Catholics and Evangelicals Together: "Conclusion"

The following is the final excerpt of a powerful document (in my opinion). In the early 1990s, Evangelical Protestant and Catholic Christian leaders came together to sign this ecumenical document in order to start the third millennium on the right foot. They believed that the Christian mission to make disciples of all nations could only be accomplished if all Christians, no matter the denomination they belonged to, would put those minor differences aside and unite on the most important doctrine of their faith - that Jesus Christ is Lord. Because of its length, I have broken it down to seven parts. The following is the seventh section of that document:

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Nearly two thousand years after it began, and nearly five hundred years after the divisions of the Reformation era, the Christian mission to the world is vibrantly alive and assertive. We do not know, we cannot know, what the Lord of history has in store for the Third Millennium. It may be the springtime of world missions and great Christian expansion. It may be the way of the cross marked by persecution and apparent marginalization. In different places and times, it will likely be both. Or it may be that Our Lord will return tomorrow. We do know that his promise is sure, that we are enlisted for the duration, and that we are in this together. We do know that we must affirm and hope and search and contend and witness together, for we belong not to ourselves but to him who has purchased us by the blood of the cross. We do know that this is a time of opportunity-and, if of opportunity, then of responsibility-for Evangelicals and Catholics to be Christians together in a way that helps prepare the world for the coming of him to whom belongs the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

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To read the entire document, you may visit this site: http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9405/articles/mission.html