wfn.org | Churches uniting so the world may believe

["Communication Ministries" <wshuffit@cm.disciples.org>]

Date: January 24, 2002
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: Curt Miller
E-mail: cmiller@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

02a-6

	MEMPHIS (DNS) -- Amid soaring anthems, brass fanfares,
high-energy gospel music, quiet reflections, prayer and
fond reminiscence, the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ) and nine other Protestant denominations launched a
new ecumenical venture called Churches Uniting in Christ
(CUIC) here Jan.18-21.

	Churches Uniting in Christ is a Christian unity
partnership expressed through shared worship, mission and
ministry. It is not and does not intend to be a merger of
the member communions. The CUIC denominations are: the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ,
the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian
Church (USA), the United Methodist Church, the
International Council of Community Churches, the African
Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and the Episcopal Church.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a CUIC
Partner in Mission and Dialogue.

	Churches Uniting in Christ is the fruit of more than 40
years of church unity discussions by the Consultation on
Church Union (COCU). During the weekend of events, the
Consultation officially ended and Churches Uniting in
Christ came into being. 

	"It was for me a historic ecumenical moment that
culminated not just 40 years of work in the Consultation on
Church Union but marked a new day in the ecumenical life of
the church in this nation," said the Rev. Robert K. Welsh,
president of the Disciples Council on Christian Unity. "It
felt like we were on a holy mountain. But now we must go
down from that mountain. We now enter a new hard phase in
our work as the focus of this relationship shifts from the
national gathering in Memphis to local communities and
congregations," said the Disciples ecumenical officer.
Resources are being prepared to help congregations form
local relationships among CUIC churches. 

	A weekend seminar explored the development of local CUIC
ties. "Get to know the neighbors," said the Rev. Canon
Saundra D. Richardson, ecumenical officer for the Episcopal
Diocese of Michigan. She suggested formation of CUIC clergy
groups, the sharing of worship and liturgical resources,
common Bible studies and cooperative sponsorship of
outreach ministries. Start by "having a CUIC
consciousness," said the Rev. Ron Cunningham, Memphis,
general secretary for Christian education for the Christian
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

	The Rev. Kathryn Bannister, a Kansas United Methodist
Church pastor preached at a worship service honoring the
work of the Consultation on Church Union. Not yet 40 years
old, Bannister hadn't been born when the unity discussions
started. Her sermon, "There's Still Room" focused on need
to welcome people, especially when they are different.
"When we extend true hospitality to one another  the true
hospitality that transcends the barriers of ethnicity and
culture  we remember together who we are and whose we
are," Bannister preached. 

	In the other major worship event, celebrating the
inauguration of Churches Uniting in Christ, African
Methodist Episcopal Bishop McKinley Young asked "Is it
possible that we will be able to live differently in our
world?" He said that if the partner communions really do
live up to the commitments they've made, they will be
agents of God's transformation of the world. "We want CUIC
to be more than words," he preached. "We cannot do this by
ourselves. We have to go together. It is our finest hour."
He paused, and added, "Don't blow it!"

	Churches Uniting in Christ identifies eight "marks"of the
unity relationship:

	*Mutual recognition of each other as authentic expressions
of the one church of Jesus Christ

	* Mutual recognition of members in one Baptism

	*Mutual recognition that each affirms the apostolic faith
of Scripture and Tradition which is expressed in the
Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, and that each seeks to give
witness to the apostolic faith in its life and mission

	*Provision for celebration of the Eucharist together with
intentional regularity

	*Engagement togther in Christ's mission on a regular and
intentional basis

	*Intentional commitment to promote unity with wholeness
and to oppose all marginalization and exclusion in church
and society based on such things as race, age, gender,
forms of disability, sexual orientation and class

	*Appropriate structures of accountability and appropriate
means for consultation and decision making

	*An ongoing process of theological dialogue 

	CUIC partners have set a goal of providing a foundation
for the mutual recognition and reconciliation of ordained
ministry by the members of CUIC by the year 2007. To date,
those discussions have been difficult because of historic
differences among the partners concerning ministry titles
and understandings of ministers' roles and authority. But
the Rev. Paul Crow, Jr., former Disciples Council on
Christian Unity president and the first general secretary
of COCU, says Churches Uniting in Christ offers a new and
hopeful environment for the discussions. "We now have
visible expressions of our unity. We're not just friends.
No, we're brothers and sisters in Christ now. Our lives and
our churches are knit together," he said. "The ministry
question will be pursued in the context of the measure of
the unity we already have."

	The new church unity relationship expresses a strong
commitment to fighting racism. The morning of the national
holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., hundreds of
Churches Uniting in Christ participants and Memphis
citizens marched from Memphis City Hall to the National
Civil Rights Museum. On the preserved motel balcony where 
King was assassinated in 1968, the heads of the nine CUIC
churches signed a pledge to combat racism. The Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America signed as a CUIC Partner in
Mission and Dialogue.  

	"It is the hope of all true Disciples of Christ that this
witness today will help this nation become true to its own
great values of liberty and justice for all," said General
Minister and President Richard L. Hamm prior to signing the
document on behalf of the Christian Church (Disciples of
Christ). "By committing ourselves to becoming anti-racist,
pro-reconciling churches together," the GMP said, "we hope
to help create a society that is a realization of Dr.
King's dream - a society in which people indeed will be
judged by the content of their character rather than by the
color of their skin - a society marked not by racism, but
by rights and responsibilities, not by privilege for some,
but by possibilities for all."

	"There will be no silence from CUIC in the face of
injustice. There will be no apathy from CUIC in the face of
racism," said the Rev. Jeffrey Newhall, COCU president.

	Churches Uniting in Christ is not limited to its present
membership. Other denominations have participated in the
unity discussions as observers, and the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America voted at its August 2001
assembly to join the relationship as a Partner in Mission
and Dialogue. "This new relationship isn't closed," said
Disciples ecumenical officer Robert K. Welsh. "The
understanding of all of us that are in it is that it's open
even wider. There's still a place at the table for others
who would want to join." 

	Christian unity has been called the "polar star" of the
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). "Churches Uniting
in Christ goes beyond simply trying to be true to our
heritage," said GMP Hamm. "I think we're not anymore just
acting on principle. I think now we're being energized by
the reality of the table, and the reality of relationships
developing among the member communions. It's synergistic. I
want to see that continue to grow."

	"Let it be recorded that in an age of violence and
vengeance, Christians gathered in Memphis to celebrate
God's work of reconciliation in Jesus Christ - and to
demonstrate this divine, reconciling grace in the way we
live as churches with one another," said the Rev. Michael
Kinnamon, an ordained Disciple and outgoing general
secretary of COCU.

	-- end --