January 2001
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
In January of 2002, God willing, nine churches will enter a new relationship with one another, to be called Churches Uniting in Christ. These churches - African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church, International Council of Community Churches, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church - have been together for more than thirty years in the Consultation on Church Union. Seven of these churches have already officially voted to become Churches Uniting in Christ; and the other two, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, will act on the proposal next summer.
We, the undersigned leaders, believe that the new relationship will bring our churches closer to that unity for which our Lord prayer on the last night of his life: "May they (the disciples and those who follow them) all be one ... that the world may believe that you have sent me" (John 17:20). We give thanks to God for having brought us this far.
While the new relationship will be based on eight visible marks of unity and will include a number of commitments, none is more important than the shared resolve to combat racism. Our churches have been divided by confessional differences, and these are important; but surely our deepest and most painful separations have stemmed from the experience of slavery and racism. Any effort to realize visible communion among us must pay primary attention to this reality. Thus, one of the marks of unity to which the churches bind themselves is "intentional commitment to promote unity with wholeness and to oppose all marginalization and exclusion in church and society based upon such things as race ... " Combating racism will be a hallmark of Churches uniting in Christ.
We who sign this letter believe that racism is a sin, an offense against God. Those of us from predominantly white churches ask forgiveness for the ways that we and our churches have participated in this evil. We ask God to heal us and to strengthen our witness to the gospel of God's inclusive love though Churches Uniting in Christ.
Our churches are committing to this struggle against racism for two primary reasons:
1. Racism which manifests itself as white skin privilege is based on power plus prejudice, and it is difficult for African-American, Asian American, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Native American, and Pacific Islander "...congregations and members to be fully convinced of the call of their European-American counterparts for unity as equals, if the latter are not willing to struggle to dismantle the obstacles to social, political, and economic equality presented by white privilege ..." (Report of COCU's 18th Plenary).
2. Authentic community among Churches Uniting in Christ will be impossible to achieve if "by their unquestioning acceptance of the unjust gains granted by an unjust system, white members of this community continue their tacit complicity with this unjust social order that denies fullness of life" to African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, Middle Easterners, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The effort of our churches to overcome racism will call us to a might struggle that, with God's help, will enable us to become more truly the church. Racism is a persistent and ubiquitous evil, a heresy, and a denial of God's mighty acts of creation and redemption. It is a battle against "principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). But the struggle will manifest our unity in a way that will compel the world around us to notice, to hear the gospel more clearly, and to take the witness and mission of the church more seriously. We will manifest a unity that is both credible and compelling. "It will require both the conversion of individuals and the transformation of the churches themselves" (Report of the 18th Plenary).
We, leaders of these nine communions, ask for your prayers, as our churches enter this new relationship. At this time of year, when we remember the prophetic ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we also ask for your commitment to a renewed struggle against racism, both in your congregation and in your own life, "that the world may believe."
In Christ,
Bishop William P. DeVeaux, Presiding Bishop, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Bishop Milton Alexander Williams, Presiding Bishop, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
The Rev. Dr. Richard L. Hamm, General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Bishop Nathaniel L. Linsey, Senior Bishop, Second Episcopal Dist., Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church, USA
The Rev. Michael E. Livingston, Executive Director, International Council of Community Churches
The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (USA)
The Rev. John H. Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ
Bishop Melvin G. Talbert, Ecumenical Officer, United Methodist Council of Bishops, The United Methodist Church