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		1. Roots in the Sunday School movement
		2. Roots in the Federation of Churches movement
		3. 1933 merger
		4. Development of conciliar theory and a vision of Christian unity
		5. Social action in the 1960s
		6. Protestant - Roman Catholic relations
		7. Social action in the 1970s
This page:		8. Development of theological dialogue
Next page:		9. Social action in the 1980s and 1990s
		10. Protestant - Orthodox relations
		11. Our shared journey

8. Development of theological dialogue

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The churches in Massachusetts have always seen themselves as part of a national and global movement for Christian unity.

The Massachusetts Council of Churches was deeply effected by the first North American Conference on Faith & Order, jointly sponsored by the National Council of Churches and the US Conference of the WCC, in September 1957 in Oberlin Ohio.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)

A decisive event came in 1967, ten years after Oberlin. The Committee initiated plans for a New England Conference on Faith & Order at Geneva Point, NH.

The Conference was organized by representatives from Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox judicatories in the six New England states, and was well attended by judicatory heads. Participants were painfully confronted with the inability to share a common eucharist.

“it is obvious that the Eucharistic bed is not big enough for the three traditions to fit in at the present time.”

One result of the Conference was the creation of a new ecumenical body, the Massachusetts Commission on Christian Unity. This new dialogical body encompassed Roman Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox under a strongly doctrinal purpose statement.

The Council understands that the ecumenical movement is one. It is whole. The Council has worked collegially with local councils of churches in the Commonwealth, and with our counterparts in the nation and the world.

It provides hospitality to visiting ecumenical leaders, such as the team which visited prior to the 1983 World Council of Churches Assembly in Vancouver.

The Council serves as a local host for international meetings,

such as the 1979 WCC Conference on Faith Science and the Future,

held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Massachusetts Council of Churches continues to foster dialog about a wide range of issues that divide the churches. Most recently it responded to the World Council Faith & Order study on the Nature and Purpose of the Church.

For the witness of the churches together in commitment to theological dialog and convergence,
we give you thanks, O Lord


Next page:		9. Social action in the 1980s and 1990s