Photo and story by Everett Bassett

Nelson Reppert is a self-described ‘ecumaniac’. He is attending his second General Conference as a member of the General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.

He and the commission will be monitoring the work of the conference relating to Christian unity and interreligious relations.

Of particular interest are petitions relating to cooperative parish ministries, ecumenical campus arrangements, and relations between church, temple and mosque.

Each day the group completes a ‘scoresheet’ on petitions impacting these areas. One of Reppert’s tasks is to distribute the sheet, and other materials, at the commission’s booth.

“I hope (at the conclusion of the General Conference) that we can say that we can truly be diverse,” said Reppert. “(John) Wesley’s plan was for a lot of diversity.” He sees the work of the commission as the ‘logical extension of the diversity Wesley longed to see in his own day.”

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