October 4, 2009 – That is the date to mark on your calendar right away. In conjunction with World Communion Sunday 2009, the Bicentennial Task Force has announced that plans for a Great Communion of the Stone-Campbell heritage will occur in communities throughout the United States and Canada, and around the globe.

Using the occasion of the bicentennial of Thomas Campbell’s Declaration and Address (1809-2009), the Bicentennial Task Force is issuing a new call for unity among all congregations in the Stone-Campbell heritage. [These are faith communities in the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)]. The bicentennial celebration will kick-off at the World Convention of Christian Churches in Nashville, Tennessee July 30 - August 3, 2008. Following a mass communion service to close the convention, messengers will be asked to return to their own towns and cities and begin preparations for joint communion services in October 2009.

"Our hope is that this will not be a one-time event," said Douglas Foster, chair of the Task Force. “Instead, we see the Great Communion as a unique opportunity for the three streams of the Stone-Campbell heritage to open dialogue for finding new ways to unite for common mission.” Foster is heading a sixteen member Task Force comprised of representatives from the three streams of the movement.

By the end of this year, a website (www.greatcommunion.org) will be online to offer educational, promotional, and liturgical helps for congregations celebrating the bicentennial. Printed materials are also planned, including a book giving a 21st century voice to Thomas Campbell’s call for unity. (The book will be published by Leafwood Press in 2008).

The bicentennial celebration is sponsored by Disciples of Christ Historical Society, Glenn Thomas Carson, president. The Historical Society is a general ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and also serves Churches of Christ and Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. For more information, contact the Bicentennial Task Force at mail@discipleshistory.org.

 

 

March 9, 2007