2005
John Elswood Privett
Communion in Christ’s Body: Applying the Lessons of Ecumenical Dialogue to Challenging Congregational Conversations
When the Church faces controversial issues it frequently calls for “dialogue” but seldom gives any clear framework for how a congregation is to go about entering into dialogue. This thesis examines the lessons learned in ecumenical dialogue over more than a century of encounters between church bodies, and explores recent work in dialogue theory that has arisen from studies in business and industry. Several key features of dialogue are identified and applied to a Canadian Anglican congregation that was exploring the issue of the blessing of same-sex relationships. A dialogue series is designed, tested and evaluated in this thesis and a detailed description is presented in the Appendices. The results reveal that these lessons provide a framework for congregations seeking to develop a method of dialogue for themselves.