Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT)

Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT)

Over the past two years our archdiocese has continued to participate as a member of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. (CCT).  CCT is a coalition of five Church Families, Historic Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Evangelical/Pentecostal, and Historic Black along with Christian service organizations.  The Orthodox representation in this organization continues to be the same six Orthodox jurisdictions, three Eastern and three Oriental, as reported at our last General Assembly.  No other Orthodox jurisdiction has applied for membership during this time.

Fr. Olof Scott continues to serve on the Steering Committee which is charged with the planning and work of CCT in between annual meetings.  He is one of four Orthodox members, two Eastern and two Oriental, on this committee.

The 2010 and 2011 Annual Meetings of CCT were held in Sea-Tac, WA, and Birmingham, AL, respectively, with Steering Committee meetings held in between in Chicago.  Major emphasis over these past two years have included:

  • Domestic Poverty Initiative working through CCT’s position paper.
  • Evangelism/Evangelization and how member churches understand and practice it with the potential for proselytism.
  • Domestic Racism/Civil Rights and its changes over the past forty plus years including a brief response to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”

The annual meeting for 2012 is planned for Memphis, TN, with continuing examination on the theme of Racism and Civil Rights, past, present and future.  A special four day tour of significant historic civil rights sites throughout the south and ending in Memphis is being planned as a preliminary study for the meeting.  Preliminary investigations are underway to hold the 2013 meeting in Jerusalem as a sign of solidarity and support for Christians of all persuasions in this region.  Meetings between CCT churches and their sister contacts in this region would precede or follow the Jerusalem gathering.