The Book of Discipline 2004
The Constitution
 6. Article VI. Ecumenical Relations
As part of the church universal, The United Methodist Church believes that the Lord of the church is calling Christians everywhere to strive toward unity; and therefore it will seek, and work for, unity at all levels of church life: through world relationships with other Methodist churches and united churches related to The Methodist Church or The Evangelical United Brethren Church, through councils of churches, and through plans of union and covenantal relationships8 with churches of Methodist or other denominational traditions.

Part II Doctrinal Standards and our Theological Task
Par. 104
Ecumenical Commitment
Christian unity is founded on the theological understanding that through faith in Jesus Christ we are made members-in-common of the one body of Christ. Christian unity is not an option; it is a gift to be received and expressed.
United Methodists respond to the theological, biblical, and practical mandates for Christian unity by firmly committing ourselves to the cause of Christian unity at local, national, and world levels. We invest ourselves in many ways by which mutual recognition of churches, of members, and of ministries may lead us to sharing in Holy Communion with all of God's people.
Knowing that denominational loyalty is always subsumed in our life in the church of Jesus Christ, we welcome and celebrate the rich experience of United Methodist leadership in church councils and consultations, in multilateral and bilateral dialogues, as well as in other forms of ecumenical convergence that have led to the healing of churches and nations.
We see the Holy Spirit at work in making the unity among us more visible.
Concurrently, we have entered into serious interfaith encounters and explorations between Christians and adherents of other living faiths of the world. Scripture calls us to be both neighbors and witnesses to all peoples. Such encounters require us to reflect anew on our faith and to seek guidance for our witness among neighbors of other faiths. We then rediscover that the God who has acted in Jesus Christ for the salvation of the whole world is also the Creator of all humankind, the One who is “above all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:6).
As people bound together on one planet, we see the need for a self-critical view of our own tradition and accurate appreciation of other traditions. In these encounters, our aim is not to reduce doctrinal differences to some lowest common denominator of religious agreement, but to raise all such relationships to the highest possible level of human fellowship and understanding.
We labor together with the help of God toward the salvation, health, and peace of all people. In respectful conversations and in practical cooperation, we confess our Christian faith and strive to display the manner in which Jesus Christ is the life and hope of the world.

COMMISSION ON CHRISTIAN UNITY AND INTERRELIGIOUS CONCERNS

¶ 641.

1. Each annual conference shall create a conference commission or committee on Christian unity and interreligious concerns or other structure to provide for these functions and maintain the connectional relationships with the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns. The commission or committee will report each year to the conference in such manner as the conference may direct. The responsibilities of the commission on Christian unity and interreligious concerns may be assigned to an existing or newly created multifunctional agency.

2. It is recommended that this commission or committee be composed of two United Methodists from each district (complying with ¶ 609.5), one of whom shall be district coordinator for Christian unity and interreligious concerns and shall serve as liaison with local church ministry areas on Christian unity and interreligious concerns. Additional members may include persons from The United Methodist Church or other member churches of Churches Uniting in Christ as directed by the conference to ensure ecumenical expertise and interchange with other agencies. Laypersons from The United Methodist Church shall be professing members of local churches. Ex officio members of the annual conference commission on Christian unity and interreligious concerns shall include the conference ecumenical officer(s), if elected, and any United Methodists residing within the conference bounds who are members of the following: the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, the governing board of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the World Methodist Council, the United Methodist delegation to the most recent World Council of Churches Assembly, and the United Methodist delegation to the most recent plenary meeting of Churches Uniting inChrist.

3. There shall be a representative of the commission who serves as one of the conference representatives to state councils or conferences of churches.

4. The duties of the commission or committee shall be to act in cooperation with the annual conference council on ministries, in coordination with the duties of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, as outlined in ¶¶ 1902-1903, and as it may recommend, and to take initiative in ecumenical and interreligious concerns as follows:

a) To interpret, advocate, and work for the unity of the Christian church in every aspect of the life of the conference and its churches and to encourage dialogue and cooperation with persons of other living faiths.

b) To recommend to the conference the goals, objectives, and strategies and to assist the conference, in cooperation with the bishop and the cabinet, in the development of ecumenical relationships and planning for mission with other judicatories, particularly in the establishment of new churches, yoked congregations, and in the process of local church union efforts.

c) To stimulate participation in and evaluation of mission programs ecumenically planned and implemented, such as experimental parishes, ecumenical parish clusters, ecumenical task forces, and united ministries in higher education, and in other issue-oriented tasks.

d) To stimulate conference, district, and congregational participation in councils, conferences, or associations of churches, in coalition task forces, and in interreligious groups through ecumenical educational or shared-time programs, jointly approved curriculum resources, interreligious study programs, or ecumenical community action projects such as institutional ministries and media communications, and various other modes of interchurch cooperation.

e) To participate in the selection of conference delegates to state councils or conferences of churches, which participation may include nomination, in cooperation with the conference nominating committee, for conference election of the delegates to these bodies; to select representatives to district, area, and regional ecumenical and interreligious task groups and workshops; and to act as the body to which such delegates are accountable by receiving and acting on their reports and recommendations.

f) To promote and interpret the work of national and world ecumenical bodies such as the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the World Council of Churches, Churches Uniting in Christ, and the World Methodist Council; and to cooperate in and provide leadership for specific ecumenical experiences of worship and celebration such as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Pentecost Sunday, World Communion Sunday, Reformation Sunday, and other appropriate occasions.

g) To stimulate understanding and conversations with all Christian bodies, to encourage continuing dialogue with Jewish and other living-faith communities, and to encourage an openness of mind toward an understanding of other major world religions.

h) To fulfill other functions assigned by the annual conference and to respond to such requests as may be made by its leadership.

GENERAL COMMISSION ON CHRISTIAN UNITY AND INTERRELIGIOUS CONCERNS

Section XIII. General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns

¶ 1901.

The name of this agency shall be the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

¶ 1902. Purpose

The General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns shall exercise its ecumenical leadership role in seeking to fulfill two major responsibilities in the context of the search for the unity of the human community and the renewal of creation:

1. To advocate and work toward the full reception of the gift of Christian unity in every aspect of the Church's life and to foster approaches to ministry and mission that more fully reflect the oneness of Christ's church in the human community.

2. To advocate and work for the establishment and strengthening of relationships with other living faith communities, and to further dialogue with persons of other faiths, cultures, and ideologies.

¶ 1903. Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns shall be:

1. To enable ecumenical and interreligious understanding and experience among all United Methodists, including assistance to all United Methodist agencies.

2. To recruit and provide ecumenical leadership training and opportunities for all United Methodists, with special attention to youth, young adults, and racial and ethnic persons.

3. To provide resources and counsel to conference commissions or committees on Christian unity and interreligious concerns and to local church leadership.

4. To develop or assist in the development of resources and other educational materials that will stimulate understanding and experience in ecumenical and interreligious relationships.

5. To develop and interpret the primary relationships of The United Methodist Church to ecumenical and interreligious organizations (such as the World Council of Churches, regional councils of churches, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the World Methodist Council, Churches Uniting in Christ, and the World Conference on Religion and Peace); to united churches, which include a church formerly related to The United Methodist Church or its predecessors; to churches with which a concordat of exchange of voting delegates has been established by General Conference; and to churches that have entered into a formal covenanting act with The United Methodist Church. We further encourage dialogue with other organizations such as the National Association of Evangelicals and the World Evangelical Fellowship.

6. To pursue or initiate relationships and conversations with Christian ministries, organizations, and denominations that are not a part of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., to seek areas of cooperation and common cause in the advancement of the cause of Christ.

7. To pursue or initiate relationships and conversations with other Christian churches on possible church unions and in general bilateral or multilateral dialogues.

8. To develop and engage in dialogue, cooperation, and unity discussions with the historic members of the Methodist denominational family in the United States—namely, the African Methodist Episcopal, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion, and the Christian Methodist Episcopal churches, and all those Wesleyan bodies in the United States related to the World Methodist Council. (See ¶ 2403.)

9. To work toward unity and greater understanding within The United Methodist Church.

10. To report to General Conference on developments in Christian unity and interreligious issues and to make recommendations on any specific proposals for church union.

11. To continue or initiate relationships, conversations, and cooperative efforts with other religious faith communities.

12. To consider resolutions, pronouncements, and actions of ecumenical and interreligious councils and agencies, to be responsible for appropriate United Methodist responses, and to initiate or to channel counsel to ecumenical and interreligious bodies.

13. To receive reports from Churches Uniting in Christ, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., the World Methodist Council, and the World Council of Churches on their work, such reports to include relevant financial information.

14. To maintain a close relationship with the General Board of Church and Society and the General Commission on Religion and Race as they seek to coordinate denominational support and cooperation in eradicating racism, promoting social justice, and enhancing Christian unity.

15. To receive copies of all requests for funds from ecumenical and interreligious bodies to all United Methodist agencies and to review for possible recommendations to both the ecumenical and United Methodist agencies.

16. To enable and review the ecumenical and interreligious involvements, programming, and funding of all United Methodist program agencies; to review funding of ecumenical agencies by United Methodist program agencies through examination of the disclosure records annually provided to the General Council on Finance and Administration; and to report findings and make recommendations to those agencies and to the Connectional Table and the General Council on Finance and Administration as requested.

17. To advocate for appropriate funding and oversee disbursement of United Methodist funds provided in support of the major ecumenical and interreligious agencies (see ¶ 818).

18. To advocate for adequate funding for the core budgets of the major ecumenical and interreligious agencies.

19. To provide from its own budget, where possible, supplementary funding for cognate units in ecumenical agencies and ad hoc ecumenical and interreligious enterprises.

20. To report to the Connectional Table and recommend to the General Council on Finance and Administration the total goal and constituent allocations of the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund for submission to General Conference and to administer all aspects of the fund in accordance with guidelines established in consultation with the General Council on Finance and Administration and with the Council of Bishops. (See ¶ 818.)

21. To receive and administer funds allocated to it through the General Conference or the General Council on Finance and Administration and other sources.

22. To report annually to the Council of Bishops on aspects of Christian unity and interreligious developments, issues, and trends.

23. To channel and recommend to the Council of Bishops qualified United Methodists for service as representatives on ecumenical councils or agencies and to special meeting or assemblies, and to name such representatives to councils, agencies, or assemblies not named by the Council of Bishops.

24. To work as partners with agencies of The United Methodist Church on matters of mutual concern.

25. To care for other matters as may be deemed necessary by the commission or requested by the General Conference, the Council of Bishops (see ¶ 2401), or the Connectional Table.