61. Chapter 56: The Churches Seek Co-operation and Union

CHAPTER 56 The Churches Seek Co-operation and Union

1. Two Forces in the Church: Sepa­ration and Co-operation From the very beginning of the Reformation, almost, a tendency to divide showed itself in Protes­tantism. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin did not see eye to eye in all things. But also from the very beginning efforts were made to overcome this tendency. One such effort, though unsuccessful, was the conference between Luther and Zwingli held at Marburg (ch. 26, sec. 3) . John Calvin, through his letters and teaching and by means of conferences, succeeded in bring­ing a degree of unity into the Prot­estant movement. The first effort in modern times to encourage co-operation among Protestant churches was the or­ganization in London, in 1846, of the Evangelical Alliance. Some 50 evangelical bodies in England and America joined this alliance, and branches were established in nine European countries. The Alliance promoted many co-operative activi­ties. But toward the end of the century its enthusiasm died out. As time wore on divisions in the ranks of the Protestants increased. This was the case especially in America with its separation of Church and State and entire free­dom of religion. Today there are in the United States over two hun­dred denominations.

American Christians, separated into many churches, began to feel the need of united testimony and action on various questions. This feeling has led to Church Federa­tion and Church Union. By Church Federation we mean the formation of an organization composed of separate denominations, like the Evangelical Alliance, for dealing with problems common to all. By Church Union we mean the uniting of two or more denominations into one.

Christians in America have also felt the bond of fellowship with Christians in other lands. This has led to several international church conferences. In some of these movements the Modernists have taken the lead; in others, the Orthodox.

2. The Liberals and the Orthodox Form Federations

While the international Evan­gelical Alliance in Europe was dis­solving, a new alliance of churches in America was organized in 1908. It bore the name of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. It was very active in considering and making pro­nouncements on social, economic, and political questions. Some thirty denominations belonged to the Fed­eral Council. The Modernists were in the majority. On November 29, 1950, in Cleve­land, Ohio, the churches which were members of the Federal Council, together with associated groups, joined forces to organize the National Council of the Church­es of Christ in the U.S.A. This new Council, which replaces the Federal Council, embraces 29 Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches with 31 million communi­cants. It calls itself the dominant voice of Protestantism.

There have been a number of denominations that refused to join the Federal Council because of its Modernism. And within the de­nominations that did join, there were large numbers of members who felt that the Federal Council was not giving expression to their faith or striving after the proper goals. These denominations and church members, feeling that co­operation is possible only upon the basis of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, have federated them­selves in the National Association of Evangelicals. The history of this association goes back to 1941. In that year fifteen men met in Chicago to dis­cuss ways of bringing about closer co-operation among the Orthodox in the various churches of America. Under the inspiration of this small group 170 men met the next year in St. Louis and laid plans for the broadening of the movement. In 1943 more than 500 men met in Chicago. Here the National Asso­ciation of Evangelicals was for­mally organized by the adoption of a Statement of Faith and a Con­stitution. This meeting is counted as the First Annual Convention of the Association. Annual Conven­tions with increasing numbers of delegates have been held regularly since. The Association is composed of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyte­rians, Christian Reformed, Con­gregationalists, Reformed, Pente­costal and Holiness people, Nazarenes, Mennonites, and other small groups. Today about forty denomi­nations are represented in the N A E (as the National Associa­tion of Evangelicals is popularly known) , and over 1,500,000 church members. Some of the major proj­ects of the N A E are: Evangelism, Missions, Radio, Army and Navy Chaplaincies, Industrial Chaplain­cies, Religious Education, and War Relief. The Association has grown very rapidly in membership and influence during the brief period of its existence. The N A E pub­lishes a magazine which appears twice each month and is known as the U E A (United Evangelical Action).

Another organization made up of Orthodox groups is the Ameri­can Council of Christian Churches. Its purposes are similar to those of the N A E, but it was formed as a protest against the fact that the N A E did not take a militant atti­tude and action against the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. This organization active­ly opposed the unscriptural state­ments and actions of the Federal Council. The organizational set-up of the American Council also dif­fers from that of the N A E. While the N A E accepts into its mem­bership individuals and churches whose denominations belong to the Federal Council (now National Council) , the American Council refuses to do so. Its membership consists only of complete denomi­nations which are in their entire membership separate from the Federal (National) Council.

3. Church Union Should Be Based on Church Unity On very few subjects do all men think alike. They do not all think alike on the subject of religion. Where there are differences of views on fundamental doctrines or on forms of worship and church government, separation of Chris­tians into different groups is un­avoidable. Nor is this organization of Chris­tians into different churches as great an evil as many think. The Church is not the Kingdom of Christ. It is the army to establish that Kingdom. In the late war we had a vast military set-up. But it was not all one. It was divided into Army, Navy, and Air Force. Each one of these was again sub­divided. We had not one fleet and one army. We had several fleets and several armies. Each army was again sub-divided into corps, divi­sions, regiments, and companies. Without such sub-divisions an army would be cumbersome and unmanageable. But however that may be, in the last forty years many of the lead­ing men in the large denominations have been working for church union. Some have bent their best energies to that task, and with con­siderable success.

Since 1906 many church unions have been brought about. One of the largest of these was the union in 1939 of the Methodist Protes­tant Church, the Methodist Episco­pal Church, South, and the Method­ist Episcopal Church. The new body is called the Methodist Church—note that the word Episcopal has been omitted—and has nearly eight million members.

There is a serious danger in­volved in these efforts toward church union. Church unity should underlie and precede church union. Many unions have taken place in spite of a serious lack of unity in the uniting churches. Within these churches Modernists and Bible be­lieving Christians have often been united into one organization. In almost every case in recent years the Modernists have taken control of the denomination which resulted from the union.

4. International Conferences Strive for Unity The first international Church conference was that held in Edin­burgh in 1916. A World Conference on Life and Work was held in 1925 at Stockholm. In 1927 a World Conference on Faith and Order met at Lausanne in Switzerland. This Conference faced an ambi­tious program. The subjects of dis­cussion were: the Church’s mes­sage to the world, the nature of the Church, a common confession of faith, the ministry, the sacraments, and the unity of Christendom. Nearly all Protestant churches had sent delegates. Present also were the archbishops of the Eastern Church. The Conference was able to reach a certain measure of agreement only on the first sub­ject: the message of the Church. The archbishops of the Eastern Church withdrew. In 1937 two other world Church conferences were held, to continue the work begun at Stockholm and Lausanne. Life and Work was the theme at the World Conference in Oxford; and at the World Con­ference in Edinburgh, Faith and Order. One hundred twenty-two religious bodies were represented, and nearly all the leaders of the Eastern churches were present. In these two conferences also no defi­nite results were achieved. But the general feeling was that at last the right road had been discovered, which sooner or later would lead to world-wide union of all churches. In the summer of 1948 the churches which had met in 1937 met again, with others, in Amster­dam, and the World Council of Churches was formally estab­lished. The 351 delegates repre­sented 147 churches in 44 different countries. The purpose of the Council is to carry on the work of the two world movements for Faith and Order and for Life and Work, and to encourage co-operation in matters of world-wide concern. This World Council has in its membership churches that are true to the Word of God in their doc­trine and teachings, and also churches that have a strong liberal element within their ministry and membership. Consequently there is little basis for unity, and those liberals who hoped to make of the Council in future years one great world church were disappointed at the few points on which all could agree. The next meeting of the World Council is scheduled for 1953. The year 1948 was a year of many conferences in Europe. The Second Ecumenical Synod of Re­formed Churches was held at Am­sterdam. The National Association of Evangelicals met in Clarens to organize on an international scale, and the American Council of Chris­tian Churches met in Amsterdam for the same purpose. With repre­sentatives from evangelical churches in other countries the American Council organized the International Council of Christian Churches. This Council met again in 1950. It is hoped that through these efforts the testimony of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ will be advanced and the bond of unity among His followers strengthened.