The Gift of Being Christian Together

“Christians are made, not born” — Tertullian (d. 220), Apologia 18

“So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Together, Evangelicals and Catholics humbly thank God for the gift of being made into Christians through Jesus' saving Cross, His Resurrection, and the sending of the Spirit.
Just as the people of Israel were “called out” of the nations to become a chosen people, so too we recognize that Christians are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people of his own,” whom God has called “out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pt. 2:9).
In the city of Antioch the disciples of Jesus “were first called Christians” (Acts 11:26), and God has ceaselessly called people to himself, to bear the name of Christ.
We Catholics and Evangelicals recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Christ who have received the same baptism and call,
as belonging to one and the same Christian family, and as sharing the same faith, hope, and love (1 Thess. 1:3).

As members in the same household of God (1 Tim. 3:15) we recognize that many of the doctrinal, disciplinary, and liturgical differences between Evangelicals and Catholics, some substantial, presume a shared, even if contested commitment to Christ. These disagreements, some seemingly irresolvable, nonetheless demonstrate that we affirm in the other a common calling from Christ and belief in him as Lord. Thus, we accept the gift of accompanying our brothers and sisters as we all seek to attune our lives and thoughts to Christ, acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior (Phil. 2:5).

Catholics, in describing what it means to be a Christian, often emphasize the sacramental life of the Church, and Evangelicals often stress personal faith in Christ. Yet, we know that there are degrees of conformity to Christ not only in other Christians with whom we disagree but within our own lives and communities as well. Thus, to be a Christian is to be a pilgrim, to be moving towards full conformity to the One whose name we bear;
it is to be called from our former way of life into a life in the Spirit, which will be realized fully only in the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1–2): “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 Jn 3:2).

At the heart of being Christian is Christ’s living presence and power at work in us. It is a gift already received by grace through faith, “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” and one that is coming to maturity, “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” within Christian community (Col 1:27–29, Eph. 4:13).
In Acts 11 the first Christians are distinguished by Christ’s life, grace, power, and anointed Word at work in them (Acts 11:19–26). Even with the real threat of death, the blood of Stephen’s martyrdom still fresh, they uphold their resolute witness (Acts 11:19, 23). A few decades after the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch, the bishop of that same city, Ignatius of Antioch, hints at the true meaning of this name as he journeys to martyrdom and hopes that he “may not merely be called a Christian, but really be found to be one” (letter to the church in Rome; cf. 1 Pt. 4:16). Perceiving these marks of Christ in one another, we Catholics and Evangelicals recognize the same profound witness to Jesus in our fellow Christians, some even to the point of shedding their blood. Therefore, pressing on toward full maturity in Christ and depending on “his power working within” us, we delight in calling one another Christian (Col 1:28–29).

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we recognize that we are called by the same Lord to “bear with one another in love” because,
despite our divisions, there is but "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all" (Eph. 4:2; 5–6).
We repent of all absences of familial love between Evangelicals and Catholics, among which has been the theologically dubious claim that either Evangelicals or Catholics are not Christians. Against this work of division, together we pray for fuller unity among Catholics and Evangelicals, who already share a common calling and mission, which includes a union both with Christ and with all of his disciples (Jn. 17:21),
and a witness in the world through mutual love for one another (Jn. 13:35).