E. D. Burns

E. D. Burns is the International Director of Frontier Dispatch, a faculty member at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, a missionary in Southeast Asia, and a former missionary in Alaska and in the Middle East.

26 January 2026

The Future of Evangelical Missions in the Face of Ecumenical Compromise

Many leaders in modern missions have ceded theological ground to ecumenical dialogue.  Ecumenism and ecumenical dialogue are typically inter-religious (or inter-faith) and cross-denominational alliances based upon a high value of perceived community around activism and a lowest-common denominator of doctrinal clarity. These alliances can either be formal (e.g., signed agreements between diverse parties) or informal (e.g., ministry-based relationships for common causes). Often there is a general agreement to the “basics” of the Christian faith, such as The Apostle's Creed, and anything more specific is considered peripheral, distracting to Christ's mission, or even divisive and harmful to church unity.