Disciples Leaders Address Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Two ecumenical leaders from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) joined other speakers in addressing two special shared gatherings of the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ at this year's Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice.

At a special lunch gathering for both groups, Dr. Richard Hamm spoke about his work as Executive Administrator of Christian Churches Together, a new coalition of 36 communions and 6 organizations. As Dr. Hamm explained to participants, "All of us have two primary challenges before us: one is to convince our government officials that justice and mercy should be among the core values of any nation that would be 'great'." The other is "the need for the conversion of the church in general and of our two churches, the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ, in particular." He continued by saying, "My friends, we often do a far better job of lobbying our government than seeking the conversion of the church. Both are important, yet it is the latter that may have more lasting importance."

Later, at a special evening event for Disciples and members of the UCC, the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, new General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, spoke about his vision of unity, justice, and global security within a framework of ecumenical social ethics. In his presentation, Dr. Kinnamon strongly disagreed with Christians who argue that "when theology and politics . . . are brought together as equal goals, politics always ends up dominating and the ecumenical movement becomes simply another arena for pursuing political agendas." According to Kinnamon, "My whole ministry has been to hold these two streams together." He therefore called for a "hopeful realism" in which Christians refuse to give themselves over to either despair or "wishful thinking," but rather to "imagine the world as our gracious God would have it be, and then let that set our secular agenda."

Other speakers at the evening event included the Rev. Noemi Mena, pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Nacional at National City Christian Church and the Rev. Ann Calvin Rogers-Witte, co-executive of Global Ministries. The Rev. Dr. John Deckenback, Conference Minister for the UCC Central Atlantic Conference, shared with everyone a slide show about his recent trip to Jordan and Iraq.

The event was moderated by Kristen Walling, an undergraduate student at American University, and sponsored by the following organizations: the Disciples Justice Action Network, Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ, the Disciples Center for Public Witness, Christians for Justice Action, the Disciples Peace Fellowship, Global Ministries, and the Disciples Advocacy and Witness Network of the Christian Church Capital Area.

Audio and video recordings will soon be available. For more information, please visit www.centerblog.org and www.djan.net.