Churches of Pakistan and North India Newly Formed
Diocesan Press Service. December 4, 1970 [91-16]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The month of November was an important period for the ecumenical movement which saw the creation of two new churches through amalgamation and merger.
Both churches, the Church of Pakistan and the Church of North India, bring together a group of Anglican and Protestant denominations in the two countries and follow formulas which differ somewhat from the one used in the Anglican-Protestant merger which created the Church of South India in 1947.
The Church of Pakistan was established in Lahore on November 1 through the merger of Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians and will unite 200,000 Christians after 40 years of negotiations.
In the merger plan for the Church of Pakistan no statement of faith was agreed upon ahead of time, but it is expected to evolve out of the new church's common life.
Its system of polity will combine episcopal and presbyterian forms and will include five dioceses, each having a bishop.
The Church of North India, established at Nagpur on November 30, brings together the Baptist Churches of North India, the Church of the Brethren, the Disciples of Christ, the Church of India, the Methodist Church (British and Australasian conferences) and the United Church of Northern India (Congregational and Presbyterian). Talks among the six church groups also have been going on for 40 years.
A seventh church body which may become a part of the new 500,000-member Church of North India is the United Methodist Church, U.S.A., which has yet to vote finally on the proposal. The addition of this seventh group would swell the membership of the Church of North India by an additional 600,000.
In the act of uniting, the denominations making up the new Church of North India mutually acknowledged each other's ministries through the laying-on-of-hands.
The new church will have 16 dioceses and is expected to enter into discussions with the Church of South India sometime in the future looking toward possible union of the two churches.