Mailbag: Can Our Ministry Include Catholics?

Recently I fielded a question from a reader about parachurch ministries and whether an evangelical ministry could actively include Roman Catholics in their organization’s work.

Naturally, answering such questions requires more context and background in order to answer precisely. However, I have given much consideration to these kinds of questions through the years. I have many Catholic neighbors, friends, and serve in a predominantly Catholic region. This isn’t theoretical for me and many others.

In that spirit, I offer some key questions for those whose situations may parallel the scenario raised above.

1-How broadly or narrowly defined should our organization’s statement of faith be given the stated mission of the organization?

2-Is our organization’s statement of faith essential to our organization’s purpose? If so, how might involvement by parties not in agreement with the statement of faith potentially undermine, even if gradually, our organization’s purpose?

3-When all factors are considered, are the advantages to being more “inclusive” outweighed by the disadvantages to such inclusivity?

4-Are we communicating, intentionally or not, to staff, supporters, and constituents that core Christian beliefs are insignificant by having a “bigger tent” approach?

5-By taking a cursory or surface-level examination of the content of Christian belief, are we knowingly fostering an environment where many ministry participants and stakeholders use the same words while having very different meanings?

6-Will key stakeholders, backers, and/or core leaders lose confidence or gain confidence in the precision, clarity, and effectiveness of our mission of the organization by taking a more inclusive approach?

7-Are there acceptable ways in which those whose beliefs lie outside our statement of faith can be participants or “co-belligerents” in some arena of our work?

8-Are there participants in our organization who might discover that they have a different understanding of the organization’s purpose, and accordingly, will inevitably disagree on the organization’s strategies and policies?

By no means is this a comprehensive list of relevant questions, but I think they likely touch most of the bases.