusiasm for ecumenism, Bishop Mathews notes that the "ecumenical movement really took off" from the late 1940s through the mid-1960s with the formation of the World and National Councils of Churches, as well as the energy generated by Vatican II. Beginning in the 1970s, he says, "there began to be a decline of general interest. The thrill of discovering your Christian neighbors in a new way of acceptance and commonality¾that sort of wore off. There used to be a time in the early '50s, when congregations of any given cooperative denomination would put on their bulletin, 'This church is related to the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches.' And maybe they would include a state and a local council of churches. They rejoiced in their ecumenical involvement."

He also notes that, by the mid-1960s, the councils themselves had become very controversial: "They had to engage, by the very demands of the times, in issues that were controversial. It became sort of a battleground." Notably, he says, these issues revolved around the civil rights movement, rights for women, and other justice issues.

The Council's efforts resulted in "great achievements," he says, "but achievements that were attained at a tremendous price. Those who were the enemies of Christian cooperation got a great deal of satisfaction being able to point the finger of scorn at churches who were cooperative and deeply concerned about these compelling human issues. It was a part of our whole development and tempered the times through which we passed."

Bishop Mathews offers his hopes for the future, noting that "you never had the whole Christian family related to this movement and that was of course disappointing. But one always had a vision that there would be a time when all of God's people of the Christian tradition would find a way of organizationally expressing their oneness¾something that would bring in everyone from the Roman Catholics to the Evangelical groups.

"The time has not yet come," he says. "But I would hope that we would not lose the vision of such an instrumentality in the future. Of course it would be extremely difficult to attain and there are so many issues that sharply divide people. Maybe if you had an organization of that breadth, it would not have the kind of depth necessary for it to be an effective instrument in society. That's one of the principal roles of the church, as I see it. We must be involved in the great issues of our society and we must be constructive critics of the body politic.

"It would mean we must all be open to change," he concludes. "I think that is more or less an evangelical principle coming out of the gospel¾that you've got to lose your life to save it. If you try to retain your life as it is now, then you lose it; you become ineffective.

"At the deepest level, I take my stand, as of course many ecumenists do, from the 17th chapter of John. I think the prayer of our Lord that we 'all may be one ... that the world may believe' is at the heart of the matter. And I do not believe that Jesus' prayer for the unity of God's people will go forever unanswered. I don't know the shape of the answer. I would think it would not be unitary and uniform, but it would be an embracing of our essential oneness."

During Bishop James K. Mathews' long career in the United Methodist Church, he has served as a missionary in India; as an executive with the Division of World Missions (1946-60), including as Associate General Secretary; and as an active Bishop (1960-80), first in the Boston Area and then in the Washington Area. Retired from active duty in 1980, he has been reactivated twice, serving as Bishop in Zimbabwe (1985-86) and in the Albany Area (1990-1992). He is the author of seven books and is well known for his preaching and seminary teaching.