Wide Range of Christian Churches Look to "Common Witness and Cooperation," Issue Statement Following Chicago Meeting
WASHINGTON (April 29, 2002) -- Representatives of a wide spectrum of churches in the United States met in Chicago, Illinois, from April 4 to 6, 2002, to discuss the formation of a more comprehensive format for common witness and cooperation among Christians in the United States. At the end of the meeting they released a statement in which they lamented their divisions and described their preliminary vision of a new forum that would hopefully bring together all the country's major Christian denominations. A provisional name, "Christian Churches Together in the USA," was adopted, and a Draft Basis Statement was released as an appendix to the statement.
The Catholic Church was represented at the meeting by His Eminence William Cardinal Keeler, Archbishop of Baltimore, Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco, Bishop Tod Brown of Orange (Chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs), Auxiliary Bishop Edwin Conway of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Rev. Ronald Roberson of the staff of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, and Sr. Joan McGuire, Director of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
The Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 1993 (nos. 163-171) addresses the ways in which the Catholic Church can relate to structures of ecumenical cooperation at the national level. The Catholic Church in many countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the Caribbean has already joined national forums similar to the one envisaged here for the United States.
Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.
An Invitation to a Journey
April 6, 2002
Chicago, Illinois
As Evangelical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic church leaders, we write to all Christians in the United States to share our longing for an expanded Christian conversation in our nation. In Baltimore on Sept 7 - 8, 2001, we met to pray, to listen and to seek the guidance of God on whether all who confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures can talk together about how to share with the world our common confession of Jesus Christ. We continued this prayerful conversation in Chicago on April 4 - 6 and sensed the Holy Spirit leading us to new possibilities.
We are Christians who long for greater unity. It is our longing which most clearly points us toward "something new" as a possibility for the churches in the United States. We celebrate the unique traditions, gifts and charisms of our respective faith communities. We also acknowledge that when our differences create unnecessary divisions, our witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ is distorted. We offer our lamentations and longings with prayerful expectation that the Holy Spirit is moving us toward a new expression of our relationships with one another and our witness to the world.
We lament that we are divided and that our divisions too often result in distrust, misunderstandings, fear and even hostility between us. We long for the broken body of Christ made whole, where unity can be celebrated in the midst of our diversity.
We lament our often diffuse and diminished voice on matters critical to the gospel in our society. We long for a more common witness, vision and mission.
We lament how our lack of faithfulness to each other has led to a lack of effectiveness on crucial issues of human dignity and social justice. We long to strengthen the prophetic public voice of the Christian community in America.
We lament that none of our current organizations represents the full spectrum of Christians in the United States. We long for a place, where our differences could be better understood and our commonalities better affirmed.
In Chicago, we began to see a vision of a new life together. This vision has led us to provisionally call ourselves "Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A.." With excitement we began to sketch the outlines of a new level of relationship and action that offer a common witness for Christ to the world. This common witness will be visible through our:
Celebrating a common confession of faith in the Triune God
Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit through biblical, spiritual and theological reflection
Engaging in common prayer
Speaking to society with a common voice
Promoting the common good of society
Fostering faithful evangelism
Seeking reconciliation by affirming our commonalities and understanding our differences
Building a community of fellowship and mutual support
We invite all churches who confess Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit to join us on this journey. We have only just begun to explore how to walk together. The questions for conversation, the ways to talk together and the paths to take all remain to be fleshed out by those whom, we trust, will join us on this difficult and essential journey of faith and obedience. We cannot know the details of the way, but we long to allow the Holy Spirit to answer our Lord's prayer to the Father, "that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent me." John 17: 21
Bishop Vicken Aykazian
Armenian Orthodox
Bishop Dimitrios Couchell
Greek Orthodox Church
Dr. Peter Bouteneff
Orthodox Church in America
Bishop Tod Brown
Roman Catholic Church
Commissioner John Busby
The Salvation Army
Rev. Rothangliani Chhangte
American Baptist Churches
Rev. Dr. Seung K. Choi
Korean Presbyterian Church
Bishop Edwin Conway
Roman Catholic Church
Rev. Robert Edgar
National Council of Churches
Rev. Dr. David Engelhard
Christian Reformed Church in NA
Bishop Jon Enslin
Evangelical Lutheran Church
Bishop Chris Epting
Episcopal Church
Rev. Dr. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson
Reformed Church in America
Ms. Elenie K. Huszagh, Esq.
President, National Council of Churches
Cardinal William Keeler
Roman Catholic Church
Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick
Presbyterian Church in the USA
Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky
Orthodox Church in America
Archbishop William Levada
Roman Catholic Church
Rev. Michael Livingston
International Council of Community Churches
Sister Joan McGuire
Roman Catholic Church
Bishop George McKinney
Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches of NA
Rev. Roy Medley
American Baptist Churches
Colonel Philip Needham
The Salvation Army
Rev. Judy Mills Reimer
Church of the Brethren
Dr. Ann K. Riggs
Director of Faith and Order
National Council of Churches
Rev. Ronald Roberson
Roman Catholic Church
Rev. Robert Sawyer
Moravian Church in America
Rev. Ronald Sider
Evangelicals for Social Action
Bishop Melvin Talbert
United Methodist Church
Rev. Lydia Veliko
United Church of Christ
Rev. Jim Wallis
Sojourners/Call To Renewal
Rev. Dr. Robert Welsh
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Rev. Robina Winbush
Presbyterian Church in the USA
Bishop McKinley Young
African Methodist Episcopal Church
APPENDIX
DRAFT BASIS STATEMENT
Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. gathers together those churches and Christian communities which acknowledging God's revelation in Christ, confesses the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the Scripture, and in obedience to God's will and in the power of the Holy Spirit commit themselves to seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another; to fulfill their mission to proclaim the Gospel by common witness and service in the world for the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Revised: April 30, 2002