Convergence Movement

The Convergence Movement (also known as the Paleo-orthodox Movement) is a Protestant Christian movement that began during the Fourth Great Awakening (1960–1980) in the United States. The Convergence Movement developed as a syncretic movement among evangelical and charismatic churches in the United States blending charismatic worship with liturgies from the Book of Common Prayer and other liturgical sources common to Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Catholicism and Oriental Orthodoxy.[1][2] Denominational groups forming the Convergence Movement may self-identify as Convergence, Anglican-Apostolic, Evangelical Episcopal, or High Church or Broad Church Pentecostal.[3][4][5]

The pioneers of the movement were seeking to restore a primitive form of Christianity different from what the Restoration Movement taught. The movement was inspired by the spiritual pilgrimages of modern evangelical writers like Thomas Howard, Robert E. Webber, Peter E. Gillquist, and ancient Christian writers such as the Church Fathers and their communities. These men, along with theologians, scripture scholars, and pastors in a number of traditions, were calling Christians back to what they saw as their roots in the early church prior to the Great Schism and State Church of the Roman Empire.[6][7][8]

History

All Saints Orthodox Church, served by Peter E. Guillquist after joining the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

In 1973 Campus Crusade for Christ missionary Peter E. Gillquist (1938–2012) of Chicago established a network of house churches throughout the United States, aiming to restore a primitive form of Christianity, which was called the New Covenant Apostolic Order. Researching the historical basis of the Christian faith, Gillquist and his colleagues found sources for this restoration in the writings of the early Church Fathers. This led the group to practice a more liturgical form of worship than in their previous evangelical background.

In 1979, the Evangelical Orthodox Church was organized. The belief of needing apostolic succession led most members of Evangelical Orthodoxy to join the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in 1987. Others later joined the Orthodox Church in America.

In 1977 "The Chicago Call" was issued by the National Conference of Evangelicals for Historic Christianity, meeting in Warrenville, Illinois.[9] Led by Robert E. Webber (Assoc. Professor of Theology at Wheaton College), along with Peter Gillquist, Thomas Howard, Richard Holt, Donald Bloesch, Jan Dennis, Lane Dennis, and Victor Oliver, the conference discussed the need for Evangelical Protestants to rediscover and re-attach to the Christian Church's historic roots. The conference issued several documents which together are known as The Chicago Call. Components of the document include: A Call to Historic Roots and Continuity; A Call to Biblical Fidelity; A Call to Creedal Identity; A Call to Holistic Salvation; A Call to Sacramental Integrity; A Call to Spirituality; A Call to Church Authority; and A Call to Church Unity.[9]

In 1984 Charisma magazine, one of the most influential magazines of the Charismatic Movement, published an article by Richard Lovelace entitled "The Three Streams, One River?" (Sept 1984).[10] Lovelace approvingly noted the trend of Catholics, Evangelicals, and Charismatic/Pentecostal Christians moving closer together.

Robert Webber's 1985 book Evangelicals on the Canterbury Trail: Why Evangelicals are Attracted to the Liturgical Church documents the stories of six evangelical Christians who, for various reasons, had converted to the Episcopal Church USA. Publication of this book stirred up a great deal of interest in the evangelical press, generating numerous reviews in Christianity Today and other widely read evangelical publications.[11] In the following years Webber wrote several additional books that had great influence on evangelical churches seeking to incorporate liturgy and traditional practices into their worship, and numbers of Evangelicals and Charismatics continued to migrate to the historic liturgical denominations.

In 2020, the Convergence Movement was highlighted by Religion News Service after a trend of young Christians returning to traditional churches.[12]

Churches

The following is not a complete list, but aims to provide a comprehensible overview of the diversity among denominations of Convergence Christianity. Only organizations with Wikipedia articles will be listed.

• Apostolic Pastoral Congress
• Charismatic Episcopal Church
• Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches
• Holy Communion of Churches
• Evangelical Orthodox Church
• Apostolic Communion of Churches

See also

• Anglican realignment
• Ecumenism
• Evangelical Catholic
• Independent sacramental movement
• Open Evangelical
• Paleo-orthodoxy

References

1. Schmit, Clayton J. (2009). Sent and Gathered: A Worship Manual for the Missional Church. Baker Academic. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-8010-3165-6.
2. Agama, Archbishop Doye (2015-10-16). An Apostolic Handbook: Volume I: Guidance on Faith and Order in the Apostolic Pastoral Congress. Fast-Print Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78456-198-7.
3. "About the ICCEC". ICCEC. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
4. "What is Convergence?". CEEC - International. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
5. "The Doctine, the Discipline,and the Polity of the Pentecostal Churches of Christ". PCofC. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
6. J. Gordon Melton Encyclopedia of American religions - 2003 "In the years after World War I, negotiations began to create a broad union that would include the Anglican and ... the "convergence movement," the term referring to the "convergence" of various streams of renewal that shared an understanding of the church as one Body with a variety of diverse but contributing parts. Following the lead of British bishop Lesslie Newbigin, the convergence movement affirmed the threefold essence of the church as Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox/Pentecostal. The church is Catholic as it relates to the emphases of "incarnation and creation," Protestant with an emphasis on "biblical proclamation and conversion, " and Orthodox/Pentecostal in relation to "the mystical and the Holy Spirit."
7. Vinson Synan The Holiness-Pentecostal tradition: Charismatic movements in the ... - 1997 p294 "By 1990, like minded pastors were banding together in what they called a "convergence movement" designed to bring the three streams together in a new and powerful spiritual configuration. Even more striking were the cases of charismatic ..."
8. The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature 1 p93 e.d George Thomas Kurian, James D. Smith, III - 2010 "It foreshadows the convergence movement of the late twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century churches that are liturgical/sacramental and evangelical/ reformed."
9. "The Chicago Call - Collection 33". www2.wheaton.edu. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
10. Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A. (2016-11-10). Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-4432-0.
11. Yang, Tabby. "Remembering Bob Webber". ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
12. "Liturgy-hungry young Christians trade altar calls for Communion rails". Religion News Service. 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2020-06-24.

Further reading

• Gillquist, Rev. Peter E. Becoming Orthodox: A Journey to the Ancient Christian Faith. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1989. (ISBN 0-9622713-3-0)
• "Sound of Rushing Waters", by Daniel W. Williams, ACW Press/DQuest Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-932124-66-7
• "Forgotten Power", William L. DeArteaga, 2002 Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids Michigan, 49530, ISBN 0-310-24567-2
• "Evangelical, Sacramental, and Pentecostal: Why the Church Should Be All Three", Gordon T. Smith, 2017 IVP Academic, ISBN 978-0830851607

External links

• Documents from The Chicago Call
• The Convergence Movement, article written in 1992 by Wayne Boosahda and Randy Sly for the Complete Library of Christian Worship, Robert Webber, ed.
• Convergence Movement, Association of Religion Data Archives
• Website of the Apostolic Pastoral Congress
• Website of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
• Website of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches
• Website of the Holy Communion of Churches
• Website of the Evangelical Orthodox Church
• Independent Movement Database, cataloging some Convergence Movement churches in addition to Independent Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox churches.