Ecumenism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Inter-Christian=== Bishop [[Hilarion Alfeyev]] commented that the inter-Christian community is "bursting at the seams". He sees the great dividing line—or "abyss"—not so much between old churches and church families as between "traditionalists" and "liberals", the latter now dominating Protestantism, and predicted that other Northern Protestant Churches will follow suit and this means that the "ecumenical ship" will sink, for with the liberalism that is materializing in European Protestant churches, there is no longer anything to talk about.<ref>[http://www.synod.com/synod/en/documents/enart_interviewrocor.html Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: Will the Ecumenical Ship Sink?] The Official Website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Accessed 24 March 2009.</ref> Organizations such as the [[World Council of Churches]], the [[National Council of Churches USA]], [[Churches Uniting in Christ]], [[Pentecostal Charismatic Peace Fellowship]] and [[Christian Churches Together]] continue to encourage ecumenical cooperation among Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, and, at times, Roman Catholics. There are universities such as the [[University of Bonn]] in Germany that offer degree courses in "Ecumenical Studies" in which theologians of various denominations teach their respective traditions and, at the same time, seek for common ground between these traditions. The Global Christian Forum (GCF) was founded in 1998 following the proposal of the then General Secretary of the WCC, Rev. Konrad Raiser, that a new, independent space should be created where participants could meet on an equal basis to foster mutual respect and to explore and address together common concerns through a [[postmodern Christianity|postmodern approach]].<ref>Domenic Marbaniang, "Unity in the Body", ''Journal of Contemporary Christian'', Vol. 3, No. 1 {{ISSN|2231-5233}} (Bangalore: CFCC, August 2011), p. 36</ref> Influenced by the ecumenical movement, the "scandal of separation" and local developments, a number of [[United and uniting churches]] have formed; there are also a range of mutual recognition strategies being practiced where formal union is not feasible. An increasing trend has been the sharing of church buildings by two or more denominations, either holding separate services or a single service with elements of all traditions. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page