United and uniting churches
Aunited church,also called auniting church,is a denomination formed from the merger or other form ofchurch unionof two or more differentProtestantChristian denominations, a number of which come from separate and distinct denominational orientations or traditions.[1]Multi-denominationalism,or a multi-denominational church or organization, is acongregationor organization that is affiliated with two or moreChristian denominations,whether they be part of the same tradition or from separate and distinct traditions.[2][3]
Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state, usually in order to have a stricter control over the religious sphere of its people, but also for other organizational reasons. As modern Christianecumenismprogresses, unions between various Protestant traditions are becoming more and more common,[4]resulting in a growing number of united and uniting churches.
Examples include theUnited Church of Canada(1925), theChurch of South India(1947), theUniting Church in Australia(1977), theProtestant Church in the Netherlands(2004), and theUnited Protestant Church of France(2013).[5][6][7][8]
Since the mid-20th century, and the rise ofsecularismworldwide,mainline Protestantismhas shrunk.[9][10][11][12]Among others,Reformed(Calvinist),Anglican,andLutheranchurches have merged, often creating large nationwide denominations.[1]In some countries,MethodistandCongregationaldenominations have also merged. The phenomenon is much less common amongevangelical,nondenominationalandcharismaticchurch as new ones arise and many of them remain independent of each other, although in some cases instances of evangelical church congregations joining multiple denominations in a phenomenon known as "multi-denominationalism" does occur; but in most cases Evangelicals cooperate with each other throughinterdenominationalismwhile still maintaining denominational distinctions.[2][3]
Perhaps the oldest official united church is found in Germany, where theProtestant Church in Germanyis a federation of Lutheran, United (Prussian Union) andReformed churches,a union dating back to 1817. The first of the series of unions was at a synod inIdsteinto form theProtestant Church in Hesse and Nassauin August 1817, commemorated in naming the church of IdsteinUnionskircheone hundred years later.[13][14]
Around the world, each united or uniting church comprises a different mix of predecessor Protestant denominations.[1]Trends are visible, however, as most united and uniting churches have one or more predecessors with heritage in the Reformed tradition and many are members of theWorld Alliance of Reformed Churches.
Conciliar movement[edit]
In the 1950s and 1960s an ecumenical spirit emerged in many churches in the United States, leading to aconciliar movementknown in some circles asConciliarity.A product of this movement was theConsultation on Church Union(COCU). The COCU disbanded formally in 2002 but moved into theChurches Uniting in Christmovement.[15]
United and uniting churches around the world[edit]
- Australia:Uniting Church in Australia,the 1977 union of theCongregational Union of Australia,Methodist Church of Australasia,andPresbyterian Church of Australiachurches.[16]
- Bangladesh:Church of Bangladesh,established in 1974 as a union ofAnglicanandPresbyterianchurches.[17]
- Belgium:United Protestant Church in Belgium,formed in 1979 as a union of theReformedandLutheranchurches.[18]
- Canada:United Church of Canada,the 1925 union ofCongregationalist,Methodist Church (Canada),and a majority of thePresbyterian Church in Canada(including Bermuda).[19]
- Czech Republic:Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren,formed in 1918 in Czechoslovakia through the unification of the Protestant churches of theLutheranandReformed(Calvinist) confessions.[20]However, the ECCB has deeper roots in theCzech Reformation:in theUtraquistHussite Church(1431–1620) and in theUnity of BrethrenakaMoravian Church(1457–1620).
- France:United Protestant Church of France,formed in 2013 through the unification of theReformed Church of Franceand theEvangelical Lutheran Church of France.[5][21]
- Germany: Ten unitedchurch bodieswithin theProtestant Church in Germanyfrom unions of Lutheran and Reformed churches:Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia,theEvangelical Church in the Rhineland,theEvangelical Church of Westphalia(all of them are successors of thePrussian Union of Churches), theEvangelical Church of Anhalt,theProtestant Church in Baden,theEvangelical Church of Bremen,theEvangelical Church in Central Germany,theProtestant Church in Hesse and Nassau,theEvangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeckand theEvangelical Church of the Palatinate(Protestant State Church).[22]
- India:Church of North India,the 1970 union of Anglican, Methodist,Baptist,Disciples of Christ,Presbyterian, Congregational, and theChurch of the Brethrenchurches.[23]
- India:Church of South India,the 1947 union of Anglican, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches.[24]
- Indonesia:Indonesia Christian ChurchorGereja Kristen Indonesia,union of GKI East Java, GKI West Java and GKI Central Java in 1988.[25]
- Italy:Union of Methodist and Waldensian Churches,the 1975 union ofWaldensian Evangelical Churchand theMethodist Evangelical Church in Italy.
- Jamaica:United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands,the 1965 union of Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Disciples of Christ churches.[26]
- Japan:United Church of Christ in Japan,the 1941 union of thirty-three Protestant denominations.[27]
- Kiribati:Kiribati Uniting Church,[28]a union of several Protestant denominations in Kiribati, including Congregationalists, Evangelicals, Anglicans, and Presbyterians.
- Melanesia:United Church in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands,[29]a United church in the Methodist and the Reformed tradition
- Netherlands:Protestant Church in the Netherlands,the 2004 union of theDutch Reformed Church,theReformed Churches in the Netherlands,and theEvangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.[8]
- Pakistan:Church of Pakistan,the 1970 union of Anglicans, Scottish Presbyterians (Church of Scotland), Methodists, and Lutherans.[30]
- Philippines:Iglesia Evangelica Unida de Cristo,a merger of indigenous Presbyterian and Methodist denominations in 1932.[31]
- Philippines:United Church of Christ in the Philippines,[32]a merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, theUnited Evangelical Churchand several independent congregations.[33][34]
- Philippines:Union Church of Manila,an interdenominational congregation resulting from the union of Presbyterian and Methodist churches in 1914.
- South Africa:Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa.
- Sweden:Evangelical Free Church in Sweden,the 2002 union of theÖrebro Mission,theFree Baptist Unionand theHoliness Union.[35]
- Sweden:Uniting Church in Sweden,the 2011 union of theBaptist Union of Sweden,theSwedish branchof theUnited Methodist Church,and theMission Covenant Church of Sweden.[36]
- Thailand:Church of Christ in Thailand[37]
- United Kingdom:United Reformed Church,the 1972 union of theCongregational Union of England and Walesand the Presbyterian Church of England, later joined by theChurches of Christ (Europe)and theCongregational Union of Scotland.[38]
- United Kingdom:United Free Church of Scotland,[39]formed in 1900 by the union of theUnited Presbyterian Church of Scotland(or UP) and themajority of the 19th-century Free Church of Scotland.
- United States:United Church of Christ,the 1957 union of the two previously united churches:Congregational Christian Churchesand theEvangelical and Reformed Church.[40]
- United States:United Methodist Church,the 1968 union of theMethodist Churchand theEvangelical United Brethren Church.[41]
- United States:Unitarian Universalist Association,the 1961 consolidation of theAmerican Unitarian Associationand theUniversalist Church of America.[42]
See also[edit]
- Christianity
- Congregationalist polity
- Continuing church
- English Covenant
- List of Christian denominations
References[edit]
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