"Christian Churches Together in the USA" Group Gains Ground

June 15, 2005

Source: Yahoo! News

Wire Service: Reuters

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050615/us_nm/religion_christians_dc

On June 15, 2005 Reuters reported, "A coalition that would for the first time unite the major Christian faiths in the United States is taking years to coalesce, but its organizers say that's a good sign and are not discouraged. One day the group could speak with a single voice on important issues in a country of 296 million where historically three of every four people claim to be Christian or at least identify with that faith. The group, Christian Churches Together in the USA, began in 2001 when more than two dozen church leaders met to find a way to spread the patchwork quilt of U.S. churches on a single table. They range from Bible Belt Baptists and black Protestants to Orthodox ethnics to more ritualised Episcopalians and Catholics. Historic suspicions and theological divisions have often kept them fragmented. Organizers had spoken of formalizing the group this spring, with a public debut worship service in Washington in the autumn. But a steering committee meeting in California earlier this month instead produced a decision to meet again for further work in the spring of 2006. The committee issued a statement saying it had 'wrestled with difficult and complex issues in a spirit of love and goodwill' and had 'intensive dialogue and sharing' with black churches."