A group of church leaders has invited the nation's denominations and congregations to work toward a national alliance that — for the first time — would unite all sectors of U.S. Christianity.
The new entity, tentatively called Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A., has been under private discussion for two years. Leaders agreed on wording for the invitation at a Chicago meeting April 6, but began publicizing it in church circles this week.
Planners will meet next January to assess responses.
The concept emerged from discussions two years ago in the National Council of Churches, an organization that includes denominations representing some 50 million "mainline" Protestants, black Protestants and Orthodox. The National Council, however, has been unable to attract Roman Catholic, evangelical or Pentecostal membership.
If Christian Churches Together ever becomes a reality it could eventually supplant the National Council. The Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, said that would be up to the National Council denominations but he doubts they "would want to support organizations that were competing with one another."
Catholics belong to ecumenical organizations in many other nations. And existing church councils have reconfigured themselves to make Catholic membership possible in Great Britain (1990), Australia (1994) and Canada (1996).
In terms of doctrine, the invitation defines potential members as those who "confess Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the Scriptures to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit."
The invitation says the future organization's purpose would be to represent "the full spectrum of Christians in the United States" and provide a stronger and united voice on "matters critical to the gospel in our society" and "crucial issues of human dignity and social justice."
The steering committee for the loosely-knit project is led by John Busby, national commander of the Salvation Army.
Other members: Bishop Tod Brown, chairman of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy's ecumenical committee; Granberg-Michaelson; the Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky, the National Council's first Orthodox president; black Pentecostal Bishop George McKinney; Judy Mills Reimer, general secretary of the Church of the Brethren; Ronald Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action; and Bishop McKinley Young, ecumenical officer for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the nation's oldest black denomination.
Other important figures issuing the invitation include Baltimore's Cardinal William Keeler; the chief executives of the National Council and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); and the ecumenical officers for the Episcopal Church and United Methodist Church.
One drawback is the nation's largest Protestant body, the Southern Baptist Convention, appears unlikely to participate.
Last year, the Baptists decided to end 30 years of low-key ecumenical talks with U.S. Catholics. Nor have the Baptists aligned with the National Association of Evangelicals, a rival cooperative agency to the National Council that includes 51 conservative denominations, 45,000 congregations and 250 interdenominational agencies.
Both the National Council of Churches and National Association of Evangelicals have undergone financial and organizational woes in recent years.