Christian Unity & Interreligious Concerns
CUIC engages with and talks to other Christian denominational churches to work toward unity and peace. This commission helps interpret The United Methodist Church’s role as it encounters “other living faith communities, cultures and ideologies.”
What is CUIC’s role in the church?
- Facilitate ecumenical education.
- Facilitate interreligious education
- Encourage and facilitate
- Participation in ecumenical activities like Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, worship in the park, and common community programs, outreach to the poor, help for the elderly, etc.
- Dialogue and cooperation with other denominations in their neighborhoods to open channels of understanding and mutual respect.
- Exploration of our relations with persons of other faith traditions.
- Recognition of our common humanity through community building in cooperation with other faith traditions
CUIC works to grow up leadership in declaring the visible unity of the human community and the renewal of God’s creation. It leads the church in seeking to live into God’s vision of the unity of creation through its advocacy on behalf of the church universal and in its work with other faith communities through our faith community.
Ecumenical Ministry in Flagstaff
"Shared Earth, Shared Abundance"
In 2007 Christians for the Earth, a ministry team at Flagstaff Federated Community Church, obtained a grant from the Presbyterian Church to create a faith-based citywide network for environmental advocacy and to implement related programs, including four citywide annual events.
Creation of Faith-based Citywide Environmental Advocacy Network, called Shared Earth Network. The purpose of the network is to link people of faith to work together on environmental causes, and to do so in a way that brings spiritual transformation to those involved. We have over 200 individuals from 22 different denominations or faith traditions, and 4 organizations signed up as members of the network. This includes people from the Christian Protestant, Christian Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Meher Baba and Raven Craft faith communities. Additionally, the local chapter of the Sierra Club, the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council and the Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project have joined the network. Each month more persons, faith traditions and other groups join in. We continue to meet with people and religious groups to spread the word and sign up more participants from diverse backgrounds.
Our website is up and running! You may visit it at sharedearthnetwork.org. The website posts environmental prayer requests, a calendar of events, thoughts of the week, past events and email alerts. The website will be expanded to include articles relevant to faith and ecology.
The participants who have joined so far have indicated appreciation for the Shared Earth Network, seeing it as addressing an important need and enabling us for greater effectiveness in protecting God's creation.
The events we sponsor and work with include:
Earth Day Celebration
Interfaith Power and Light event
Climate Project Presentation
Earth Care Fair
Sustainability Fair
Blessing of the Animals
Recycle Telephone Books
CFL light bulb exchange
Interfaith breakfast
Solar cooking workshop
Creation Care Fair
We also have a wonderful web site. Check it out at www.sharedearthnetwork.org
Number of People Served. We have already reached thousands of people. Over 1,000 people visited our table at the Earth Day Celebration; around 30 attended the Solar Cooking Workshop; we counted 65 people at the Blessing of the Animals; and 2,000 people received CFLs from our volunteers during the lightbulb exchange event. Our other activities reached people that we can't count, but we are encouraged by the responses of those we are able to communicate with about the Shared Earth Network. Every week we hear from more people and add new members to our group.
How Lives Are Changed. Our table at the Earth Day Celebration was constantly inundated with people interested in both the work of Shared Earth Network, and the use of discarded video tapes and grocery bags to make tote bags and purses. We believe that people were uplifted by seeing that the faith community cares about the environment and works to protect it. And the kids absolutely loved the games! We are hopeful that the children (and their parents) learned that you can have fun without buying something new.
All of our events and projects change lives by giving people the opportunity to grow in their understanding of their own faith tradition and other faith traditions, and by strengthening the commitment to act on faith for the well-being of God's creation. Some people who have not seen the connection between the inner landscape and the outer landscape, are starting to sense the deep relationship. We are crossing boundaries between faiths to acknowledge that we all share God's glorious creation, and we all share a duty to protect it.
"We recognize that sufficiency and sustainability lead to an abundant life for all. The mission of the Shared Earth Network is to bring transformation by uniting people of faith to advocate for environmental sustainability."
This article was compiled by Rev. Karen Appleby, on staff at Flagstaff Federated Community Church and a member of Christian Unity & Interreligious Concerns. She collected the history of Shared Earth Network from Sherry Golden and Tish Bogan-Ozmun, also members of her church and founders of Christians for the Earth and Shared Earth Network.
NEWS
Check out the General Commission on Christian Unity & Interreligious Concerns web site for a variety of resources and information at www.gccuic-umc.org.
Materials are now available for the January 2010 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute. www.geii.org or contact Billie in the Conference Office for an order form.
EVENTS
Desert Pilgrimage
By Rev. Jim Ek, Chair Christian United and Interreligious Concerns
The 2009 National Workshop on Christian Unity, entitled Desert Pilgrimage, was held in Phoenix, AZ, beginning April 27th at the Hyatt Regency downtown. Four days of events were held for Christian leaders who are committed to the quest for greater unity among the Christian denominations. Nearly 300 persons represented the following denominations: Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodists, Presbyterians, Armenian Orthodox, Disciples of Christ, Greek Orthodox, LDS, Reformed Church of America, and the United Church of Christ. On day one, the National Networks met to get organized, catch up and/or share what strides have been made in the last year. The United Methodist Ecumenical and Interreligious Training (UMEIT) network met for the first time and has already started a Facebook meeting place for sharing and learning. The speakers and workshops were excellent but much of the energy was in the sharing over the mealtimes as ecumenism at the table emphasized commonality and shared concerns. We ate together, worshiped together and learned together.
Recordings of the sessions were made and are available FOR FREE at the NWCU website, http://www.nwcu.org. You are invited to taste some of the wealth of experience that was offered right in our own backyard! Blessings to all.
PROJECTS TO PROMOTE ECUMENICAL/INTERFAITH INVOLVEMENT
1. Don't be afraid; be informed. Find out about your neighbors. In conjunction with your pastor, discuss the feasibility of an ecumenical and interfaith committee or activity. CUIC will work with a local church pastor/committee to start a local dialogue with another Christian denomination or another faith group.
2. Encourage participation in area ecumenical & interfaith organizations. (ex. Walk to Emmaus, Chayah ministry to incarcerated youth, etc.)
3. Make the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25) the centerpiece of your efforts.
4. Systematically learn the denominational & local history of neighboring churches & faith communities. Have a Lutheran, Catholic, Episcopalian, etc. pastor come and teach a class on their traditions, doctrine, etc.