Ecclesiological efforts at internal reform and renewal, engagement with society, ecumenism, interreligious dialogue, and global mission often seem as plagued by frustration and weariness as they are enlivened with vision and hope. On the one hand, much within Christianity itself as well as contemporary cultural trends push toward greater outreach, toward the crossing of boundaries and the breaking down of barriers, toward the inclusion and embrace of all. On the other hand, there is also much within Christianity as well as in contemporary cultural trends that rightly emphasize tradition, identity, shared faith and practice, rites of initiation, and the maintenance of standards.
Some ecclesiologists are taken aback by what appear to be efforts to secure traditional identities to the neglect of engagement with others. Other ecclesiologists are troubled by what appear to them to be tendencies toward relativism and toward a watering down of core beliefs and standards.
At what point do concerns for unity of faith and practice become exclusionary? At what point do radical attempts at inclusion become relativistic? What constructive positions can take us beyond such dichotomous extremes? How are these issues being worked out on the ground, such as in faith communities, in dialogues, in social projects, etc.?
The initial ideas for the conference were connected both with ecumenical concerns and with relations between church and society. Once the title of the conference was announced, the immediate reactions to the phrase “ecclesiology and exclusion” broadened the theme far beyond the initial ecumenical and church-society questions to include more explicitly the relationship of churches with a diverse range of marginalized and excluded peoples.