Two Conferences for Unity
June 30, 2008This summer is bringing two opportunities for members of the various streams of the Restoration Movement to come together in the interest of greater unity.
Earlier this month, the eleventh Stone-Campbell Dialogue was held in St Louis. I have not been able to find a detailed account of the event online, but there is a brief article about it at disciples.org (a web site of the Disciples of Christ). The same article appears at christianstandard.com (a journal of the independent Christian churches).
And starting July 30, the World Convention will be held in Nashville, TN. This will be the seventeenth meeting of this conference, which is held every four years. Past conferences have been scheduled all over the world, so having it in Nashville this time presents an unusual opportunity for the many churches of Christ in the southeastern US. I hope that many can advantage of the opportunity.
It is a shame that these conferences are not more prominently advertised. I’m sure there are many people in these churches who are not aware, and will not be aware of the conference. I suspect that at least part of the reason is an ambivalence (or worse) among some of these churches toward unity efforts with the other Restoration Movement branches. I would urge any who fall in that category to consider Eph 4:1-4, to rise above the disagreements, and to make every effort to promote unity. Nobody is asking any of us to abandon our convictions on the topics where there is disagreement. But surely we can come together with clear consciences to discuss areas of agreement.
Christian Unity 
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