The Virginia Council of Churches through the Faith and Order Commission seeks to bring the churches together for theological consultation on those issues that are church dividing and to examine the degree of communion that already exists among the churches both within and outside the Virginia Council of Churches. This theological consultation is part of the faith and order movement, which includes both the World Council of Churches’ and the National Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commissions. Our consultation seeks to build on the theological progress already made with such convergence documents as Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry produced by the 1982 Lima Conference of the World Council of Churches. We seek to facilitate among the Virginia churches the reception of the theological progress made by these documents. Often our task is to build up the capacity of the churches in Virginia for this reception and to this end, we engage in the marks of commitment of the Virginia Council of Churches Covenant concerning dialogue and ecumenical vision. In dialogue, we respect each other and our traditions. We celebrate our shared tenets of the Christian faith. We engage in intentional conversation and education, seeking to understand the gifts we each bring, listening, and learning together in order to discern the will of God. In our ecumenical vision, we proclaim the vision of unity and wholeness for the church, which Christ has set before us. We promote the understanding, appreciation, and value of ecumenism and we coordinate the practice of ecumenism within and among our communities.
