ifications and Material 
 
 for the 
 
 
 
 Published by the Secretariat, = ~ 
 O. Box 226, Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
 - October 28, 1926 
 
 | BOX & SY f 7 HG20 
 
Library of the Theological Seminary 
 
 PRINCETON ® NEW JERSEY 
 
 VE” 
 
 Presented by 
 
 Dr. Earl A. Pope 
 Manson Professor of Bible 
 Lafayette College 
 The Earl A. Pope Collection 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Data concerning the 
 
 Lausanne Programme 
 
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Dates of the Conference. At its meeting at 
 Berne, August 23-25, 1926, the Continuation 
 Committee decided that the Conference 
 should begin with a service on the evening of 
 Tuesday, August 2, 1927, but that the first 
 meeting should not take place until Wednes- 
 day morning. It was agreed that the Con- 
 ference should end on August 21. 
 
 Continuation Committee Sessions. The 
 Business Committee, New York, October 15, 
 1926, voted that the Continuation Committee 
 be called to meet at Lausanne on Saturday, 
 July 30, 1927, and Monday and Tuesday 
 August 1 and 2, in order to perfect the ar- 
 rangements for the Conference. 
 
 London, December 1926. The central Com- 
 mittee charged to select speakers to open the 
 subjects for discussion at Lausanne will meet 
 in London, presumably between December 14 
 and 18, 1926. It is hoped that Canon Bate, 
 Hon. Secretary of the Subjects Committee, 
 will be present together with the members of 
 the Committee, namely Archbishop Séder- 
 blom, Archbishop Germanos, Dr. Garvie, and 
 (in the stead of Bishop Brent) the Corre- 
 sponding Secretary. 
 
Procedure at Lausanne. The Continuation 
 Committee at Berne in August 1926 referred 
 the following provisions to the Business Com- 
 mittee for their guidance: 
 
 1. That the time available for conference 
 at Lausanne be divided into four periods, 
 the first two of four days each and the last 
 two of three days each; and that two days © 
 should be left clear at the end for the com- 
 pletion of the Conference’s work and the 
 transaction of necessary business. 
 
 2. That during the first and third of these 
 periods the main subjects of the Agenda 
 should be brought before the whole Con- 
 ference in the following order: 
 
 Ae 
 jf 
 
 TLE. 
 IV. 
 
 The Call to Unity. 
 
 The Church’s Message to the World 
 — the Gospel. 
 
 The Nature of the Church. 
 
 The Church’s Common Confession 
 of Faith. 
 
 (Third Period) 
 
 . The Church’s Ministry. 
 . The Sacraments. 
 MLS 
 
 The Unity of Christendom and 
 the Relation thereto of existing 
 Churches. 
 
3. That at the morning sessions on these 
 days there should be (a) two speeches by 
 invited speakers, whose addresses should 
 have been previously printed and circulated 
 in the three languages of the Conference; 
 and (b) other speeches by invited speakers 
 who should have prepared themselves to 
 follow what had already been said; care 
 being taken, in inviting the speakers, that 
 different types of Churches should be as 
 adequately represented as possible; and 
 that at the afternoon sessions of these days 
 there should be free discussion of the topics 
 presented in the morning. 
 
 4. That for the second and fourth periods 
 the Conference should be divided into as 
 many widely-representative sections as it 
 should determine, for the further discussion 
 of the subjects thus presented, each section 
 being allowed the fullest possible liberty 
 in arranging its own procedure, appointing, 
 if it desires, a small committee to formulate 
 its conclusions, and reporting on the fourth 
 and third day respectively to the whole 
 Conference. 
 
 5. That the members of the present Sub- 
 jects Committee (with additions to their 
 number) should not be assigned to any 
 special section, but should be free to attend 
 
wherever their presence might be thought 
 desirable. 
 
 6. That Subject VIII (Arrangements for 
 Continuing the Work of the Conference) 
 should be taken by the Conference on one 
 or other of the last two days. 
 
 7. That the morning sessions of the Con- 
 ference and of the sections should be from ~ 
 10 to 1; and that in order to allow time for 
 due consideration of the morning’s pro- 
 ceedings, the afternoon sessions should be 
 held not earlier than 4, and be as far as 
 possible limited to two and one-half hours. 
 
 It was agreed that proofs of the speeches 
 of the two principal speakers of the day 
 should be sent to the four speakers invited 
 to follow, in sufficient time to allow them 
 to prepare their material. It was agreed 
 also that half an hour should be given to 
 devotions at the opening of the morning 
 sessions, that the principal speakers should 
 be allowed a maximum of half an hour, and 
 the subsequent speakers a maximum. of 
 fifteen minutes, and that in the afternoon 
 the speakers should be limited to five or 
 seven minutes. 
 
Preamble for the Lausanne Programme. It 
 was agreed at Berne that the following pre- 
 amble be inserted: 
 
 We, the members of the World Conference 
 on Faith and Order, whose names are here- 
 inafter written, together with those of the 
 Churches which have sent us here or to 
 which we belong, are met in the name of 
 God. We believe that the Holy Spirit is 
 moving the hearts of Christian people far 
 and wide to deplore our divisions and to 
 desire the oneness of Christ’s people. We 
 accept with gratitude the call which has 
 brought us together; we commend our work 
 most humbly to the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit; and in reliance upon His leading we 
 pass to the consideration of the subjects 
 prepared for our Conference. 
 
Status of the Propositions of the earlier Draft 
 Agenda. The following is an extract from 
 the Minutes of the Continuation Committee, 
 August 25, 1926: 
 
 Voted: that in view of the serious misunderstandings 
 which have arisen and which are likely to arise in the 
 future, should the propositions brought out by the 
 Subjects Committee be published as part of the official 
 programme by the Continuation Committee, and in 
 view of the vital importance of excluding even the 
 implication that any effort was being made to determine 
 in advance the conclusions to be reached by the World 
 Conference on Faith and Order, it is the judgment of the 
 Continuation Committee that the official programme 
 of the Conference should contain only the statement 
 of times and places of meeting, names of officers of the 
 Conference, including Presiding Officers at separate 
 sessions, the subjects to be discussed, and the names of 
 the speakers, all other matters pertaining to the sub- 
 jects under discussion to be printed at the end of the 
 programme accompanied by such statements as will 
 clearly indicate that the propositions presented are not 
 to be considered as in any sense expressions of official 
 judgments or final conclusions, but simply as suggestive 
 of questions which must naturally arise in any thorough 
 consideration of the general subject. And that all 
 resolutions to the contrary should be rescinded. 
 
 It was agreed also that such of the old “Draft 
 Agenda”’ as would appear at the end of the programme, 
 together with any further material, should be termed 
 “Draft of Propositions suggested for Discussion, pre- 
 pared by the Subjects Committee and approved by the 
 Continuation Committee.” 
 
 It was agreed that the document be remitted to 
 Canon Bate, Hon. Secretary of the Subjects Committee, 
 with the criticisms sent in, to give it the form that 
 seemed most effective. 
 
Draft of propositions 
 suggested for discussion, prepared by 
 the Subjects Committee and approved 
 
 by the Continuation Committee. 
 

 
Subject I. The Call to Unity. 
 (Suggested form of Resolution.) 
 
 That this Conference desires to call all Chris- 
 tian people to deeper penitence with regard 
 to the disunion of the Churches, and to greater 
 and more definite efforts towards the unity of 
 Christendom. 
 
 Conscious that only the deepest motives are 
 adequate to inspire such efforts and to make 
 them effective, it urges all Christian people to 
 remember 
 
 (a) the teaching of the New Testament, that 
 the Church should reflect the unity of God; 
 
 (b) the impulse of the Holy Spirit within the 
 Church and in their own hearts which is now 
 moving them towards unity; 
 
 (c) the purpose of the Lord, that through His 
 Church the non-Christian world should be 
 converted, and all human society purified and 
 inspired, a purpose which, especially in view 
 of the strength and violence of the antago- 
 nistic forces of our day, can be fulfilled only 
 by a united Church. 
 
 11 
 
Subject II. The Church’s Message to 
 the World — the Gospel. 
 
 1. The message of the Church to all mankind 
 is the Gospel, promised, prepared for, and 
 foreshadowed in the Old Testament, per- 
 fected in the New through the coming of Jesus 
 Christ, and proclaimed to the world through 
 the preaching of His Apostles. 
 
 2. In the centre of the Gospel stands Jesus 
 Christ Himself, Son of God and Son of man, 
 who through His life, His death and His 
 resurrection, has redeemed mankind and 
 brought eternal life to light. 
 
 3. The Gospel conveys to men, through Jesus — 
 Christ and through His teaching, a revelation — 
 of God Himself as our Father, and of our 
 duties and hopes as children of God and 
 brothers in His family. 
 
 4. The Gospel offers to all mankind forgive- 
 ness of sins and eternal life in Jesus Christ our © 
 Lord; it is ‘the power of God to salvation,” 
 for our deliverance from evil, and for the trans- 
 formation of all human life, individual and 
 social, into the fullness of the glory of God. 
 
 12 
 
Subject III. The Nature of the Church. 
 
 1. The Society of believers in Jesus Christ is 
 described in the New Testament as the Church 
 of the living God, the Body of Christ, the 
 Temple of God. 
 
 2. That God is its builder, Jesus Christ its 
 Head, the Holy Spirit its Life-giver, is the 
 common belief of all Christians. 
 
 3. General assent would also be given to the 
 following statement of the Church’s purpose: 
 the divine purpose of the Church is to be the 
 agency by which Christ, through the Holy 
 Spirit, reconciles men to God through faith, 
 extends God’s sovereignty over their wills, 
 imparts to them His holiness and unites them 
 in love and service. 
 
 4. Marked divergences emerge, however, as to 
 the nature of the Church, according as the 
 attention of Christians is focussed upon the 
 visible Church or upon the idea of the Church 
 invisible, and upon the-Church of actual 
 experience or upon the ideal community. 
 
 5. These divergences affect alike the theory 
 of the Church and the practice of Christian 
 societies. If the question is asked, who are 
 the members of the Church, different answers 
 will be given according as one or other of these 
 conceptions predominates. 
 
 13 
 
6. Can these differences be reconciled? Or, 
 if not, is it possible to find a working basis of 
 agreement which would enable those whom 
 they now divide to share a common life in a 
 reunited Church? 
 
 7. The common life of the visible Church’ 
 must necessarily express itself in outward 
 form. Would it be agreed that, however vari- 
 ous in other respects the modes of that ex- 
 pression may be, the following are fundamental 
 and constant elements of the Church’s order? 
 
 (a) Admission to this visible fellowship is 
 granted through the Sacrament of Baptism. 
 
 (b) The life of its members is sustained 
 through the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and 
 Blood, in which they are continually filled 
 anew with the Life of their Lord, and offer 
 to Him their common devotion; 
 
 (c) Its members are enlightened by the 
 Spirit, instructing the heart of each, edifying 
 the whole body through the Word of Scrip- 
 ture and the Word preached, and binding it — 
 together by the inheritance of known truth; 
 
 (d) While each member possesses gifts of 
 the Spirit appropriate to his vocation, the 
 public Ministry of Word and Sacraments - 
 is entrusted to those who are dene 
 designated for this function. 
 
 14 
 
Subject IV. The Church’s Common 
 Confession of Faith. 
 
 1. Is it requisite to Christian Unity that there 
 should be general agreement in an explicit 
 declaration of the Christian Faith? 
 
 2. Is it admitted that among the historic 
 statements of that Faith the creeds commonly 
 called the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed 
 have such weight that with regard to these 
 forms, at least, it is desirable that the Churches 
 should attempt to reach an agreement? 
 
 3. Could a united Church agree 
 (a) To accept the Faith of Christ as taught 
 in Holy Scripture, and handed down in the 
 Apostles’ and the Nicene Creeds? 
 
 (b) To leave the occasions for the use of 
 these creeds to the decisions of local 
 Churches? 
 
 (c) To recognise, while firmly adhering to 
 the substance of these Creeds, that the 
 Holy Spirit, leading the Church into all 
 truth, may enable the Church to express the 
 truths of revelation in other forms according 
 to the needs of future times? 
 
 15 
 
Subject V. The Church’s Ministry. 
 
 1. One main element in existing divisions 
 arises from the fact that many of the separated 
 Churches find it impossible to recognise the 
 Ministry of other Churches. ; 
 
 2. Existing forms of Christian Ministry dif- 
 fer both (a) in respect of the functions assigned 
 to the holders of ministerial office in its various 
 grades, and (b) in respect of the mode in which 
 the ministerial commission is conferred. In 
 view of these differences, is it possible to find 
 a way towards a universally recognised 
 Ministry? 
 
 3. The most definite cleavage is between those 
 Churches which retain and those which have 
 dispensed with the Episcopate, i. e., with the 
 principle that the Bishop is the normal head 
 of the local community or group of Churches 
 and the normal minister of ordination. Does 
 the Conference agree that the healing of this 
 cleavage is an urgent necessity? 
 
 4. It has been suggested, as a result of one 
 series of movements towards Reunion, that 
 owing to its historic position in the Churches 
 of Christendom, the Episcopate in its con- 
 stitutional form should have a place in the 
 reunited Church, side by side with which the 
 Councils of the Presbyters and the Congre- 
 gations of the Faithful should have their 
 
 16 
 
constitutional places. Does the Conference 
 regard this proposition as a hopeful solution 
 of the problem with which it deals? 
 
 5. If the necessity for a universally recognised 
 Ministry is admitted, are there any other pro- 
 posals in this direction which ought now to be 
 considered? 
 
 17 
 
Subject VI. The Sacraments. 
 
 Would the following propositions be so 
 generally accepted as to form a basis for 
 further discussions? 
 
 1. The part of God and man in the Sacra- 
 ments. In each sacrament there is an act 
 of God ministered by His Church, and there 
 should also be a response of man. The grace 
 of God is offered to the man through the 
 Sacrament, even if he makes no response, but 
 the benefit of that grace depends on his will 
 and power to use it and on his faith in doing so. 
 
 2. The intentions requisite for the due 
 ministration of the Sacraments. The only 
 necessary intentions in the Church, the 
 minister or the recipients, are to do what 
 Christ commanded to be done and to receive 
 what God wills to give through each Sacra- 
 ment. 
 
 3. The Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s 
 Supper. The administration of the Sacra- 
 ments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as 
 instituted by our Lord is of perpetual obliga- 
 tion on the Church. 
 
 Note. Although important problems arise — 
 in connection with other rites to which the 
 name of Sacrament is widely (but not uni- 
 versally) applied, it is not proposed that the © 
 attention of the Conference of 1927 shall be 
 invited to discuss those problems. 
 
 18 
 
Subject VII. The Unity of Christendom 
 and the Relation thereto of Existing 
 Churches. 
 
 1. The unity of a body, as St. Paul teaches, 
 implies not uniformity but diversity; and 
 therefore the Church, which is Christ’s Body, 
 should safeguard diversity within its unity. 
 
 2. As the Church carries the Gospel to all 
 lands in all times, and thus deserves more and 
 more its ancient appellation, Catholic, it has 
 the more need to provide for diversity, while 
 
 remaining true to that Gospel which it has 
 received from Jesus Christ through His 
 Apostles. 
 
 3. The unity of the Church finds a natural 
 expression in local unity of administration and 
 organisation; should the endeavour be made to 
 restore in our days the conditions of the days 
 of the Apostles when each local Church formed 
 a part of the one Church, and it was manifest 
 to all men that in one place there was only one 
 
 Church? 
 
 4. Although certain groups of Christians, 
 feeling a strong concern for special aspects 
 of Christian truth or practice, have under the 
 stress of historical circumstances deemed it 
 necessary to organise themselves as Churches, 
 and have rendered great service to the Uni- 
 versal Church, will it in the future be possible 
 
 19 
 
for such groups to remain within the unity of 
 the one Church, making their special gifts 
 available to the profit of the whole body? 
 
 5. The questions which concern the necessity 
 of a central authority for the whole of Chris- 
 tendom, are of the utmost importance; but 
 the Conference, while recognising their im- 
 portance, thinks it inadvisable to include the 
 consideration of them in its programme for 
 these sessions. 
 
 20 
 
Special Standing Orders. The Continuation 
 Committee at Stockholm, August 18, 1925, 
 adopted the following Special Standing Orders 
 as to procedure in the Conference of 1927. 
 Certain of these provisions are now set in 
 brackets, in consequence of action taken at 
 Berne, as related on p. 8. 
 
 1. Method of Discussion. 
 
 (a) The discussion of each subject shall 
 at the first stage relate immediately to 
 the proposition which is printed in the 
 Agenda. 
 
 (b) When in the opinion of the Chairman 
 the proposition has been sufficiently dis- 
 cussed, it shall be open to the Conference 
 to discuss the subject more generally and 
 without strict reference to the proposition. 
 
 (c) When the discussion of a subject is closed, 
 the subject may be referred by the Conference 
 to a drafting committee with instructions to 
 draw up a statement to represent the mind 
 of the Conference. 
 
 (d) When such a statement has been prepared, 
 it shall be brought before the Conference. If 
 alterations in the statement are proposed, the 
 Conference may refer them to the drafting 
 committee for consideration and report. 
 
 21 
 
(e) No statement shall be declared to be 
 adopted unless it be accepted either unani- 
 mously or nemine contradicenie. In case a 
 statement does not gain this measure of ac- 
 ceptance, the Conference shall determine 
 what further steps if any shall be taken on 
 that subject. 
 
 2. Subjects not on the Agenda. 
 
 Subjects not on the Agenda may be placed 
 there at any stage at the written request of 
 not fewer than three members with the consent 
 of the Arrangements Committee and with the 
 consent of a two-thirds majority of the 
 Conference. 
 
 General Standing Orders. It remains to 
 draft these. 
 
 22 
 

 
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 BX 6 .W7 A42 no.47 
 World Conference on Faith 
 
 and Order. 1927 | 
 Specifications and materia] 
 for the Lausanne programme