In a move that surprised even him, Dick Hamm agreed to become Executive Administrator for Christian Churches Together. He began this new ministry in August 2007. It came as a surprise to him because he had enjoyed his work as a consultant/coach, and was not looking for a new place of service. But, as he has often said, "A call is a call, and you never know when a call will come."

Christian Churches Together in the USA is a new organization that seeks to bring together Christian communions and organizations from across the theological spectrum to work together where they can find common ground. CCT currently has 45 participant organizations grouped into five families: historic Protestant, evangelical Protestant, historic racial/ethnic churches, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox.

Among the participating communions are Cooperative Baptists, Episcopalians, Pentecostal Holiness, Syrian Orthodox, Reformed Church in American, Open Bible, and Dick's own communion, the Disciples of Christ. Participating organizations include World Vision, Bread for the World, Sojourners, Call To Renewal, and Habitat for Humanity.

Dick has exactly the experience the search committee wanted. He was a congregational pastor for 22 years, a middle judicatory executive, and then president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for ten years. For the past three years he had served as a consultant/coach, partner, and for 24 months as president of The Columbia Partnership. In past years he served on the governing bodies of the World and National Councils of Churches, as well as on many local ecumenical and interfaith groups. He has been a member of Bread for the World since its beginning in 1974, and has participated with Jim Wallis' group, Call to Renewal. He has several times been a guest at the Vatican.

It was also significant that Dick had just published a book with the TCP Leadership Series entitled Recreating the Church: Leadership for the Postmodern Age. Mainline denominations in the United States are in crisis. These institutions-created in and for modernity-are now facing a changed, postmodern culture. In this book Dick faces the crisis, examining its origins, and offers sound advice on how to lead to church to make the adaptive changes needed to thrive in postmodern times.

Dick has always had strong feelings Christ intends for his followers to work together in every way they can, in spite of legitimate differences of opinion regarding theological and ethical issues. He is fond of pointing out that Jesus' last prayer (John 17:20) was that his church would be one so that the world might believe. Dick believes it is difficult for non-Christians to see the Gospel in Christ's followers if we are running each other down.

Christian Churches Together has chosen two initial priorities: evangelism and poverty in the United States. Dick jokes, "When we get these two taken care of, then we'll move on to world peace!" To discover move about CCT go to their web site at www.ChristianChurchesTogether.org.

Dick will continue as a Minister Partner with TCP, and will do some consulting/coaching to keep his skills sharp and stay on the cutting edge of Christian ministry. He continues to live in Indianapolis with his wife Mindy, and seeks opportunities to visit his children and grandchildren in North Carolina and Washington, DC.

Report on 2008 Chistian Churches Together annual meeting: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_93949_ENG_HTM.htm

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