wfn.org | New Ecumenical body in the USA?

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Conservative and liberal religious organizations are talking about forming
a new broad-based national ecumenical body that would work together on
common social causes. The National Association of Evangelicals and National
Council of Churches are considering realigning and forming a third group,
according to the Los Angeles Times. ...A summit of leaders from a broad
range of Christian denominations probably will be held next spring,
according to the Times. Leaders of the National Council of Churches are
working on ideas to bring other churches together for such a meeting. Kevin
Mannoia of the National Association of Evangelicals and John Hotchkin of
the Catholic ecumenical affairs office in Washington said their
organizations probably would articipate......"The block walls are coming
down and giving way to picket fences," Mannoia told the Times. "The old
compartmentalized segmentation of the church is giving way to a new sense
of vision and mission and presence of God in America." The financially
troubled NCC voted earlier this year to disband over the next three years
if a new broad-based church group is formed, said Robert Edgar, the
council's general secretary. Also, the NAE has removed the rule prohibiting
churches that are affiliated with the NCC from also joining the evangelical
group. ...Evangelicals are "rediscovering the integration of social
holiness and personal holiness," Mannoia said. Churches that join the
evangelical group still must subscribe to its statement of faith, which
says that Jesus Christ is the son of God and that the Bible is "the
inspired, the only infallible, authoritative word of God."