The Conference Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns (CCUIC) met regularly in 2006 to plan and implement the ecumenical and interfaith mandates laid out in the United Methodist constitutional definition as an ecumenical church. The church realizes as Dr. Martin Luther King said, that, "We have inherited a big house, a great "world house"[oikoumene] in which we have to live together - black and white, Easterners and Westerners, Gentiles and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, Moslem and Hindu."
Northern Illinois Conference was represented by CCUIC at the National Workshop on Christian Unity in San Jose, California. Likewise we were among the delegates to the World Methodist Conference and Council in Seoul, Korea whose theme of reconciliation was acted out in a ceremony at the DMZ calling for an end of the estrangement of North and South Korea; and in the historic act of Methodist endorsement of the 1992 Roman Catholic/Lutheran Declaration on Justification by Faith. We were consultants at meetings for the goals of the Churches Uniting in Christ. The chairperson attended the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The situation in Israel and Palestine was also seen firsthand.
We continue our active participation in The Illinois Conference of Churches as a judicatory member with a member on the executive board reorganization team.
Through the Ecumenical Millennium Committee in the Chicago Metropolitan area, we encouraged local church participation in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and in the Ecumenical Prayer service held at Trinity Lutheran Church in Chicago. The EMC is functioning as the Local Planning Committee host for the National Workshop on Christian Unity in Chicago April 14-17 in 2008. CCUIC participation includes leadership and funding.
On April 6, a document of relationship was signed between the Northern Illinois and the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) by Bishop Jung and Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid who later received Bishop Jung's Ecumenical/Interreligious Award at the Annual Conference banquet. This relationship continued with many local events between churches and mosques, and with a second annual dinner planned for April of 2007.
Activities were held with the Turkish Muslim community through the Niagara Foundation, including joint Ramadan iftars, thanksgiving meals, sharing leadership and travel.
The success of the first Bishop's Interfaith Bus Tour in 2007 to houses of worship of various religions in expanding information and respectful friendship, that a second tour in 2007 has been organized.
CCUIC communicates all progress in ecumenical and interreligious relationships, so that these will be received in local churches to enhance ecumenical formation and interreligious consciousness formation among young and old. Through the CCUIC website, www.gbgm-umc.org/interrelig, the Reporter, e-news, and district training events, congregations may obtain resources for their own initiatives, and may share their events with others.
Catiana McKay, Chair
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns
Northern Illinois Conference