San Jose, Calif. - Sixty-seven national Christian leaders from five Christian families - Evangelical/Pentecostal, Historic Protestant, Historic Racial/Ethnic, Orthodox and Catholic - met in their fifth and largest gathering to pray and dialogue together at the Jesuit Conference Center in Los Altos, California, from June 1 to 3, 2005.
Since its initial gathering in 2001, Christian Churches Together seeks to become a forum that will "enable churches and national Christian organizations to grow closer in Christ in order to strengthen our common Christian witness in the world." The gathering at Los Altos brought together a wider, more diverse circle of Christian church leaders than at any of the previous four meetings.
Thirty-one churches and national Christian organizations have already formally decided to join Christian Churches Together as full participants, including the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The Rev. Robert K. Welsh, president of the Council on Christian Unity, represented the Disciples in this meeting. Twenty additional church leaders attended as observers from denominations that are actively considering full participation.
Through two and a half days of sharing, prayer and worship, the participants wrestled with difficult and complex issues in a spirit of love and good will. Relationships with the Historic Black Churches were deepened through intensive dialogue and sharing around the issues of racism in the wider context of church life in the USA and within our society. Participants also received a report about the Global Christian Forum, a similar initiative at the international level seeking to bring together the wide diversity of Christian traditions into fellowship, cooperation and understanding.
It was agreed that the next meeting of CCT in 2006 would continue common activities of prayer, biblical reflection, worship and relationship building, as well as focusing upon the issue of poverty in the United States. The Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, was unanimously reelected as moderator to lead an expanded Steering Committee.
The decision was made to delay a formal launch of Christian Churches Together that had been planned for this fall in order to continue the productive and positive conversation with churches and organizations actively considering joining. Participants enthusiastically reaffirmed their commitment to the vision and purposes of CCT, and to the hope it offers for deepening and expanding the fellowship, unity, and witness among the diverse expressions of Christian faith today here in the United States.
In reflecting on this meeting, Welsh shared, "This was an historic gathering in the life of this new ecumenical body that is still in formation, and that offers such great potential. The participants were able to engage is serious and honest discussion about major issues facing all of our churches today here in the US. The spirit of the meeting was clearly bathed in prayer, in worship, in deepening relationships of trust, and in seeking the mind and Spirit of Christ. While the official 'launch' was delayed, clearly Christian Churches Together has already begun."