Foundations of the Communion

Foundations of the Communion among Christian Movements and Communities 

Since 1999 some leaders of Christian Movements and Communities felt urged by the Holy Spirit to embark on a journey of communion, united in the name of Jesus. The various stages of the journey travelled thus far make us think that He was the one to guide us, and at the same time they indicate the characteristics of such a communion also for the future.

Spirit

1. The Gospel led us to make a pact of reciprocal love according to Jesus new commandment,¹ foundation of our communion.
2. Reciprocal love allows us to experience the presence of Christ as He promised: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."² This is the real meaning of each meeting or  activity in common: Jesus in our midst.
3. One of the effects of such love is that of highlighting the charism of the other, the gift of God of which and for which each Movement and Community lives. It is a love that is ready to “carry each other’s burdens”³ and to “consider the other person to be better than yourself.”⁴ This makes them live as people who are reconciled: forgiving and asking for forgiveness, both in personal relationships and in those among Movements and Communities.
4. This love helps to overcome prejudices and to open heart and soul to welcome other people’s experiences in the Spirit. It creates unselfish and fraternal relations among persons of different Movements and Communities.
5. In the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul describes how the relationship among charisms should be in order to give visibility to Christ.⁵ Therefore, the size or extension of a Movement or Community does not matter, but the fact that it brings a gift of the Spirit and that it enters into communion with the others.
6. Movements and Communities that are part of such a communion are mostly a lay charismatic expression of the people of God.

¹ See Jn 13:34. ² Mt 18:20. ³ See Gal 6:2. ⁴ See Ph 2:3. ⁵  See 1 Cor 12:4-27.