At a gathering near Atlanta, March 28-31, representatives of 34 churches and national organizations made the historic decision to organize officially as Christian Churches Together in the USA. This is the broadest, most inclusive fellowship of Christian churches and traditions in the US. Eight additional churches that are considering participation, including Mennonite Church USA, were present as observers. I was privileged to attend on behalf of Mennonite Church USA.
This was a remarkable gathering, unlike anything I've ever experienced. I was encouraged and deeply moved by the broad spectrum of Christian churches represented. Already in the shuttle from the airport I found myself in conversation with a Catholic bishop and the leading bishop of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church. Leaders of three prominent African American denominations, the Catholic Church, mainline denominations such as the UCC, Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians, numerous evangelical and Pentecostal denominations, and Orthodox churches were all in attendance, in addition to representatives of national organizations such as World Vision, Bread for the World, Call to Renewal/Sojourners and Evangelicals for Social Action. Roughly eighty people participated in the meetings.
From the first evening on, I was surprised at how relaxed, cordial and easy the interaction was, considering both the diversity of groups represented and the numerous leaders in high offices. Apparently, this has not always been the case. It was obvious that important relationships have formed during the last five years of visioning and organizational development. There was a warm spirit and graciousness about the interactions as well as a sense of excitement about being together.
I particularly valued an evening of sharing and celebrating stories of what God has been doing in our various churches, as well as praying together in triads for personal needs and challenges.
The official formation of Christian Churches Together was delayed last year because of insufficient involvement of Racial/Ethnic churches. Apparently many days of meetings and conversations have ensued, with the result that two of the very large Black Baptist Conventions are participants and the largest Black Pentecostal group, the Church of God in Christ, was present as an observer and anticipates become a full participant. CCT leadership is committed to ongoing effort to broaden participation.
Because CCT does not wish to create first and second class members, the group decided to abandon the category of charter members. Churches can join as they are ready.
A significant focus during the meeting was conversation around the issue of poverty. This priority had emerged out of the Evangelical/Pentecostal family group at a previous meeting. Time was spent in Bible study and hearing stories and testimonies from people who had experienced poverty. Significant portions of Ron Sider's book, Just Generosity, were distributed before the meeting and served as a basis for discussion. This issue gave the meeting a sense of urgency and relevance for the broader world, though there was also concern that CCT not be perceived primarily as an issue oriented group. The group affirmed that addressing poverty is "central to the mission of the church and essential to our unity in Christ." There was a consensus that both personal choices and structural change are necessary and that an important church contribution in the national discussion is to hold these concerns together. A three person task-force of Dr. Shaw, National Baptist Convention, USA Inc., Ron Sider, ESA, and Bishop Blaire, US Catholic Conference of Bishops, was charged to do further work to explore how the unique resources, gifts and call of CCT can be brought to bear on this issue. One idea which surfaced several times was convening "a solemn national assembly" of fasting and prayer to grieve the reality of poverty, repent of the churches' complicity, and call us to relationship and action with the poor.
One session of our meeting was in family groups. The agenda was to get a sense of whether those assembled were ready to move forward with the formal organization and to select representatives on the steering committee. Following earlier conversations in our Mennonite Church Interchurch Relations Church Associations group, I attended the Evangelical/Pentecostal group. Key leadership came from Pentecostal participants. Evangelical participants included Free Methodists, the Salvation Army, the Christian and Missionary Alliance, conservative congregationalists, the Worldwide Church of God as well as Jim Wallis and Ron Sider. Interestingly this year Cooperative Baptists, General Baptists and Church of Christ attended the Historic Protestant group. This highlighted to me the awkwardness of these categories for some of the churches in the free church tradition. In which family we participate, I think, is relatively unimportant, however. There are many, many opportunities for conversation with any and all participants, and most of the work of the meeting was conducted in the full plenary.
I was disappointed that there were no representatives of other Anabaptist groups, the Church of the Brethren or Friends (though Quaker Ann Riggs attended representing the NCC Faith and Order Commission). I was also surprised that the issue of the war in Iraq was virtually unmentioned both in large group discussion as well as private conversation. (I mentioned the on-going work of CPT in the wake of the recent hostage experience as a prayer concern in one session.)
We spent time on the last morning sharing reflections from our experience. There was a strong shared sentiment that this coming together is truly remarkable and can only be seen as a work of God. There was also a challenge for these kinds of relationships to be cultivated at a local/regional level. The Catholic ecumenical officer also highlighted that at some point we will need to name and wrestle with our differences more intentionally.
There were too many interesting personal conversations to report. I'll mention just two. I was glad for an extended dinner conversation with Ken Bell from the Church of God, Cleveland, the Administrative Liaison to the General Overseer. I also had a fascinating conversation with Harold Bennet, dean of the COGIC seminary. Through the Pentecostal Peace Fellowship I had heard about the head of the COGIC publishing house who has begun advocating conscientious objection. (I have been trying to get his contact information for some months.) When I asked about this, Bennet, pulled out his cell-phone, dialed the number in Memphis, and introduced me to Elder Hall, with whom I had a ten-minute phone conversation!
I think God is at work in the formation of Christian Churches Together. I continue to feel that it would be a modest but significant step for Mennonite Church USA to participate in CCT. This sense was reinforced and strengthened during this meeting. We will want to continue to process this well within Mennonite Church USA. One next step will be to engage with Wes Granberg-Michaelson when he speaks with us at our summer interchurch consultation. (Wes is General Secretary of the Reformed Church in America and serves as chair of the CCT Steering Committee.)
Further information and a press statement will soon be available at: www.christianchurchestogether.org
April 3, 2006