NEWS STORY: Protestants struggle to move forward on unity

c. 1999 Religion News Service ST. LOUIS _ Urged by sermon and song not to give up on the vision of church unity, delegates from nine mainline Protestant denominations who make up the Consultation on Church Union grappled Friday (Jan. 22) with how they can move their”stuck”ecumenical effort forward. Garlinda Burton, a delegate from the […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

ST. LOUIS _ Urged by sermon and song not to give up on the vision of church unity, delegates from nine mainline Protestant denominations who make up the Consultation on Church Union grappled Friday (Jan. 22) with how they can move their”stuck”ecumenical effort forward.

Garlinda Burton, a delegate from the United Methodist Church, expressed the view of a number of the 90 delegates attending the first COCU plenary meeting in a decade when she noted how much the delegates seemed to be enjoying their cross-denominational conversations.”It makes it all the more tragic for some of us that we seem to be stuck”in the effort to bring about more visible, active and concrete unity, she added.


Burton made her comments on the third day of the five-day COCU meeting that has been been called a”defining moment”for the 37-year-old project to overcome the historic schisms and divisions that have plagued Protestantism since the inception of the Reformation.

They came as delegates pondered a report from COCU’s theology commission suggesting possible ways forward, including more pro-active joint efforts against racism and a benchmark affirmation of the commonalities of the nine COCU member denominations.”We believe that the key issue before this plenary is the mutual recognition of one another as churches,”the Rev. Cynthia Campbell, chair of the theology commission, told the delegates.

COCU’s ultimate goal of reconciliation would require a mutual recognition and declaration that all the ordained ministries of the denominations are”one and the same ministry.” But the Episcopal Church has yet to vote on the two documents that would make that possible and the regional bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have rejected making constitutional changes that would establish the office of bishop that one of those documents requires.

For now, Campbell said the commission was recommending the COCU member denominations”affirm what we can now affirm about one another.” One of the things COCU members have already affirmed is the legitimacy of the baptisms of each of the churches _ symbolized in a Thursday worship service by Bishop Nathaniel Lindsey of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. Lindsey dunked a pine bough in a bowl of water held by the Rev. Deborah McKinley, a Presbyterian pastor, and walked around the hotel meeting room sprinkling about delegates and observers to remind them of their baptisms.

But the divisions within COCU were accented during reports from member denominations.

A report from the Episcopal Church, for example, reaffirmed the denomination’s commitment to work with COCU on racism and recommended work on a common educational tool to prepare converts for baptism. But the Episcopalians also continued to press for acceptance of their view of the episcopacy and recognition of their bishops as part of an unbroken line of succession that stretches back to the time of Jesus’ apostles.”The Episcopal Church very much desires to continue the journey with you, with all the churches in the Consultation on Church Union, even if to many of you we seem to be forever walking in last place, and even though we ourselves are in conscience not yet able to see or affirm everything that most of the rest of you do,”said the church’s report.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) also expressed continued interest in Christian unity, but questioned the structural forms proposed by COCU”in an era when there is a strong desire in the churches for less structure and more decentralization.””Some of our people yearn for fresh images of ecumenical activity and especially for inclusion of the more evangelical churches in the quest for unity,”the Presbyterian report said.

Campbell, the president of McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, said the consultation has not only worked to better ecumenical relations, but also has fostered improved race relations.”This is also a meeting ground, a common ground where predominantly European churches, traditionally African-American churches and racially diverse churches have been together for a long time,”she said, urging the delegates to be a joint witness about the”sin of racism”in a racially divided society.”We believe this is a vocation for the consultation and for the churches together whose time has come,”she said.


In an interview, Campbell said she personally hopes the delegates will not attempt to amend the documents they’ve already considered, but instead build on those in some way.”I believe that someone needs to step forward with a concrete proposal to pick up the mantle that we’ve cast and move us in a new way,”she said.”I do believe that way will involve some stretching for a number of us and I believe it has simply got to be tied to a missional vision which I personally hope … is a commitment to addressing racism in American culture.” The Rev. Obery Hendricks, a representative of the African Methodist Episcopal Church on the theology commission, stressed that the recommendation to deal with racism means addressing”white skin color privilege.””I question if the white denominations really are willing to eschew their privilege and their power,”Hendricks, president of Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, Ohio, said in an interview.”I’d like to see them work toward it. Maybe it’s a new day.” COCU President Vivian Robinson urged the delegates to consider what some are calling the”crisis”in COCU concerning its uncertain direction as an opportunity.”The work that lies ahead of us is great, but we can do it,”said Robinson, a laywoman of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church.”We must do it for the sake of Christian unity.” DEA END BANKS

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