Seminarian Attends National Council of Churches Gathering

By Dn. Garen Hamamjian

Last month, I represented St. Nersess Seminary at the 2023 Christian Unity Gathering in Nashville, TN, organized by the National Council of Churches (NCC). The event began on the evening of October 9 with a beautiful banquet where members of the board of the NCC spoke about the themes of ecumenism while welcoming Christian branches from all over the country. Following the banquet, all faithful and participants were invited to a very lively and beautifully organized worship service by the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) that filled our hearts with their choir’s beautiful music. After being spiritually nourished, we were ready to take on the full day ahead of us.

On October 10, I attended several lectures, bible studies, sermons and discussions that kept me busy and engaged from morning until night. The next day, on the final day of the Christian Unity Gathering, we concluded with another beautiful service by the AME Choir and an award ceremony in which many members of the NCC were celebrated for their various accomplishments, acts of leadership, and humanitarian work within the life of the Churches in America.

It was a blessing for me to attend this three-day conference and witness so many of America’s leaders gathered for one mission – to spread the love of Christ to the world. It was especially a gift to listen to presentations on issues regarding Christian minority groups around the world, including a presentation on Artsakh by Yn. Arpi Kouzouian, Holy Trinity Armenian Church, Cambridge, MA.

With all this, I feel honored to have been given the opportunity to participate in this spiritually nourishing gathering which charged all participants and reminded us to preach the love of God not only with our words, but with our actions, and to spread the light of God to all the corners of the world.