In 1963, a group of Roman Catholics, in the context of Vatican II, met to equip local leadership for the task of ecumenical ministry. In 1969, they invited leaders of other Christian communions to join, and today the national ecumenical officers of the churches continue their oversight of the workshop, which is planned by national and local committees. There are both denominational and ecumenical sessions during the workshop. The 41st National Workshop on Christian Unity celebrates the spirit of ecumenism by:
- providing meeting seminars for all who are concerned with the ministry of Christian unity: laity, clergy, ecumenical officers, theologians, staff of ecumenical organizations
- stimulating an exchange of ideas and experiences among people concerned with Christian unity and the bodies they represent
- being a resource and balance between national planning and local responsibility, general ecumenical discussions and particular interchurch conversations, and regional leadership efforts and local realities
- encouraging denominational networks to develop and serve as a framework within which they can interact
- celebrating the unity which already exists among Christians and searching for ways to overcome the divisions that remain
How You Can Partner
Kingdom Mission Society co-leads the Consortiums of Evangelicals and Pentecostals for Christian Unity (CEP) track at the National Workshop for Christian Unity. The National Workshop is the oldest and largest gathering of Christians representing four significant streams of the church in the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the United Methodist Church and affiliated networks. KMS seeks to raise funds to support ‘first-time’ ecumenists to this national gathering. These first-time ecumenists would join the CEP track for the workshop and receive a two-day intensive training and three days of demonstrated high level dialogue. If you are an evangelical or Pentecostal ecumenist and want more information, contact us directly. If you’d like to support up to 50 ‘first-time’ ecumenists please make a direct contribution here. The next workshop is April 2nd-5th, 2018 in Silver Spring, MD.
For more information, please visit http://nwcu.org/.