1. The twentieth century conciliar movement produced councils of churches at the international, national, state, and local levels. The North Carolina Council of Churches shares the broad goals of Christian unity and justice with the World and National Councils and with the many state councils, and our members come from many of the same denominational streams. But there are no structural or financial connections between us. Each is its own autonomous organization, and the NC Council, founded in 1935, actually
predates both the National and World Councils by more than ten years.

2. According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, edited by David Barrett, et al, almost 34,000 separate Christian groups have been identified in the world; over half of them are independent churches.

3. Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) grew out of the work of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). The formation of the COCU was sparked by a December 1960 sermon preached by Presbyterian pastor Rev. Eugene Carson Blake at Grace Episcopal Church in which he envisioned a “truly catholic and truly reformed” church. At COCU’s first plenary meeting in
1962, the phrase “truly evangelical” was also embraced in the vision. The COCU partner church bodies decided to dissolve the COCU in January 2002 in order to organize the CUIC. The primary difference between COCU and CUIC is that what COCU talked about doing and made steps toward implementing, the CUIC has implemented. Some of the activities that
CUIC partner churches participate in are: pulpit exchange, serving on boards, educating members about the partner denominations, worship together during the various holy days, celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, celebration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and promote youth to participate in events sponsored by the partner churches.

CUIC consists of ten partner church bodies:

African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AMEZ)
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CME)
Episcopal Church, USA
International Council of Community Churches
Presbyterian Church, USA
United Church of Christ (UCC)
United Methodist Church (UM)
Moravian Church(Northern Province)

The Partners in Mission and Dialogue is:

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA)

CUIC consists of three task forces:

The Local & Regional Task Force is responsible for developing strategies that will encourage and facilitate the formation of CUIC partnerships among local congregations and between regional governing bodies. The Task Force provides support and encouragement to groups that are formed by their own initiative.

The Racial Justice Task Force is responsible for promoting an open dialogue about racial justice within the life of the member churches and of society in general. It will also develop strategies that will enable the churches to confront and eradicate the sin of racism.

The Ministry Task Force is responsible for providing a foundation for the mutual recognition and reconciliation of the ordained ministry of the member churches of Churches Uniting in Christ.

4. The Episcopal Church, USA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America entered into full communion in 2000. Full communion means a mutual recognition of Word, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and ordination of the partner churches for the purpose of a greater and more unified mission to the world as well as a greater and more efficient use of services, resources, and personnel.

The Episcopal Church, USA and the United Methodist Church have been celebrating the Interim Sharing of the Eucharist since 2006 as a means to recognize their unity in the faith.

5. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Moravian Church established full communion in 1999.

Sources
3. Churches Uniting In Christ at http://www.cuicinfo.org/
4. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America website at http://www.elca.org
5. http://www.prlc.org/who-we-are/ecumenical-partners/