In a unique show of unity, Christians from across the theological spectrum are teaming up to encourage joint celebrations to mark the 2000th anniversary of Christ's birth with the turn of the millennium. The Canadian Council of Churches and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, representing between them 50 churches that range from conservative evangelical to traditional mainline, have formed a 12-member committee to publicize and encourage celebrations to usher in the year 2000. Christians in Canada Honouring Jesus, the committee will function primarily as a clearing house of information about celebrations at the local and regional level across Canada marking the turn of the millennium.
Plans are to set up a Web site and develop a newsletter to help disseminate information.
Whitney-Brown, whose religious background includes evangelical, mainline Protestant and Catholic communities, will work out of the CCC offices in Toronto. In the long term, committee members hope joint celebrations marking the millennium will foster ongoing relationships among Christians from various traditions. All of us are hoping that there will be kind of an opening of the heart to the way of Jesus and to each other as we shift gears into the next millennium. The committee also includes representatives from Anglican, Roman Catholic, Christian Reformed, Baptist Convention, Free Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, Pentecostal, Eastern Orthodox, United, Presbyterian and independent evangelical churches. Each religious tradition has something to offer to millennium celebrations, commented Don Posterski, vice-president of national programs at World Vision Canada, who developed the idea for the committee.