Representatives of several biblically-based Christian groups have concluded an ecumenical summit in Dallas, issuing a joint statement of purpose.
Tom Lambrecht, vice president of Good News of Woodland, Texas, explains that the summit involved 32 leaders largely from Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist and Presbyterian disciplines.
"The emphasis here is not just on sharing our experiences together and supporting and encouraging one another, but actually moving in the direction of cooperative ministry and sharing of resources and training and things like that," he details. "So, we're going to be actually looking at what can we do together and not just how can we be together."
Bishop John Bradosky of the North American Lutheran Church of Dayton, Ohio asserts that the group will not allow itself to be sidetracked by issues that have caused splits in major denominations.
"Often we found that the gospel was easily displaced as less important than the other issues or agendas," he accounts. "So, that's one of the marked differences with this group."
Though that will not preclude working together on issues like human trafficking, participants stress their focus will be on strengthening the effort to spread the gospel.
In their statement titled "Jesus Christ: Our common ground and common cause," the leaders declare, "Even as we fully acknowledge the imperfections of Christian institutions and the broken nature of our collective witness to the world, we commit to strive together for a faithful way of being the Church together. Our hearts are burdened for the millions of our neighbors who are estranged from God and the Church."