| Abstract: | This essay concerns itself with what Lewis S. Mudge described as “the church as moral community.” 1 The trilogy of World Council of Churches’ documents entitled Costly Unity, Costly Commitment, and Costly Obedience are the primary source materials for rigorous and systematic reflection on the idea of the church as moral community. 2 Reading this “litany of costlies” 3 will deepen appreciation of the ecumenical significance of the idea of the church as moral community and inspire dedicated ecumenists to model it. Indeed, study of the ecclesiology and ethics process might have immediate, wider ecumenical implications. It could be a catalyst for creative organizational development in as many conciliar bodies that choose to practise the principles of building “the church as moral community.” |
