Coming to the Table – NCC and Moravians Focus on Understanding and Ecumenism
“God has acted in Christ for the redemption of the world and created a community to bear witness to that.” These were the words of the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the USA, on a visit on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2009, with a delegation
from the Moravian Church — Northern Province in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There were also a few from the Southern Province. The visit included discussion on how we live out that conviction.
“The job of church leadership now is to listen,” said a member of the Provincial Elders’ Conference in reviewing the meeting. Brother Kinnamon, now in his second year as NCC executive, is making visits to all 35 member denominations to listen. The discussion, without a preplanned agenda, touched on many items:
• gifts Moravians bring to other churches and the NCC (mentioned were humility, not thinking we have all the answers, fellowship, seeking a middle ground rather than extremes, a special understanding of bishops as pastors to pastors)
• the general decline of churches, especially mainline churches
• our temptation in response to turn inward, rather than seek to know and act on God’s will for the world
• the inevitable tension between the concern for unity and the concern for justice (for example, when we are working and worshipping with churches that do not ordain women, or seem little concerned about racism and poverty, or have little interest in evangelism)
• the place of advocacy, alongside charity, as part of the church’s witness
The Moravian delegation of about 15 included representatives of the Provincial Elders’ Conference, provincial and district staff, local pastors, and Moravian Theological Seminary faculty and students. Brother Kinnamon later met with more faculty and students at Moravian Theological Seminary.
The Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, the Rev. Lydia Veliko, the Rev. Dr. Michael Livingston, the Rev. Cheryl Wade, and the Rev. Melvin Wilson attended on behalf of the NCC. Also in attendance was the Rev. Dr. Peg Chemberlin, a Moravian pastor, who is the President-elect of the NCC taking her post this upcoming November. (Sister Chemberlin is currently serving as executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches.) Brother Kinnamon plans to meet later with the Southern Province.
The NCC includes some 35 mainline, Eastern Orthodox, and African American denominations and historic peace churches.
