January 4, 2008

Member denominations of the Churches United in Christ (CUIC) will gather January 11-14 in St. Louis, Missouri. Meeting under the Plenary theme: "Seeking to Be God's Beloved Community," the meeting will be held at the Sheraton City Center Hotel.

Highlights include:

• An opening keynote address by The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, general secretary-elect of the National Council of Churches

• Daily Bible study led by Dr. Rodney S. Sadler, Assistant Professor of Bible at Union-PSCE at Charlotte

• Daily services of Eucharist

• Small discussion groups for reflection about the critical issues facing the CUIC relationship

In January 2002 during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, nine Christian communions gathered in Memphis, TN, to inaugurate a new relationship with one another called Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC). These churches stood on the shoulders of servants who had worked together for more than 40 years in the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). With audacity these churches pledged themselves to sojourn together toward God's Beloved Community, a vision of a:

• community in which all people and their particular gifts are included, respected, and valued;

• community committed to eradicating racism and making no peace with oppression;

• community in which God is given the glory.

In our almost six years we have not been as faithful to our quest and our calling as God would have us to be. However, we have not forsaken our mission. We acknowledge that we have much work to do to overcome the plague of systemic racism and white privilege manifest in the Church and American society. We hope to renew our resolve and refocus our energy through our Plenary gathering in January.

This Plenary will be a time of discernment, dialogue, and deliberation for delegations of our member communions as well as observers.

For more information, contact the CUIC office: 314-252-3160, prosner@eden.edu.

Churches Uniting in Christ