wfn.org | Church meeting season and Kinnamon is on the road

["Philip Jenks" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

>This is the season for church meetings
>and NCC General Secretary is on the road

New York, June 29, 2009 -- The General Secretary of the National Council  of Churches has been on the road since June 11, attending church council  and communion meetings in Havana, Pasadena, Grand Rapids and San Diego.

Hop-scotching across the hemisphere, the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon has  brought NCC greetings this month to the 80th anniversary of the  Spanish-American Evangelical Congress in Havana, the American Baptist  General Board and Biennial Meeting, the General Synod of the United  Church of Christ and the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference.

In each meeting, Kinnamon stressed the importance of churches working  together as interdependent members of the body of Christ.
At the 27th UCC General Synod, Kinnamon paid tribute to retiring General  Minister and President, the Rev.  John H. Thomas, and welcomed the  nomination of the Rev. Geoffrey Black as Thomas' successor.

"During the 18 months that I have been General Secretary, John Thomas  and I have offered witness together in a number of public settings, in  large part because he always insists that such witness be done  ecumenically," Kinnamon said.  "For example, in the spring of 2008 at  Trinity UCC in Chicago, where he called for a 'sacred conversation on  race'; and last fall when the economic crisis first hit and John took  the lead in calling for an ecumenical response that would affirm a  priority concern for the poor; and this past month when we stood  together at the White House to call for a Commission of Inquiry  regarding the torture perpetrated by this nation, with the goal that  such a thing never be done again in our name.  Notice, by the way, the  common theme in such witness: that every neighbor, but especially the  most vulnerable, is an infinitely-valued child of God."

Addressing the Ecumenical Achievements Dinner at the Synod, Kinnamon  referred to the challenges faced by church bodies as a result of the  current recession.

"Lean times like ours provide a moment of opportunity," he said. He  confessed that  he had never expected to lead the NCC at a time of  economic stress.

"But," he said, "I believe that the member churches of the Council will  discover that the NCC is not an organization that churches 'join' but a  "covenant that they act out with each other."

He observed that current financial pressures offer a moment in which  church leaders will need to decide whether ecumenism is, in fact, a part  of their denominational identity.

He also said that the churches may discover more clearly the spiritual  dimension of the ecumenical movement. "We will come to affirm with  greater conviction that we are together in the hands of God."

Earlier, in an address to the American Baptist General Board in  Pasadena, Kinnamon observed that the tension between denominational  identity and the pursuit of Christian unity is one that "informs our  faith."

"No part is finally self-determining; we are all interdependent members  of Christ's body. We are already bound to one another not by what we  have done, but by what God has done through Jesus to reconcile us-both  to God and to one another."  
"We don't set the entrance requirements," he reminded representatives.  "We simply try to make visible what God has accomplished and thereby  serve as a sign of God's power to unite."
  
The NCC is not an organization churches have joined, he said, but "a  covenantal relationship you have made with 34 other communions to live  out a unity which is already yours in Christ."
" 
"The essence of a council is the relationship of the churches with each  other," he said. "It's a community in which conflicting perspectives  meet in dialogue."
   A council of churches has the "challenge of becoming a place where the  Church's most difficult issues can be discussed and addressed," Kinnamon  noted. "This means understanding that our unity is a gift from God and  not the result of human agreement."

The Rev. A. Roy Medley was re-elected General Secretary of the ABC USA  during the biennial meeting. 

Kinnamon is in San Diego today, addressing the Church of the Brethren  Annual Conference.

He was in Havana last week attending the 80th anniversary of the  Spanish-American Evangelical Congress. The meeting at the Evangelical  Seminar of Theology in central Matanzas province, was attended by over  60 religious leaders from 14 nations.

Kinnamon welcomed the possibility of improved relations between the  United States and Cuba and expressed the hope that travel restrictions  between the two countries will be eased.

He also expressed support for relatives of the "Cuban Five" who are  seeking relatives to visit their spouses who have been in a Miami jail  since 1998.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office),  646-853-4212 (cell) , pjenks@ncccusa.org