Core Values and Aims

One of our great strengths is the way that we bring lay and ordained Christians together across the divides of language, ethnicity, nationality, political structures, spirituality and Church traditions.

This broadens our understanding of God and gives us a taste of what it means to be part of a worldwide Church. We come to appreciate the gifts that God has given to the different traditions, find God challengingus through the ‘others’, and are strengthened and equipped to work for unity in our home situations.

In developing deep friendships with people from different backgrounds, we experience personally the power of Jesus Christ to make us one in Him. IEF’s work is therefore focused on three things.

1. Worship and Spirituality

Common prayer and worship together is at the core of IEF: this is where we seek to become one with God and with each other, experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in healing and liberation, and in community building. We also share the pain that full communion of churches and worship is not yet given.

An important task for IEF is to work towards the visible communion between churches and Christians, lay and clergy, as People of God: through Bible study, worship and common prayer; repentance, healing and reconciliation; exploring different church traditions, possibilities for Eucharistic sharing, and common meditations.

In our prayer life we enjoy a rich diversity of denominational liturgical traditions in the unity that exists already among us. But it is precisely through this experience that we come to recognize our division, specifically when invited to the Lord’s TableTherefore, a clear priority for the mission and vision of IEF is searching for, finding and developing new solutions to overcome the scandal of

division at the Eucharist, in order to witness authentically to the visible unity of the Church, Jesus Christ’s reconciling work and God’s purposes for the world.

At international conferences we hold daily denominational Eucharistic services; and occasionally a Eucharistic celebration according to the ecumenical Lima Liturgy, developed in 1982 in connection with the Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM, 1982) document, published by the Faith and Order (F&O) Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

2. Discipleship and Theological Study

IEF enables its members to understand the current situation in official ecumenical dialogues and in other ecumenical matters. We respect, study and challenge the role of obedience, discipline and individual conscience concerning levels of participation in the prayer and worship of other denominational traditions.

While we gather around the table of the Lord, we constantly search for theological and spiritual wisdom and truth, and seek to understand the various emerging and currently important ecumenical issues. The place of individual conscience is a vital part of this search.

We acknowledge that while we work for ecumenism, it is not ours to give, but it is of God in Jesus Christ; so this must involve humility, repentance and a willingness to listen and learn from others in dialogue led by the Holy Spirit.

In 2005 our Theological Commission (ThC) was re-established. This is composed of representatives from the regions, bearing in mind the need for both female and male members and a wide spectrum of Church traditions.

3. Fellowship and Friendship

We, members of the IEF stand firmly in the Tradition of the Church as well as in the traditions of our respective churches. We are faithful to our current denominational regulations, which we are called to respect.

We are far from knowing the full truth of unity and we will never reach that state until we act in unity and love in all our deliberations, in all our worship, in constant prayer, and in our relationships with each other.

We share in local ecumenical projects (LEP) in our own countries and regions, on the firm and well-grounded understanding that ecumenism is also effective from below, as a grassroots phenomenon.

Many of us come from interdenominational and interchurch families, in which we try to live our vocation in a consciously ecumenical way. We share with other ecumenical organisations a deep spiritual and social commitment.

We are called to experience the communion of the Spirit with various gifts and a prophetic vocation, through local and regional groups, meetings and contacts with other ecumenical networks, among others the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF, 1895), the Association of Interchurch Families, and the Conference of European Churches (CEC, 1959).

Our meetings with other grassroots and ecumenical organizations, under the umbrella of national ecumenical structures for instance, are increasingly leading to bridge building and further collaborations.