Look Back in Hope: An Ecumenical Life

A child of China missionary parents, Keith Clements looks back on a life rich in diverse experiences in many parts of the world as pastor, theologian, writer, and servant of the ecumenical movement. In so doing he finds hope "for the creation of true community in the world, of people among themselves, with God, and with creation. That is what the gospel of Christ is all about, what the church is about, and indeed what God who lives and loves as three-in-one is all about." He recalls instances of grace in which--even amid conflict and tragedy--people, churches, and communities discover the possibilities of new life together. It is both a very human story of personal faith, and an insider's account of ecumenical Christianity's quest for a more visibly united church and a world of peace and justice. Famous influences like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and present-day leaders such as Desmond Tutu figure prominently; but so do so-called ordinary people he has met over the years, whether in an English village, in communist East Germany, or in a South African squatter camp, who have shown by the way they live that another world--and another kind of church--is possible.

Keith Clements, after ten years pastoring local congregations, was tutor at Bristol Baptist College and taught theology at Bristol University. From 1990 he worked full-time on the international ecumenical scene, and was general secretary of the Conference of European Churches, Geneva, 1997-2005. Writing on modern Christian life and thought, his special interests have included Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the ecumenical pioneer J. H. Oldham. He is a minister of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.