As Evangelical, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic church leaders, we write to all Christians in the United States to share our longing for an expanded Christian conversation in our nation. In Baltimore on Sept 7 - 8, 2001, we met to pray, to listen and to seek the guidance of God on whether all who confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures can talk together about how to share with the world our common confession of Jesus Christ. We continued this prayerful conversation in Chicago on April 4 - 6 and sensed the Holy Spirit leading us to new possibilities.

We are Christians who long for greater unity. It is our longing which most clearly points us toward "something new" as a possibility for the churches in the United States. We celebrate the unique traditions, gifts and charisms of our respective faith communities. We also acknowledge that when our differences create unnecessary divisions, our witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ is distorted. We offer our lamentations and longings with prayerful expectation that the Holy Spirit is moving us toward a new expression of our relationships with one another and our witness to the world.

We lament that we are divided and that our divisions too often result in distrust, misunderstandings, fear and even hostility between us. We long for the broken body of Christ made whole, where unity can be celebrated in the midst of our diversity.

We lament our often diffuse and diminished voice on matters critical to the gospel in our society. We long for a more common witness, vision and mission.

We lament how our lack of faithfulness to each other has led to a lack of effectiveness on crucial issues of human dignity and social justice. We long to strengthen the prophetic public voice of the Christian community in America.

We lament that none of our current organizations represents the full spectrum of Christians in the United States. We long for a place, where our differences could be better understood and our commonalities better affirmed.

In Chicago, we began to see a vision of a new life together. This vision has led us to provisionally call ourselves "Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A." With excitement we began to sketch the outlines of a new level of relationship and action that offer a common witness for Christ to the world. This common witness will be visible through our:

Celebrating a common confession of faith in the Triune God
Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit through biblical, spiritual and theological reflection
Engaging in common prayer
Speaking to society with a common voice
Promoting the common good of society
Fostering faithful evangelism
Seeking reconciliation by affirming our commonalities and understanding our differences
Building a community of fellowship and mutual support

We invite all churches who confess Jesus Christ as God and Savior according to the scriptures to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit to join us on this journey. We have only just begun to explore how to walk together. The questions for conversation, the ways to talk together and the paths to take all remain to be fleshed out by those whom, we trust, will join us on this difficult and essential journey of faith and obedience. We cannot know the details of the way, but we long to allow the Holy Spirit to answer our Lord's prayer to the Father, "that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent me." John 17: 21

Bishop Vicken Aykazian Armenian Orthodox Bishop Dimitrios Couchell Greek Orthodox Church Dr. Peter Bouteneff Orthodox Church in America Bishop Tod Brown Roman Catholic Church Commissioner John Busby The Salvation Army Rev. Rothangliani Chhangte American Baptist Church Rev. Dr. Seung K. Choi Korean Presbyterian Church Bishop Edwin Conway Roman Catholic Church Rev. Robert Edgar National Council of Churches Rev. Michael Livingston International Council of Community Churches Sister Joan McGuire Roman Catholic Church Bishop George McKinney Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches of NA Rev. Roy Medley American Baptist Church Colonel Philip Needham The Salvation Army Rev. Judy Mills Reimer Church of the Brethren Dr. Ann K. Riggs Director of Faith and Order National Council of Churches Rev. Ronald Roberson Roman Catholic Church

Rev. Dr. David Engelhard Christian Reformed Church in NA Bishop Jon Enslin Evangelical Lutheran Church Bishop Chris Epting Episcopal Church Rev. Dr. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson Reformed Church in America Ms. Elenie Huzagh President, National Council of Churches Cardinal William Keeler Roman Catholic Church Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick Presbyterian Church in the USA Very Rev. Leonid Kishkovsky Orthodox Church in America Archbishop William Levada Roman Catholic Church Rev. Ronald Sider Evangelicals for Social Action Bishop Melvin Talbert United Methodist Church Rev. Lydia Veliko United Church of Christ Rev. Jim Wallis Sojourners/Call To Renewal Rev. Dr. Robert Welsh Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Rev. Robina Winbush Presbyterian Church in the USA Bishop McKinley Young African Methodist Episcopal Church Rev. Robert Sawyer Moravian Church in America