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Churches Uniting in Christ - EIR Handbook
Churches Uniting in Christ
For nearly forty years, member churches of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU) have met together seeking ways to make full communion possible: African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, The Episcopal Church, International Council of Community Churches, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church.
In January 1999, COCU held its first plenary meeting in ten years, recommending that the churches enter into a new relationship to be called Churches Uniting in Christ, to be inaugurated and celebrated during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the year 2002. The document identified nine marks of Churches Uniting in Christ and called for a dialogue whose goal is full reconciliation of ministry by 2007. The plenary also approved "A Call to Christian Commitment and Action to Combat Racism."
While supporting enthusiastically the anti-racism initiative, the Episcopal delegation made it clear that the Episcopal Church cannot enter into a relationship that includes the mutual recognition of ordained ministry, unless it has assurance that future reconciliation will include bishops in historic succession and a common and fully interchangeable three-fold ministry which the Presbyterian Church has rejected.
Following the Plenary, a theological roundtable was subsequently convened to seek to address the problems of the Plenary document. As a result of their discussions, the Executive Committee of COCU passed the “Recommendation to the Churches for a New Relationship, Churches Uniting in Christ.” There were several components to this Recommendation. The Executive Committee identified eight marks of the relationship between the member churches, including: mutual recognition of one another as churches; mutual recognition of baptism; a "recognition that each affirms the apostolic faith of Scripture and Tradition which is expressed in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds"; a commitment to celebrate "the Eucharist together with intentional regularity"; to work together in a mission to combat racism; to promote inclusion rather than exclusion in regards to race, age, gender, sexual orientation, class, and forms of disability; to develop structures of accountability and decision making as the relationship develops; and specifically identified topics of theological dialogue. The goals of future theological dialogue of the member churches were identified as:
- "to clarify theological issues identified by the members of Churches Uniting in Christ in order to strengthen their shared witness to the apostolic faith"
- "to deepen the participating churches' understanding of racism in order to make an even more compelling case against it"
- "to provide a foundation for the mutual recognition and reconciliation of ordained ministry by the members of Churches Uniting in Christ by the year 2007."
At its meeting in Chicago in October 1999, the SCER discussed the revised proposal from the COCU Executive committee and voted affirmatively to support the next steps in the work of COCU/CUIC and sent a resolution to this effect to the 2000 General Convention.
The 2000 General Convention passed the following resolution in regards to Churches Uniting in Christ:
Resolved, That the 73rd General Convention of the Episcopal Church receive with enthusiasm the proposal of the Executive Committee of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), "Recommendation to the Churches for a New Relationship, Churches Uniting in Christ," (BB, pp. 86-89), October 19, 1999; and commit itself to continuing participation in COCU and to a process of engagement and dialogue beginning in 2002 with the inauguration of Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC); and be it further Resolved, That the 73rd General Convention of the Episcopal Church acknowledge with appreciation the intention of COCU members to "adopt the three-fold ministry of bishop, presbyter, and deacon as part of the process of ministerial recognition" (BB, p. 88) as well as its affirmation "that a reconciled ministry shall include bishops who 'stand in continuity with the historic ministry of bishops as that ministry has been maintained through the ages.'"; and be it further Resolved, That we reitierate our commitment to the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral and commend it as a basis of theological dialogue in CUIC; and be it further
Resolved, That we enthusiastically commit ourselves to COCU's "Call to Christian Commitment and Action to Combat Racism." (Resolution A0135, Journal of the 73rd General Convention, 616).
Accordingly, representatives from the members churches of CUIC met in Memphis, Tennessee, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January of 2002, which coincided with the commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. At this meeting the eight member churches and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (which participates as an observer) officially inaugurated CUIC. The churches pledged themselves to a dialogue on the reconciliation of ministries by 2007 and to a coordinated mission to combat racism. The Episcopal Church was represented by a delegation which included representatives from the Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Peace and Justice Ministries, and other bishops, priests, and representatives. In addition a committee was appointed to draft new bylaws for CUIC and to conduct a search for a new Executive Director.
The Memphis meeting also issued an appeal to the churches, announcing the new organization and calling the churches to active mission and witness. The text of the appeal follows:
In January of 2002, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, nine Christian communions will inaugurate a new relationship with each other called Churches Uniting in Christ. As the first step in this journey toward unity, we issue this appeal to every member of our churches, “that we all may be one” (John 17:22).
The struggle for unity among the races and among the churches has a common denominator: racism. To envision unity, without addressing racism, is to ignore our history in North America and deny the insidious nature of that which divides us.
If we are to overcome both the sin of disunity, including the sin of racism, then we must hold a common vision of God’s Beloved Community:
- a community in which all people and their particular gifts are included, respected and valued;
- a community that seeks alternatives to violence to settle its differences;
- a community whose core values stand in sharp contrast to a culture in which violence, obsession with profit, and the maldistribution of wealth and power is the norm;
- a community committed to eradicating racism and making no peace with oppression;
- a community in which God is given the glory.
To this vision, many known and unknown have given their lives in the hope that we shall overcome our separateness, heal our divisions, and ensure justice for all. It is fitting, therefore, that this Appeal calls us to begin our new life as Churches Uniting in Christ on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2002.
Our struggle is with principalities and powers. We affirm that love, repentance and forgiveness are powerful sources of unity, and reject the values of distrust, envy and personal institutional survival. We affirm that power is perfected in weakness, and reject any idea that the strong may do what they will and the weak are left to suffer what they must. We affirm the values of principle, human community and equality over against the values of profit, property and status. We affirm that Christ died for all people, (see John 3:16). We proclaim that we are all children of God, made in the divine image, and accountable for our individual and collective actions. We engage in this struggle with the radical hope that springs from our resurrection faith, and the belief that those who seek to save their lives will lose them, and those who lose their lives for Christ’s sake will save them.
Emboldened by this vision, we appeal to you, to join us as participants in Churches Uniting in Christ, as sojourners toward the Beloved Community. We will engage in a process of overcoming racism as we seek to demolish the institutional barriers which keep us from being a united Christian community that is truly catholic, truly reformed, and truly evangelical. Together, we will seek to find the common ground where we can all sing with integrity that it is on “Christ the solid rock we stand.” We will do the painful work of honestly facing our history, seeking mutual compassion, developing a common vision and identifying the sacrifices we must make. Our purpose is to see the vision realized, to raise from the bedrock that is Christ the sure foundation for all our houses. We believe that God is calling us to this vision and to this task, and we know there is a balm in Gilead that heals the sin-sick soul.
Our appeal to you is to join in the audacious and prophetic quest to incarnate this vision and, with God’s help, renew our faith, proclaim the good news, unite our churches and heal the nation.
The work of Churches Uniting in Christ is under way. An Executive Director, the Rev. Dr. Bertrice Wood, was appointed in May of 2002. In addition, the Task Forces established in January 2002 have begun meeting. Furthermore, some member churches have begun participating in joint anti-racism initiatives.
It should be noted that one of the ways in which CUIC asks member churches to inaugurate this new relationship is through joint prayer and celebration of the eucharist. The October 2001 SCER meeting requested that the Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations produce the regulations of the Episcopal Church regarding eucharistic sharing in COCU along with a brief commentary on these guidelines. At its March 2002 meeting the SCER authorized the Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations to update these guidelines according to recommendations made at that meeting for the purposes of eucharistic participation in the context of CUIC. These guidelines follow.
Guidelines on CUIC Eucharistic Sharing
Issued by the Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations
and the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations
Introduction
The Consultation on Church Union officially ended its forty-year existence in January of 2002. In January of 2002 the member churches "declared a new relationship among them to be called Churches Uniting in Christ." The member of the Churches Uniting in Christ are: the Episcopal Church; African Methodist Episcopal Church; African Methodist Episcopal Church, Zion; Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); Christian Methodist Episcopal Church; International Council of Community Churches; Presbyterian Church, USA; United Church of Christ; and the United Methodist Church. In addition the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America participates as an observer, and the Moravian Church in America is also considering observer status.
No longer seeking organic union or merger, CUIC envisions a “communion of communions,” where churches will retain their own identities and structures but recognize one another as authentic churches.
Our immediate goals in CUIC are twofold.
The first is to undertake a mission to combat racism together.
The second is to engage in a ministry dialogue with the goal of reconciling ordained ministries by 2007.
Guidelines for Eucharistic Sharing
General Convention Authorization
As part of living into this new relationship, CUIC is encouraging local churches to have joint celebrations of the eucharist. The Episcopal Church’s policy on eucharistic sharing within the context of the Consultation on Church Union was established in 1976 and reaffirmed in 1991 with General Convention Resolution A046:
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That this 70th General Convention authorize in special circumstances of ecumenical worship the use of the eucharistic liturgy The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper: A New Text (available from Forward Movement Publications), subject to the approval of the diocesan bishop, provided that:
- an ordained priest or bishop of this Church is the celebrant, or one of the celebrants at a concelebrated service;
- the elements used are those used by our Lord, namely bread and wine;
- any of the consecrated elements remaining at the end of the service be reverently consumed; and
- the guidelines for interim eucharistic sharing authorized by the 65th General Convention (Journal, 1976, pp. C89-90) be observed; and be it further
Resolved, That local member churches of the Consultation on Church Union be encouraged to use this liturgy not only when all member churches are gathered together but also when two or three churches are gathered in worship.
Journal of the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, Phoenix, 1991 (New York: General Convention, 1992), p. 403.
Commentary
The General Convention of 1991 specifically authorized the use of the 1984 COCU Eucharistic Liturgy for use in joint eucharistic celebrations. The liturgy approved by CUIC for local eucharistic celebrations likewise will be sent to Executive Council for authorization.
A bishop or priest of the Episcopal Church is either the presider at the eucharist or stands with the minister presiding. This does not imply that the Episcopal presence provides for something which is “lacking” in the ordained ministry of other churches, but reflects the fact that the member churches of CUIC have not reached agreement on questions of ministry, something which Presiding Bishop Griswold commented was "essential" in CUIC’s future discussions.
Bread and wine must be used. This is in accordance with the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, which the Anglican Communion and the Episcopal Church have affirmed on numerous occasions to be the basis for our ecumenical relations with other churches. The relevant citation from the Quadrilateral is "The two sacraments ordained by Christ himself -- Baptism and the Supper of the Lord -- ministered with unfailing use…of the elements ordained by Him (BCP, 878)."
The elements of bread and wine should be reverently consumed following the service.
In addition the guidelines established at the 1976 General Convention, Resolution A037, are to be followed. This resolution agrees in substance with the 1991 guidelines, with the following procedural stipulations:
Request by parishes to hold joint CUIC worship services need to be approved by the Bishop as the liturgical authority of the diocese,
That the joint celebrations involve congregations of the churches, not only the clergy, and recommends that joint fellowship and education either precede or follow the celebration of the eucharist, and that these joint eucharistic celebrations be evaluated and reviewed.
Copies of these guidelines are available from the Office of Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations.
COCU and Anti-Racism
The SCER members participated in special anti-racism training and discussion at its February 1999 meeting. Following this activity and further discussion of the COCU initiated anti-racism statement, the SCER endorsed the following resolution directed to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church:
"Moved that the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations commend to the Executive Council Section 6 of the Report of the Eighteenth Consultation on Church Union Plenary together with the document "Call to Christian Commitment and Action to Combat Racism," and to send the two documents to the Executive Council with the recommendation that a conference be convened by the Episcopal Church with representatives from our partner churches together with our partners from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Roman Catholic Church to discuss these documents and prepare recommendations to all their churches with regard to catechesis and baptismal preparation. The hope of this recommendation is that the churches, in this way, can move toward common action and witness.
SCER further requests that this conference be expanded to include other racial and ethnic groups, including Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian Americans."
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