March 8, 2005

A new ecumenical organization known as Christian Churches Together in the United States of America (CCT-USA) will be launched June 1-3, 2005 at El Retiro, the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, California.

Executive Council, meeting in Austin, Texas, February 11-14, 2005, committed the Episcopal Church to be a founding member of a new organization.

The Episcopal Church has been involved in discussions for several years, with the National Council of Churches and others, about how to "broaden the ecumenical table" in the US, bringing together Roman Catholics, Orthodox, mainline Protestants, primarily ethnic churches, Evangelicals and Pentecostals in a new forum for prayer, dialogue, and action.

For the foreseeable future, CCT-USA will not replace the National Council of Churches, but will exist alongside it with its full support.

"Obviously, it is too soon to know what will become of this new initiative, but CCT-USA could have the potential of moving beyond the old, institutional structures and bureaucracies of the ecumenical movement and tap into the new energies of a spiritual ecumenism which would realistically reflect the entire Christian landscape today in this country and beyond," observed Bishop Christopher Epting, ecumenical officer for the Episcopal Church.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently committed the Roman Catholic Church to membership, making CCT-USA the first national ecumenical organization in the US they have joined. In addition, full members now include the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Church of God, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), the United Methodist Church, several Orthodox bodies, the Salvation Army, the United Church of Christ, Open Bible Churches, International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Evangelicals for Social Action, World Vision, and a number of others.

The membership dues for ECUSA's membership in CCT-USA will come from the existing budget of the Office for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations and will have no overall budget impact for ECUSA.

Episcopal News Service