Delegates Participate in Consultation on Church Union
Diocesan Press Service. March 26, 1969 [75-13]
ATLANTA, Ga. -- Delegates from the nine denominations participating in the Consultation on Church Union, meeting here March 17 to 20, were given a first report on a proposed plan to bring 25 million American Christians into a united Church.
The report, described as preliminary, made specific suggestions for the organization, administration and ministry of the proposed united Church, but it also left unresolved a number of key questions which will have to be answered before a final proposal can be drafted for submission in 1970.
The Consultation has been going on among the Churches since 1962.
The nine participating denominations are the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (Southern), the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
The plan presented to the delegates at the 1969 annual meeting of the Consultation suggested a new Church with three levels of ecclesiastical authority and four levels of geographical organization made up of parishes, districts, regions and a national assembly.
The ordained ministers of the new Church would include Bishops, functioning at district, regional and national levels; presbyters, who would function as leaders of parishes and congregations, and deacons, who would work in specialized ministries and other duties.
The ordained ministry would be available "inclusively to men and women and to minority racial and ethnic groups."
The national assembly would be composed of Bishops, presbyters, ordained deacons and laity elected by regions. On matters of faith and order, the national assembly would vote separately as Bishops, presbyters and deacons, and laity, with concurrence by each of the three orders required for passage of legislation.
No name for the united Church was proposed, but delegates were polled on their preferences for a name which would reflect the "catholic, evangelical and reformed" nature of the new Church being sought. Among the names suggested in the poll were "United Christian Church, " "Evangelical Catholic Church" and "Church of Christ in the U.S.A." Results of the poll were not announced.
Methodist Bishop James K. Mathews, of Boston, the chairman of the Consultation, said at a news conference that he expects the plan to be "at least 50 percent different" when a more complete plan is presented next year.
Dr. Paul A. Crow, Jr., COCU general secretary, estimated that it would take from six to twelve years for the new united Church to come into existence.
Among the unresolved issues, on which the Consultation commission asked for advice from the participating denominations, were the following:
--- Should membership in the new Church be in the congregation, parish or district?
--- Should there be a statement of standards of behavior, and if so what should be the nature of the statement?
--- Should there be a statement of standards of belief, and if so what should be the nature of the statement?
--- Should the membership of presbyters and deacons be in the congregations, parishes, districts-or some combination of these?
--- How should the deployment of ordained ministers be accomplished?
--- What should be the proportions of laity to ordained ministry at various governing levels and what should be the proportions of women and youth in governing bodies ?
--- At what organizational levels should Bishops be elected and what should be the roles of such Bishops in the transitional period until the formation of districts ?
--- Should the title of Church property be in the parish? Should the parish be incorporated where legally permissible ? Should all property be held in trust for the united Church? Should buying, selling, mortgaging of property and new major construction be permitted only with concurrence of the district?
--- Should the proportion of laity to ordained ministry in districts, regions and national assembly be 2-to-1 in order that the mission of the whole Church be served?
The next meeting of the Consultation will be held in 1970 at St. Louis from March 9 to 13.
The delegates to the Consultation also:
. . . Welcomed the Rev. W. Clyde Williams, a Negro minister of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, as the new Consultation associate general secretary.
. . . Heard Bishop Frederick D. Jordan, of Hollywood, Calif., head of the delegation of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, warn that it is a responsibility of the white Churches in the Consultation to plan for the participation of Black Churchmen in the new united Church.
. . . Held a memorial service at the grave of the late Dr. Martin Luther King and heard a tribute to the Black leader from Dr. Eugene Carson Blake.
. . . Attended a service of Holy Communion at the Baptist Tabernacle in Atlanta, a rite which included portions of the orders of service from all participating denominations.
. . . Were warned by Bishop J.G.M. Willebrands, a Vatican official of the dangers of "ecclesiastical joinery" and were urged to continue the Consultation dialogue "in common study and common action with the other Christian communities in this nation and abroad. "
. . . Heard from two Consultation leaders -- Dr. James I. McCord and Dr. Albert C. Outler -- that the principal obstacles now to Church unity involve "the disparity of ministerial order" and the unification of the ministry.
. . . Approved guidelines for local inter-Church action and voted to send the guidelines to participating denominations for the determination of their use.
The delegation from the Episcopal Church was: The Rt. Rev. Robert F. Gibson, Bishop of Virginia; the Rt. Rev. Stephen Bayne, vice president, Executive Council; the Rt. Rev. Gerald F. Burrill, Bishop of Chicago; the Rt. Rev. Ned Cole, Bishop of Central New York; Miss Janice Sylvia Jackson, student, of East Lansing, Mich.; Miss Marianne H. Micks, college dean, of Oxford, O.; Peter Day, Ecumenical Officer of Executive Council; Dr. George A. Shipman, professor, of Seattle, Wash.; the Rev. Warner R. Traynham, of Roxbury, Mass.; Prof. William J. Wolf, of Cambridge, Mass.
A group of eight accredited visitors and observers from the Episcopal Church included the Rt. Rev. John E. Hines, Presiding Bishop.