wfn.org | Newsline: NCC leader proclaims importance of working for peace

[Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford <CBrumbaugh-Cayford@brethren.org>]

Newsline: Church of the Brethren News Service, News Director Cheryl Brumbau gh-Cayford, 800-323-8039 ext. 260, cobnews@brethren.org<mailto:cobnews@bret hren.org

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES LEADER PROCLAIMS IMPORTANCE OF WORKING FOR PEA CE

(June 29, 2009) San Diego, CA -- Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the  National Council of Churches of Christ (NCC), was the featured speaker at  the annual Ecumenical Luncheon hosted by the Church of the Brethren’s Com mittee of Interchurch Relations (CIR).

Church of the Brethren general secretary Stan Noffsinger and Kinnamon both  celebrated the active relationship between the two bodies. Kinnamon thanked  the denomination for its active role in ecumenism, and lauded Jordan Blevi ns, a member of the Church of the Brethren, for his role on the staff of th e Eco-Justice Program of the NCC.

The CIR also hosted church leaders from Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Christia n Methodist Episcopal, Armenian Church of North America, and Presbyterian g roups in the San Diego area.

"The ecumenical movement is essentially a movement for peace," Kinnamon ass erted in his address. He referenced the country of Sri Lanka, which has bee n suffering from civil war for over two decades. Six percent of the Sri Lan kan population is Christian, comprising many different faith traditions. Wh en asked why the Christian communities in Sri Lanka did not reach out to bo th sides of the civil war to aid in reconciliation, as they had inroads wit h both sides involved, a Christian leader told Kinnamon that they weren’t  able even to work across the divides among Christians in the country.

"Division costs lives," said Kinnamon. He quoted Mennonite scholar John How ard Yoder in saying, "Where the church is divided, the gospel is not true i n that place."

"The church has been entrusted with the mission of reconciliation," said Ki nnamon, "and peace is too large an issue to deal with in denominational iso lation." He shared that the ecumenical movement from its very beginning was  a movement for peace, shaped by efforts for churches to come together duri ng World War II and the Cold War.

"In the last 60 years, Christians have made great strides together," stress ed Kinnamon, claiming that there are three major peace statements made in t he past 60 years by ecumenical bodies such as the NCC and World Council of  Churches: war is contrary to the will of God; there are some forms of viole nce in which Christians may not participate; and that peace is inseparable  from justice. In this light, he proclaimed the importance of working proact ively for peace.

Kinnamon said that while "radical peacemaking is usually established by the  historic peace churches," he asserted that perhaps we should "give away ou r title of Historic Peace Church in order to bring others into the realm an d responsibility of peacemaking." He referenced Ephesians, saying, "Unity i s a gift of God.... If we would be what we are, one body of Christ, it woul d be our greatest witness to peace."

The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination committed to continu ing the work of Jesus peacefully and simply, and to living out its faith in  community. The denomination is based in the Anabaptist and Pietist faith t raditions and is one of the three Historic Peace Churches. It celebrated it s 300th anniversary in 2008. It counts some 125,000 members across the Unit ed States and Puerto Rico, and has missions and sister churches in Nigeria,  Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and India.

(Melissa Troyer of Middlebury, Ind., Church of the Brethren and a member of  the Church of the Brethren’s Committee on Interchurch Relations contribu ted this report.)

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