Interview: Wesley Granberg Michaelson of CCT
Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A (CCT), the broadest ecumenical effort to unite the broken body of Christ, will not be launched this September as tentatively planned.
At a closed-door meeting last week in Los Altos, Calif., more than 70 representatives of some 30 Christian denominations and traditions decided that this year would be too early to officially launch the fledgling group.
Currently, the CCT has 31 church bodies partaking in the effort. These groups come from one of five Christian faith family groups: Mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical/Pentecostal, and Racial/Ethnic.
According to leaders at the gathering, the main reason for pushing back the launch date was to invite more members of last two families and in that way broaden the CCT table.
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The following are excerpts from a June 4th interview with Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, the CCT Steering Committee Chair:
Why is Christian Churches Together needed? What is it’s mission?
In the Christian faith, we are always called to be together in fellowship and are always asked how we will witness. Our own mission is to draw together in Christ in order to strengthen the Christian witness in the world.
We experienced that during our meeting here with leaders of churches, denominations and unions. We came together to form this strong fellowship and we asked what we are called to do together out of our being together.
What was decided in regards to officially launching the CCT by September?
We decided to wait another year in order to more fully represent the body of Christ and expand the table of conversation to as many as possible.
There were some leaders who came here as observers for denominations and churches that are not yet a part of the CCT but are taking interest in what we are doing here. We decided to continue our process of broadening the invitation to include all of these groups.
When will you be holding the next meeting?
Our next meeting will come in the spring of 2006, and at that gathering we’ll again want to draw even closer together and focus on deepening our fellowship. We will also ask how we understand mission around a question like poverty and whether we understand each others’ approaches to such questions.
Would something like the CCT been possible 20 years ago?
No. Absolutely not. This is a new movement – no question about it.
The CCT is only for churches in the United States. Is there any movement such as this that is on a global scale?
We had a presentation from the Global Christian Forum, which puts what we’re doing in a global perspective. That has been going on for some time in similar ways.
The Global Christian Forum, like [Christian] Churches Together, strives to draw the full parts, families and traditions of Christianity into a common fellowship.
For various reasons, this is what existing ecumenical organizations have not been able to do.
The National Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Roman Catholic Church are all divided into separate groups. These groups are good, but for the sake of witnessing to the real unity of Christ, we think this kind of new initiative is needed.
And this new unity will be of tremendous power. Of course it will be difficult and will require a lot of honest conversations, but deep bonds and new commitments will form around what God wants us to do together.
What do you mean by honest conversations?
People from different traditions haven’t often talked, and we can stereotype each other and hold misconceptions about one another.
We hope that through a setting like CCT, we can pray, learn and discover things that we share together.
What kind of impact will the CCT be making on the future ecumenical movement?
Christian Churches Together will provide a place where the full and broad expressions of the Christian church will come together to express and strengthen unity.
It simply provides a broader table than any other ecumenical group or effort.
People at this gathering kept saying this is a new thing and an exciting thing. We’ve been waiting for this, and we are rejoicing in it.
At what point will you really be able to safely say the CCT members are united?
I think unity is something we experience and feel. One of our speakers this morning said our unity is not just a spiritual reality, but it is something we need to make concrete for the world to see. I think this gathering and fellowship really provides that concrete unity.
Doesn’t the NCC or NAE already provide such forms of visible unity?
The fact is, the CCT is broader and we are including all the groups that are not included either one.
Do you have any words of hope for the CCT?
The CCT is an avenue where God’s grace and spirit will draw the churches into a deeper sense of unity, so that the world may be strengthened through our mutual relationship. It’s a new place to experience this reality and serve the common Lord.
We are called in a society that is so fractured, divided and polarized, and this place allows us to be one for a common purpose.
