Houston gets a chance to shine as conference comes to town
Houston has been the desired destination for the National Workshop on Christian Unity for the past three years. But Hurricane Harvey put those plans on hold.
Now, the city is preparing to host the gathering, which brings together numerous Christian denominations to build understanding, develop stronger relationships and celebrate the common belief that unites them.
The spirit that Houston exhibited in the face of natural disaster is, after all, exactly what the national event is all about, chairwoman Tura Foster Gillespie said. After the storm, churches banded together, despite their denominations, to make a difference.
“It reminds us we’re not alone,” Foster Gillespie said. “We’re all in it together.”
The conference will be held March 23 through March 26 at the Whitehall Hotel, 1700 Smith. Online registration is open.
Amy Oden, author of “God’s Welcome: Hospitality for a Gospel-Hungry World,” will be the event’s keynote speaker. She serves as visiting professor of early church history and spirituality at St. Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City University.
The week will be filled with seminars, training programs, workshops, Bible study and plenary sessions at Whitehall Hotel.
The theme is: Welcoming all as Christ.
“It’s a double meaning,” Foster Gillespie said. “We’re not only welcoming people as though they were Christ, but we’re welcoming them as we would expect to be by Christ as well.”
Featured guests include Episcopal Rev. David Peters, United Methodist Church Rev. Edgar Hiestand, Presbyterian Rev. Grayson Van Camp and Lutheran Rev. Brian Wise, as well as Michael Terrien with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and
Helen Theodoropoulos with the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago.
Generally, most attendees are clergy members and seminarians, Foster Gillespie explained. But laypeople interested in building Christian unity are also invited.
“Everyone is welcome,” she said. “Anyone can come. We can all work together to best serve people the way Christ would want us to.”
The Rev. Orrin Halepeska, who serves as Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Officer for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, is used to traveling for the event. This year, he’s excited to attend in his own backyard.
“Houston is, in so many ways, an example to the rest of the country,” Halepeska said. “We have everybody from every culture from every place in the world in this city. In Houston, every faith is here.”
Hosting this year’s event in Texas opened the door to discuss the border. Foster Gillespie points to Scripture about welcoming the stranger. For example, in Matthew 25:35, Jesus states, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
“We feel called to address that,” Foster Gillespie said.
One plenary session, hosted by bishops from a variety of denominations, will be titled “Bishops at the Border.” Another is called “Asylum and Sanctuary.”
The Rev. Michael Blair, executive minister of the United Church of Canada, will host two “Global Migration” seminars, and Allison Duvall, Episcopal Migrations
Ministries, will host two sessions on “Political Asylum Tool Kit.”
Methodist Rev. T. Randall Smith, originally from Baytown, will lead two sessions titled “To Love the Stranger: Radical Hospitality and the Missio Dei.”
Foster Gillespie explained that each host city makes the experience a little different — and also plays a part in the denominations that attend. Texas is large enough to attract a variety of Christian denominations. And being in Houston paves the way for discussing how to work together during climate crisis, looking at the city’s response to storms Harvey and Imelda for guidance.
The National Workshop on Christian Unity began in 1963, when a group of Roman Catholics met with a mission: to equip local leadership for the task of ecumenical ministry. In 1969, the group invited leaders of other Christian denominations to join.
Catholic, United Methodist, Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran Church of America regularly participated in the workshops since the beginning. The movement has grown over time and now includes Evangelical, Pentecostal, Baptist, Orthodox and Christian Scientist churches.
Foster Gillespie first attended while she was in seminary. Her professor told her about the opportunity, and she went with three classmates to the event in Louisville, Ky., in 2016.
“We can all learn from each other,” she said. “We can disagree but still work together.”
Now, as chair of the planning committee, she gets to spread that message.
“This year, being an election year in the U.S., makes divisions even more pronounced,” she said. “Getting people to come to the table together, who would not normally come together to find understanding, is especially important.”
At the workshop, the mission is to connect churches of all denominations for a common goal. And it works. She has seen leaders meet at the event, then plan a Thanksgiving celebration together for later in the year.
“It can be small things — to make sure we can work together, to be the body of Christ in the world,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be a big gesture for it to be a big step forward.”
In addition to sharing training, brainstorming ideas and discussing best practices, attendees leave with new relationships and a feeling that unity is attainable, Foster Gillespie said. Still, the conference allows room for disagreement.
“How do we have a disagreement and still be friends? We hold sacred space for each other,” Foster Gillespie said. “We respect each other’s opinions and where they are on their journey. We can still love each other and disagree.”
Jan Skrehot, who was instrumental in bringing this celebration to Houston, has attended the National Workshop on Christian Unity eight or nine times.
“It really facilitates relationship building all across the U.S.,” Skrehot said. “For it to come to Houston, there’s a pride in that.”
All denominations are connected in their belief in Jesus.
“All of us are all about him and his teaching of love and compassion,” Halepska said. “That’s what Christian people are to the world. One of the most important things for Christians is to share that love and care.”