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News of Ecumenical Organizations:

United States

 

NCC approves permanent body on local/regional ecumenism

The National Council of Churches governing board has approved the formation of a permanent Local and Regional Ecumenism committee for the council, to be formalized at the NCC general assembly in November. A first meeting of the group is slated for next February, and a call for nominations to the committee will be made before long. Attempts will be made to include representatives of a wide spectrum of concerns--state and local ecumenical/interfaith organizations, denominational ecumenical officers and judicatory leaders, congregational leaders, the young adult New Fire team. The committee will be charged with fostering relationships among and between local, regional, and national expressions of the ecumenical movement.

 

Christian Churches Together

Committee asks for comments on PC(USA) membership in CCT

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is a provisional member of CCT as well as an NCC member communion. The PC(USA) has expressed particular concern that Christian Churches Together be a hospitable place that encompases racial and ethnic churches. (See Minutes, 217th General Assembly, p. 574f.) The permanent General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical Relations is charged with bringing a report on CCT to the 219th General Assembly (2010) at the end of the current period of PC(USA) provisional membership.

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CCT is the broadest ecumenical table in the U.S. to date

Christian Churches Together, as the broadest ecumenical table of conversation yet to exist in the U.S., has developed a purpose statement: “Christian Churches Together shall seek to fulfill [its] purpose and to embody our unity in Jesus Christ through mutual support, learning, and outreach into our participant bodies and into American society.” With the statement as guide, the CCT steering committee has considered goals around each of the three main elements in it. CCT uses discernment and consensus as its primary decision-making model.

Leonid Kishkovsky is the current CCT moderator and Richard L. Hamm (pictured) is executive director. Asked how he would know if CCT is succeeding, Hamm offered three benchmarks: that CCT have a growing number of participants, speak to relevant topics, and maintain its focus. See FAQs about CCT. See a short video about CCT.

CCT's general tasks, as defined in its by-laws, are to:

  • celebrate a common confession of faith in the Triune God
  • discern the guidance of the Holy Spirit through prayer and theological dialogue

  • provide fellowship and mutual support

  • seek better understanding of each other by affirming commonalities and understanding differences

  • foster evangelism faithful to the proclamation of the gospel

  • speak to society with a common voice whenever possible

  • promote the common good of society and engage in other activities consistent with its purposes

CCT has priorities for evangelism and poverty

CCT is committed to two basic emphases for the period ahead, evangelism and fighting poverty. See the CCT statement on poverty and its resources for study and action on poverty. The discussion at the CCT 2010 meeting centered on evangelism. Participants heard that common witness by divided church families requires trust-building. It affirmed that all segments of society found in the church must be partners in God's mission. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson wrote afterward, "We have discovered a place where leadership from the diverse sections of the Christian community can have an honest and engaging encounter about the meaning and practice of evangelism in contemporary culture."

 

How can expansive ecumenism be expressed locally?

Christian Churches Together (CCT) is a new forum growing out of a deeply felt need to broaden and expand fellowship, unity, and witness among the diverse expressions of Christian faith in the U.S. today. As such, it is the most diverse ongoing ecumenical forum in the nation. But it has been only a national effort to date. How can it be expressed locally? The CCT steering committee has encouraged local use of four features of its model:

  • Consensus decision making
  • Designation of "families" of churches for purposes of participation and decision making : Catholic, Historic African American, Orthodox, Evangelical/Pentecostal, and historic Protestant
  • Participation by as many churches as can claim three affirmations: believe in Christ according to the scriptures, worship and serve the Triune God, work together to present a credible Christian witness
  • Inclusion of local organizations, up to 20% of participants (e.g., at the national level, Bread for the World, Habitat for Humanity, World Vision, American Bible Society, etc.)

Any local expression of CCT should avoid undercutting existing means by which Christian unity is encouraged and practiced in a community. CCT nationally may help network local CCT-type expressions.

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Church Women United

Church Women United will celebrate its 70th birthday in December 2011. It partners with a wide range of organizations, including the MalariaNoMore campaign to end malaria by 2012 and Church World Service to provide clean drinking water in Kenya. It is the custodian of the Fellowship of the Least Coin offerings in the U.S. CWU sponsors special days throughout the year: May Friendship Day, World Community Day, and Human Rights Day. While it formerly coordinated the World Day of Prayer celebration, a separate U.S. committee now takes that responsibility. A newsletter provides information about what is happening in the CWU legislative office in Washington D.C. CWU executive officer is Djamillah Samad.

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The National Council of Churches / Church World Service

| NCC member churches | CWS affiliated organizations | Seeking Justice: economy and ecology |

| NCC annual report |

Church World Service regularly posts "Speak Out" alerts

Church World Service regularly posts "Speak Out" alerts that encourage constituents to communicate on key issues to urge policy changes. These concerns may involve governmental agencies or representatives, the United Nations, or international institutions. In April 2010, featured alerts were geared toward the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, immigration reform in the U.S., and global hunger and food security. Other concerns centered on trade justice, refugees, and availability of water for all. It is possible to sign up for e-mail notification of new alerts.

The NCC is an instrument of its member communions

December 2008 marked one hundred years since the Federal Council of Churches was founded in a Philadelphia meeting by Christians who saw that they "should be prepared to act together for the welfare of their neighbors." Today National Council of Churches (NCC) general secretary Michael Kinnamon has emphasized that the essence of a council is "not just what we do, but what we are." Kinnamon's own reflections on the tensions involved in ecumenical councils were expressed in a 2008 speech.

Peg Chemberlin (pictured right), a Moravian minister and the executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches, is the current president of the National Council of Churches. Kathryn Lohre, an Evangelical Lutheran who is assistant director of the Pluralism Project and a member of the World Council of Churches central committee, is the president-elect. José Luis Casal (pictured left), general missioner of the PC(USA) Presbytery of Tres Rios, is secretary.

The NCC has been in a period requiring financial restraint and adopted a comprehensive strategic plan for 2007-2011 that supports a lean organization. 

Download an NCC brochure specifically for Presbyterians and a general brochure. See the NCC 2008-2009 annual report. See the report of the Presbyterian delegation to the NCC for 2006-2007.

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Faith and Order study themes address today's ecumenism

The vice-chair of the U.S. Faith and Order Commission is currently Presbyterian Aimee Moiso (pictured). The commission is pursuing as studies in 2008-2011:

  • Unity in Mission (involving more than NCC member communions)
  • Justice and Salvation (asking how personal salvation is related to the transformation of the whole world and how justice is related to justification)
  • The Nature and Mission of the Church (leading to a collaborative response to an important World Council of Churches' study process)

From the previous eight years' of study, Faith and Order has produced two documents, a response to the Catholic paper, "A Petrine Ministry," and a consensus document, "The Authority of the Church in the World" (plus an introduction to the latter by Antonios Kireopoulos as well as papers from a variety of confessional perspectives).

The papers from the 2007 Faith and Order conference “On Being Christian Together: the Faith and Order Experience in the United States” are being collected in a book, Theology in the U.S. Today: Churches on the Journey. The Speaking of Unity online journal is expected to present the outcomes of an earlier study of Full Communion, to be followed by a conference bringing together participants in bilateral dialogues.

Justice and Advocacy Commission takes a wholistic approach

Through the NCC's Justice and Advocacy Commission, churches, church organizations and agencies, and regional ecumenical bodies are invited to work together to pursue justice concerning a whole array of societal issues and to speak with a common voice. The commission seeks to work from a wholistic approach that takes insights and disciplines from a full range of perspectives. Visit its web site.

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Churches Uniting in Christ 

| Predecessor COCU's history | Marks of CUIC participation |

Racism at center of CUIC's mission and CUIC's floundering

PC(USA) stated clerk Gradye Parsons (pictured near left) and associate stated clerk Robina Winbush (pictured far left) were among the heads of churches and ecumenical officers of the member communions of Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) who made decisions toward a new beginning for the body at a meeting on February 17, 2010. They moved then toward recommitment to CUIC's original vision of expressing the visible unity of the church. Moderator of the meeting was PC(USA) minister Michael Livingston (pictured right).

A hiatus in the organizational activities of CUIC has been observed since 2008 in the face of a disconnect between "intent and impact" in the covenantal agreement that had been made at CUIC's inauguration in 2002. A breach in relationships came when two of its three historically black churches, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ) and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), were absent from the 2008 plenary. The cause was concern that issues of racial justice which had been a part of the CUIC agreements were not being adequately addressed in the life of the body and its member churches.

At CUIC's inauguration, it said, "To envision unity without addressing racism is to ignore our history in North America and deny the insidious nature of that which divides us." CUIC's intentions on racism rested on key understandings:

  • There is a link between the churches' search for unity in faith, sacraments, and ministry and the struggle to overcome racism in the churches and the human community. 

  • Authentic unity is inclusive and requires justice within the churches and in society.

  • Our prophetic witness against racism and the powers of oppression is a test of the churches' faithfulness.

The 2010 meeting agreed to recommend to CUIC member churches that a plenary be held in January 2011 calling for reaffirmation of its eight marks of commitment and identifying overcoming racism as the core commitment of CUIC for the period ahead. Initiatives toward this goal were also approved.

 

Majority of African Americans are affiliated to historic black churches

The importance of historic black churches for ecumenical relationships with African Americans is shown by statistics from the Pew U.S. religious landscape survey of 2007. Fifty-nine percent of African Americans are affiliated with historic black churches, according to the survey; fifteen percent belong to evangelical churches, four percent to mainline Protestant churches, and five percent to Catholic churches. (One percent are affiliated with Muslim congregations.)

CUIC has had eight visible marks of unity

The visible marks of unity to which CUIC members recommitted at their January 2008 plenary, the same year when CUIC activities were put on hold, had first been adopted at CUIC's beginning:

  • mutual recognition of each other as "authentic expressions of the one church of Jesus Christ"
  • mutual recognition of baptism
  • mutual recognition of apostolic faith
  • celebration of the Eucharist together with intentional regularity
  • engagement together in Christ’s mission
  • intentional commitment to promote unity and oppose marginalization / exclusion in church and society
  • appropriate means for consultation and decision-making
  • an ongoing process of theological dialogue

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On this web site:

Seeking Justice: ecumenical organizations' work for economic and ecological justice

 

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