A new organization that hopes to unite Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians could be in place within two years under a plan adopted by more than 30 church groups at a meeting in Pasadena, Calif.
The new group, Christian Churches Together in the USA, (CCTUSA) would be the broadest-ever U.S. church alliance and would bring together some denominations that have long been suspicious of each other.
“The new thing here is breadth,” said Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America and a leader of the new group. “We’re not reaching everyone, but we’re reaching a much wider expression … of what American church life is really like.”
Under a draft framework adopted during the Jan. 27–29 meeting at Fuller Theological Seminary, the new organization would officially launch once 25 denominations formally agree to participate.
CCTUSA will be loosely organized into five “families” of churches: Roman Catholic, evangelical/Pentecostal, historic (mainline) Protestant, Orthodox and historic racial/ethnic churches.
Each “family” will nominate three representatives to serve on the organization’s steering committee.
The group will also include representatives of “national Christian organizations” that span denominational lines.
These include groups such as the anti-poverty group Call to Renewal, Evangelicals for Social Action, the Salvation Army and World Vision.
Initially, member churches had hoped to speak with a single voice on issues like poverty or the environment. That may happen eventually, but leaders took pains to lower expectations on sweeping policy or social statements from the new group. “We cannot act together until we pray and walk together and understand each other better,” the draft guidelines stated.
Indeed, political and theological differences have often kept the churches at arm’s length from each other.
The largest church umbrella group, the National Council of Churches, does not include either evangelicals or Catholics, and is seen by some as a withering shell that has outlived its usefulness.
While the new group seems to have sparked the interest of more evangelical churches, it is still unclear whether the nation’s largest Protestant church — the Southern Baptist Convention — will participate.
Unusual participation
Barrett Duke, who attended the meeting as an observer for the Southern Baptists, appreciated the group’s “desire to be inclusive and obvious respect for differences” but could not speculate on whether his denomination would participate.
“Historically, Southern Baptists haven’t been joiners,” Duke said. “It certainly would be quite out of the ordinary for Southern Baptists to join any organization, even one we might agree with.”
Organizers acknowledged “different histories and convictions on some key issues.” They also said that some touchy subjects, such as abortion, homosexuality, women’s ordination or the literal truth of the Bible, will never be touched.
Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, has pushed for an “expanded ecumenical table” for two years. He said the new group is a “broader but thinner” alliance.
“Because it’s broader, it will be harder for it to tackle the tough issues,” Edgar said. “But it’s a blessing to have the larger place where the Roman Catholics, Salvation Army and others can talk about the issues of commonality.”
Conservatives have largely dropped demands for ideological uniformity, and liberals have compromised by agreeing to a scaled-back social advocacy program that will avoid the political pitfalls of past ecumenical failures.
For now, organizers plan to make all decisions by consensus and avoid an us-versus-them attitude that has colored many church relationships. Officials hope to raise $20,000 to get CCTUSA up and running, and then move toward a long-term annual budget of about $250,000.
Ron Sider, director of Evangelicals for Social Action, said the group will be bound by “historic Christian beliefs about God and the person of Christ,” which would exclude groups like the Mormons, for example. He said the group hopes to find a version of evangelism that is palatable to everyone.
“We don’t have one agreed-upon definition, but everyone agrees that the reality of Jesus Christ coming among us and living a model life and dying for the sins of the world and rising on the third day is central,” Sider said. “And we want to invite people to accept that wonderful truth and make it the center of their lives.”
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