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A Letter From Sharon E. Watkins February 29, 2008 Ecumenical Witness: Disciples At Their Best Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, It has been a season of ecumenical meetings! This week I attended the Governing Board of the National Council of Churches. Two weeks ago I was in Geneva, Switzerland, for the World Council of Churches Central Committee. Last month, Timothy James represented us ably at the Churches Uniting in Christ plenary. Robert Welsh, president of our church's Council on Christian Unity, has represented us, also, at each of those events, as well as at the recent gathering of Christian Churches Together, and at our Partnership Committee with the United Church of Christ (where I also participated.) Recently, I've devoted a lot of time to our ecumenical involvements. But that's natural for a Disciples leader. As I commented to a group of Disciples and United Church of Christ seminary students recently: wherever Christians join hands for common witness in God's name on behalf of others - Disciples are there! Whether on the national or international scene - or in our local food banks, community Lenten services, or Habitat builds - Disciples are there! Our Design of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) describes us as a church in three expressions: congregational, regional, and general. But there's also a fourth: the ecumenical/global. Disciples have always been clear about this. We welcome people into the church by confession of faith in Jesus Christ alone - not by adherence to a denominational doctrine. We baptize into the body of Christ at large, not into our own little piece of it. We gather weekly at an open table - Christ's table. As the Design says, "Within the universal Body of Christ, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is identifiable..." We understand ourselves to be part of a larger Body, and we try to act like it, so the world will begin to know - through us - the power of God's reconciling love in Jesus Christ. It's that reconciling love of God that has made us so ready to join hands with others in the name of Christ. Disciples have always believed that division within the body of Christ betrays our mission and undermines our witness to the power of God's love to reconcile and bring wholeness to our fragmented world. Our society -- where persons and communities so often feel abandoned and isolated and abused -- cries out for true signs of healing, and hope, and wholeness. We long to be among those signs. Admittedly, we all too often participate in the brokenness - along denominational, race and class lines, among others. But Disciples, at our best, have always understood that division within the church is a denial of the Gospel message itself. One of our founders, Thomas Campbell in his Declaration and Address (1809) proclaimed that, "Division among the Christians is a horrid evil... It is antichristian, as it destroys the visible unity of the body of Christ; as if he were divided against himself, excluding and excommunicating a part of himself. It is anti-scriptural, as being strictly prohibited by his sovereign authority; a direct violation of his express command." For us Disciples, disunity is not just an inconvenience, or problem to be overcome. It is sin. Our calling to unity is not simply one more program on the agenda of the church's life; it is an essential element in our understanding of what it means to live faithfully as God's people. We Disciples understand that our work and efforts in seeking Christian unity are finally not for the sake of the church, but for the sake and salvation of the world. This witness is ultimately about glorifying God and participating in the in-breaking of the Reign of God. It's been an ecumenical season! But, then for Disciples, it's always an ecumenical season. In this world, so often characterized by brokenness, alienation, racism, isolation, fear and loneliness, we strive to be a movement for wholeness. We long to represent the one body of Christ. We join hands with other Christians whenever we can. May God bless us in this witness! To God be the glory!
Sharon E. Watkins
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