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China Christian Council delegation
renews friendship with NCC in NYC

Slide show here.

New York, May 20, 2010 - Five representatives of the China Christian Council joined National and World Council of Churches staff here this month to exchange greetings and to affirm a memorandum of understanding between the Chinese and American church groups that was forged in February 2009 when the NCC General Secretary and President visited China.

The groups also exchanged gifts and described their ministries and programs during lunch May 14 in The Interchurch Center in Manhattan.

The luncheon gathering was opened in a prayer led by the Rev. Deborah DeWinter, NCC Director of Donor Relations, and translated into Chinese by Ms. Karen Wang, Senior Director, NCC Administration and Finance office.

Members of the China delegation were the Rev. Gao Feng, President of China Christian Council; the Rev. Bao Jiayuan Associate General Secretary of China Christian Council; Elder Ou Enlin Deputy Director of the Overseas Relations Department of the China Christian Council and the Three Self Protestant Movement; Ms. Gu Jingqin Secretary of the Overseas Relations Department of CCC/TSPM; and Ms. Wang Xiuling Chief of Protestantism Affairs Section, Second Department, SARA.

In February 2009, the Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, NCC General Secretary, and Archbishop Vicken Aykazian, then NCC President, visited China and affirmed warm ties of fellowship that have continued since 1981 when an NCC delegation visited the People's Republic of China after a 30 year hiatus in communication.

In their discussions in 2009, Kinnamon and Aykazian joined with their Chinese hosts in celebrating "the strong bonds that have developed over the years between our organizations and between the churches in our countries.  Signs of this relationship include praying for each other (as during the 2008 earthquake in China), periodic visits, and occasional support for one another's ministries."

A copy of the memo of understanding between the Chinese and U.S. church groups can be downloaded here.

Additional pictures of the May 14 luncheon can be seen here.                         


Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for ecumenical cooperation among Christians in the United States. The NCC's member faith groups — from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches — include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 212-870-2228 (office), 646-853-4212 (cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org

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