Stone-Campbell Dialogue Addresses Issues of Global Mission
St. Louis, MO - Representatives of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Churches of Christ, and Christian Churches/Churches of Christ gathered in St. Louis on June 8-10, 2008, for the 11th meeting of the Stone-Campbell Dialogue, an on-going discussion intended to strengthen ties between the three historically related "streams" of the 19th-century movement associated with Barton W. Stone and Thomas and Alexander Campbell. This session of the dialogue was focused upon the topic of global mission.
The event began with a Sunday evening worship service at the First Christian Church of Florissant, Missouri, a 1500-member congregation of the Christian Church/Churches of Christ. Some 200 persons attended the service from congregations in the St. Louis area representing all three "streams." Dr. Guthrie Veech, president of the St. Louis Christian College, was the featured speaker on that occasion.
Presentations on the understandings of global mission within each of the three branches were presented by Monte Cox, professor of mission at Harding University; Doug Priest, executive director of Christian Missionary Fellowship; and, David Vargas, president of the Division of Overseas Ministries. In discussion of these presentations, there was general affirmation that the three streams of the movement are growing in their vision and strategies related to the tasks of global mission and reaching the "unchurched," while maintaining a strong commitment to Christian unity as a significant element in our witness. There was also agreement that overseas mission broadly includes the components of justice and compassion, as well as partnering in indigenous church planting, as a guiding principle in our work with churches both here in North America and around the world.
In addition to a suggestion in follow up to this meeting regarding the possibility of future sharing between the churches in their overseas mission, the dialogue team set the dates for its next gathering to take place in Lexington, Kentucky, on March 29-31, 2009 as a time to highlight the 200th anniversary of the publication of the Declaration and Address (the beginning of the movement launched by Thomas Campbell in 1809), to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this Stone-Campbell dialogue, and to explore issuing a statement encouraging the future of the Stone-Campbell relationships in local congregations and communities.
In summarizing the importance of the meeting, Robert Welsh, ecumenical officer for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), shared, "This dialogue continues to serve as an important meeting place for representatives of these three churches to re-claim our fundamental identity within the Stone-Campbell family as a people of unity. It also provides a space where stereotypes can be addressed, and misinformation corrected - as we discovered in St. Louis around the theme of how God is calling all of us to global mission in new ways."